Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers.

“Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.” – “Ex-Wives,” Six’s opening number.

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to view the musical, “Six,” at the Brooke Atkinson Theatre and I had an absolutely wonderful time. The show depicts the six wives of Henry VIII through a competition to see who had the worst time as the king’s wife. In turn, this would then decide the lead singer of the group’s band. The musical’s concept is a female girl group made up of the queens.

To begin with, each queen gets a “turn” and sings a song about her story and her relationship with the King. Catherine of Aragon sings a powerful song about refusing to annul her marriage to Henry. Anne Boleyn light-heartedly makes “unintentional” taunts and insults towards the other queens throughout her song. Jane Seymour declares her love and devotion to her husband and son. Anne of Cleves parades her spoils of war from her divorce from the king. Katherine Howard flaunts her beauty and past relationships. And Catherine Parr says goodbye to her lover in her number and indirectly stands up to the king as he is forcing her to marry him. Between all these numbers is a mixed amount of drama and comedy that makes the show all the more enjoyable.

In my opinion, the show is magnificent. The setting, a performance with historical figures as a girl group on a stage-like set, is unbelievably modern for a musical about Tudor royalty, yet it makes sense. It was extremely emotional and energetic over the course of the show, to the point that the slightest shifts of emotion could change the theater’s charged atmosphere.

The soundtrack was remarkably diverse, and listening to it, you can see why it won “Best Original Score” at this year’s Tony Awards. It ranges from ballads (Seymour’s “Heart of Stone”) to German electronic music (“Haus of Holbein”) to pop (Boleyn’s “Don’t Lose Your Head”). The vocal ranges of the songs were impressive, showing off each actress’ technique and range without straying from the show’s historical concept as a whole. In addition, the choreography that accompanied the music was imperceptibly complicated. Many of the movements appeared quite strenuous due to the confined space the cast was in and the distance between the actresses. Despite these challenges, the dance was flawlessly synchronized, suggesting large amounts of practice and experience.

An equally important aspect of “Six” is the historical accuracy and references. Hidden under the sparkling, bejeweled outfits and bright, powerful songs, however, is a complicated, dark story behind each woman. Much of the musical is designed to cover up this fact and exclude it.

Even though “Six” did a good job at staying historically accurate, there are examples of inaccuracies or changes in certain characters’ personalities or stories. For example, Anne Boleyn is portrayed as a seductive, vivacious young woman who quite literally steals Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. And much of history, however, describes her as such, going as far as considering her “power-hungry.” In reality and according to Henry and Boleyn’s letters of correspondence, the king had been considering annulling his marriage for years before Boleyn entered the picture, and Boleyn actually resisted his advances at first.

The musical claims that Boleyn flirted with a few people to make the king jealous after she caught him having affairs, and he, in turn, had her executed. In fact, Boleyn was arrested under the accusation of adultery, among others in 1536. She was tried and found guilty of high treason, adultery, and incest (with her own brother). 

According to Suyin Haynes, “Many historians suspect that the charges against Boleyn were at least exaggerated and at worst wholly fabricated by Thomas Cromwell, an adviser to the king who was engaged in a power struggle with the queen.”

Anne Boleyn was executed on May 19, 1536, and the king was betrothed to Jane Seymour, his mistress, the day after Boleyn’s beheading.

“Six is a fantastic musical that focuses on the six wives of Henry VIII who aren’t commonly taught about. Towards the end of the show, all the queens begin to realize that by arguing about their relationship with the king, they were all robbed of their own personalities, so instead of competing, they all decide to become independent of the king together and sing as one,” commented Arcadia High School (AHS)  Freshman Andre Lu.

“It presents history in a way that is engaging and entertaining where the queens bicker and have rivalries. It humanizes them; they have their own likes and dislikes, their own personalities, and they enjoy themselves throughout the show. Each singer has their own way of singing each song, and the directors let them have their own style and free rein,” said AHS Freshman Grace Wang.

Most importantly, “Six” is, at heart, a complicated show regarding self-worth and rediscovery. Over the course of the show, you learn not to pick a favorite among the queens and not to put the queens against each other through a competition of deciding who had the worst life and experience as Henry VIII’s wife. You get a better understanding of this as during one of their many arguments; the queens begin to bring up some of the worst things that happened to them, going as far as comparing the number of miscarriages they suffered and the number of mistresses Henry had during their marriages.

Viewing the transition between competing over terrible experiences and working together to move on from their shared commonality of being Henry’s wives was compelling. (The turning point can be seen around Catherine Parr, the final queen’s turn, and her song, “I Don’t Need Your Love”.) And that was the point, the purpose, of the musical. It shows that comparing the six wives was unnecessary and ridiculous. And that they also had their own lives outside of their marriages to the king and that they shouldn’t be defined by their time as queen. The call to action and the final statement was that they needed to “rise above” Henry and the hold he had over them, which was truly an empowering and emotional moment during the musical.

In conclusion, I believe that “Six” was a marvelous musical. It put together an amazing soundtrack and setting, brilliant choreography, relatively accurate historical references, extremely talented actresses, and an unimaginable concept to create a perfect musical. I would truly recommend for people to watch the work of art that is “Six”.

Photo Courtesy of WIKIMEDIA COMMONS