Review: SIX, the musical by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione

 

Like most touring shows, SIX, created by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, is powerhouse production with a giant fan following and a slew of awards including Tonys for Best Costume Design in a Musical and Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics. Marlow and Moss wrote SIX during their final year at Cambridge to offer at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Inspired in part by a Beyoncé performance, Marlow proposed a retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII. The unfortunate wives compete in a singing competition, each recounting her brief time with the king, vying to outdo the others' miserable, tragic experiences.

 

 

The musical was so well received at its 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it went on to openthat same year for a brief run in London’s West End theatre district. A UK tour followed, and it returned to West End in the January 2019, where it's still running today. An attempt to launch it on Broadway was stymied by the pandemic, and it didn’t officially re-open in New Yoek until October of 2021.

 

SIX has since launched all around the world, most interestingly in a 2019 - 2024 run aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines. The current US touring production stars Emma Elizabeth Smith as Catherine of Aragon, Nella Cole as Anne Boleyn, Kelly Denice Taylor as Jane Seymour, Hailey Alexis Lewis as Anna of Cleves, Alizé Cruz as Katherine Howard, and Tasia Jungbauer as Catherine Parr. It is co-directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage.

 

 SIX’s fans know well that the six queens are inspired by famous pop stars.As a neophyte SIXer, I was tasked with guessing who was who. Leaving the Bass Concert Hall,  was fairly confident of my choices; but research revealed I was batting onlyabout .500.

 

But was I? The authors have given many interviews where they revealed who was who, but it’s a fact that the performers have been given space to follow their own personal inspiration. Khaila Wilcoxon, who played Catherine of Aragon on Broadway from 2023-2025, declared her aim was to honor Latina recording artists. She told www.out.com, "I try to give a little Rosalia in there, and I give a little Cardi B, and I give a little Shakira. So, I'm trying to also pay homage to the Spanish heritage in telling the story of Catherine of Aragon.”

 

 

I realize this is a bit of a wormhole. But like all wormholes, it’s fascinating, so let’s just pull back the curtain here.

• The authors have stated that Catherine of Aragon was based on Beyoncé. Other possibilities: include Shakira, J Lo, Jennifer Hudson, and Christina Aguileria.
• Anne Boleyn was based on Avril Lavigne and Lily Allen. Other possibilities: all five Spice Girls and Gwen Stefani.
• Jane Seymour was based on Adele. Other possibilities: Sia, Celine Dion, and Rihanna.
• The authors have said Anne of Cleves was based on both Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. Other possibilities: Lorde, Charli XCX, Iggy Azalea, and Beyoncé. 
• Katherine Howard was based on Ariana Grande and Britney Spears. Another possible source of inspiration: Miley Cyrus. 
• Catherine Parr was based on Alicia Keys and Emeli Sandé, and everyone seems to just agree on this one.

 

If this seems to you  like a lot of wasted breath and brainpower, then stay off the fan-boards, where it gets parsed down to far greater detail. For example, even to what specific part of costume or performance interpretation was inspired by whom.

 

 

 

And all of this hullabaloo is justified. SIX is a wild ride of a performance that does exactly what it sets out to do: iinvigorate its audience by re-imagining an age when females had very little agency. Unsurprisingly, many historians (legitimate and armchair alike) love to take umbrage with the story’s factual inaccuracies, but those were clearly nevera concern of the authors. Some press releases call the cast a "modern girl group," but that's wrong. These women are clearly a super group, a kind of fantasy football concept of What if all my favorite stars worked together? And this is exactly what the show feels like—a cobbled together mélange of icons vying for attention and sniping at each other while performing rollicking, roaring musical numbers with enviable vivacity.

 

The costumes are amazing. The four-piece rock band is engaging and on beat. The choreography is restrained, even safe, considering that these characters are based on some of the best dancers in the world, known for innovation, risk taking, and spectacular physicality. The dialogue between the queens is fast and funny though often hard to follow at times due to the accents and rapid delivery.  All the singing is goose-bump-inspiringly excellent and matches the high caliber of the song writing.

 

There’s not much more to it than that. No actual sense of tension or unfolding storyline, but that’s not the aim. The show is meant to be fun, and it truly is. It's destined to be the soundtrack for thousands of future sleepovers.

 

 

 

 

 

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SIX, the musical
by Toby Marlow, Lucy Moss.
touring company

January 20 - 25, 2026