Co-creator of Six the Musical Lucy Moss (inset) is excited for Kiwi audiences to experience the show. Photo / Michael Craig
Co-creator of Six the Musical Lucy Moss (inset) is excited for Kiwi audiences to experience the show. Photo / Michael Craig
Smash-hit musical Six made its long-awaited debut in Auckland’s Civic Theatre this week as part of Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival, with the 75-minute pop spectacle about the six wives of Henry VIII boldly turning 500 years of history on its (sometimes lost) heads. Mitchell Hageman catches up with queens of the show and co-creator Lucy Moss to discuss its wide impact, Kiwi reception, and how it grew from humble beginnings to a Tony Award-winning revelation.
“Divorced / Beheaded / Died / Divorced / Beheaded / Survived,” the six wives of Henry VIII shout in a brooding fashion before bursting into song in the style of Beyonce, Rihanna and other pop greats.
Taking the stories of queens from 500 years ago and staging it this way is a departure from traditional stage adaptations of history.
But Six isn’t your average musical, it’s billed as an empowering pop party with heart and a meaningful message behind it.
An explosion of studded steampunk outfits and thumping beats turns the traditional Tudor court into a fully-fledged concert arena.
Its West End premiere in January 2019 at the Arts Theatre in London led to rave reviews, and it’s taken social media and theatres across the globe by storm.
For co-creator, 31-year-old Lucy Moss, it’s sometimes hard to believe that the show’s immense worldwide success started with just “a £5 budget for dresses and tiaras”.
Six the Musical is running for a limited time at the Civic, Auckland as part of the Auckland Arts Festival. Photo / Michael Craig
She and Toby Marlowcame up with the idea while they were both students for theCambridge University Musical Theatre Society and later took it to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe festival in 2017.
“Believe it or not, [the choice of Henry VIII’s wives as a plot device] was pretty much because they’re a famous group of women who are outside copyright laws,” she said.
“Toby and I knew that we wanted to do a show that championed women and non-binary people, particularly our friends at uni who are brilliantly talented but never got the chance to sort of all be on stage together”.
In Auckland by chance for a holiday, Moss, the youngest woman ever to direct on Broadway, told journalists at a media call that the runaway success of the show and the love shown by audiences still takes her by surprise.
It’s currently getting rave reviews in Japan, West End, and on Broadway, with more markets no doubt on the horizon.
The pop spectacle follows the rewritten story of the six wives of King Henry VIII. Photo / Michael Craig
Producer Louise Withers noted the show would have been here six years ago, but the Covid pandemic and logistical issues made bringing it here a little more challenging.
“[In its early stages] Toby called me and said there’s a pub theatre in London that wants to do three nights of this show, and I lost my mind,” Moss said.
“I was like, Oh my God, it was like the biggest thing I could possibly imagine ever happening for the show, and so anything beyond that offer has just always been just completely surreal and just amazing”.
A big part of the show is the fusion of old and new. The set design, costuming, and score blend subtle Tudor influences and the flashiness of modern production you’d often see on large-scale pop tours.
“The central concept of the show being that it is these historical queens as a pop group, it kind of implies that fusion immediately,” Moss noted, praising the work of British set designer Emma Bailey and costumer Gabriella Slade.
Another point of difference for the musical is its thematic drive, which Moss describes as almost a “thought experiment”.
“Six looks through the lens of patriarchy and kind of goes, there’s an original story told within this sort of patriarchal world, and then if you were going to do an experiment where you told it from the opposite perspective, how might that kind of look?”
“Thinking about whose voices we listen to, whose voices we champion, and kind of the power structures that sort of affect that is super important”.
Six co-creator and Tony Award-winner Lucy Moss (left) at the official media call at the Civic, Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig
Moss said having female and non-binary company on stage was also exciting, and helps champion diversity in a fun, humorous and thought-provoking way. “I think, you know, things like this can be done infinitely more. It’s great to see the empowerment in them as a group as well as them as individuals”.
The three Catherines (Aragon, Howard and Parr) said they were blown away by the reception they’d received so far from Kiwi crowds.
“This feels like the biggest house we’ve ever played to so far on this tour. It really makes it feel like a stadium concert, which is really thrilling and serves the show really well,” said Brisbane actor Chelsea Dawson, who plays the beheaded Queen Catherine Howard (spelt Katherine in the show).
Australian Kimberley Hodgson, who plays Catherine of Aragon, said while the explosive choreography was physically taxing at times, it was rewarding and led to a unique feeling afterwards.
“You feel really powerful after you’ve performed it. It feels like, ‘Wow, that was electric that we shared this energy together’,” she said.
Giorgia Kennedy, a Colombian-Trinidadian-Australian actor who plays Catherine Parr, praised Moss and Marlow for their ingenuity, saying it was a “privilege” to bring the musical to life and see it grow.
“They’ve managed to transform your typical structure of a musical. and it’s truly in a league of its own”.
While the roaring appraisal from Kiwi crowds will no doubt continue, Moss encouraged people who might be intrigued to come along for a short, sharp dose of musical magnificence.
“Also, it’s one hour and 15 minutes, which is amazing. You can go have dinner afterwards. It’s a great night out”.
Six runs for a limited three-week only season until March 23 at Auckland’s Civic Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival 2025.
