Six Broadway Tour
In 2019 when Six opened in North America-- before moving from the West End in London to Broadway-- it’s second and last stop before the Great White Way was in St. Paul at the Ordway Theater. I begged people to go see it with me, and no one was interested. So, I went alone. I walked out of the theater 90 minutes later with show swag (which I almost never buy) and renewed enthusiasm in theater – that there were stories out there that hadn’t yet been told. That weren’t simply a remake of a movie. Not only was it a new twist on history, but it was also the perfect length. Ninety minutes with no intermission? Beautiful. In our current short attention span world, it fits the mass audience as well as the theater nerd. What else appeals about Six to non-theater geeks? It’s basically a freaking rock concert on stage! And yes, I am that annoying girl in her seat going nuts trying to sing and dance along.
The idea of a rock concert might seem in contrast to the premise of the story, which is that the six wives of Henry the Eighth are essentially having a pity party/song slam on stage to see who had it worse in life. From ballads to rock and a little bit of German folkdance and rave, the music kills and the lyrics are dynamite. “I’m the queen of the castle, get down you dirty rascal.” Is one of my favorites. “Sorry, not sorry.” Also, a classic at this point in modern lingo. My favorite is the countdown song at the end of the show that changes as the end of the show nears. It’s a well-played tongue in cheek break down of the fourth wall, which the cast does several times. The current traveling tour of Six was just as good as the original. The Queens were just as strong belting out the lyrics on pitch and keying in on the stereotypical historic representation of their Queen, along with the nuances that are often missed by history. They were even able to update some of the references and dialogue for five years later! I know the hype has been real for this tour and it’s well deserved. You want to get a nonmusical person to like theater? See Six.
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