What's the Broadway Buzz? SIX: The Musical

 

“What’s the Broadway Buzz, tell me what’s a-happening? What’s the Broadway Buzz, tell me what’s a-happening? What’s the Broadway Buzz, tell me what’s a-happening? What’s the Broadway Buzz, tell me what’s a-happening?” No, this blog post is not about Jesus Christ Superstar. Although we will be presenting the 50^th Anniversary Tour of JCS here at the VBC Concert Hall on March 15-17!

“What’s the Broadway Buzz” is the name of my new series of blog posts where I focus on shows that are currently on Broadway (or on Broadway Tours) and haven’t been presented by Broadway Theatre League… YET! But we hope to bring them to you at some point in the future. Today let’s talk about SIX: The Musical: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. SIX tells the story of the six wives of Henry VIII, who grace the stage to remix five hundred years of historical heartache into an exuberant celebration of 21^st-century girl power. Including pop icons and Tudor queens alike! Everyone is going crazy about this memorably original musical that’s become uber-popular all around the world.

The musical’s plot revolves around a competition between the queens in which they argue over who’s lived the worse life and endured the greatest suffering at the hands of their common spouse. The winner will walk away with the title of Lead Singer for the show’s band. On your marks, get set, BELT!

SIX has a small, six-person cast depicting the queens: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. And these six queens each dazzle as they “American Idol” their way to the finish line within the format of a pop concert, 80-minutes (no intermission) of unbridled power, extraordinary vocal gymnastics and dance moves that rival an equal mix of Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. Each queen has her own song to shine as they battle to be the ultimate Queen.

Afterwards, Catherine Parr questions the competition’s purpose, which defines the queens by their relationship to Henry rather than by their individuality. The other queens also begin to realize they don’t need Henry’s adoration to feel acknowledged as humans and unanimously decide to give up this competition once and for all. Using their last moments on stage, they rewrite their stories, inventing their own “happily ever afters” in which Henry would never have been involved and singing as a group instead of as solo performers. All they had to do was change “his-story” into “her-story”. BAM!

Now do yourself a favor and listen to the original Broadway cast recording, SIX: LIVE ON BROADWAY. It is the first time an original Broadway cast recording was recorded “live” on stage. It really captures the excitement and buzz around an opening night performance. Especially this one which was only in previews on Broadway when COVID shut down all the Broadway shows for 18 months. SIX finally officially opened on Broadway on October 3, 2021. And the rest is HER-STORY!