In the 1950s TV staple Queen For a Day, whichever housewife or granny shared the worst sob story won the refrigerator. That’s the essential idea behind Six, the Edinburgh Fest and London smash now at A.R.T. in Cambridge, en route to a projected February, 2020 Broadway opening. Its contestants are queens not for a day, but for all time: the spouses of Henry VIII, those unfortunates memorialized in the eternal rhyme “Divorced, beheaded, died / Divorced, beheaded, survived.” Trust me, the magic required to bring them forward 500 years to the era of power ballads, twerking, and hip-hop is nothing compared to the magic that six superb performers and a smokin’ combo (“The Ladies In Waiting”) are cooking up nightly. Don’t be surprised if you feel like your head’s going to come off.
In the pop-rock extravaganza staged by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage—along with the prodigious, irreplaceable efforts of choreographer Carrie-Anne Ingrouille—each contestant spins her tale of woe (i.e., life with Henry) in a different contempo style, each sure that she’ll prevail as the most abused while the others provide backup. You don’t have to I.D. Beyoncé’s influence to be caught up by “No Way,” the defiant refusal of Catherine of Aragon (Adrianna Hicks) to join the First Wives Club in favor of flirtatious, ambitious Anne Boleyn (Andrea Macasaet).
For that matter, Boleyn’s Avril Lavigne playfulness, or the Ariana Grande teasing of Katherine Howard (Courtney Mack), needn’t be part of your cultural repertoire. Each song crafted by Toby Marlow and Moss makes a strong impression on its own, precisely tailored to character and to the overall concert flow, aided in part by the flow of history: With the death in childbirth of #3 Jane Seymour, the scintillating Abby Mueller brings things down in a solo spotlight for the gorgeous ballad “Heart of Stone,” worthy of a real Adele set. Then comes #4 Anna of Cleves, the German princess whose disappointing looks led to an awesome divorce settlement, allowing the hilarious Brittney Mack to strut Nicki Minaj-style in “Haus of Holbein,” with a debt to SNL‘s “Sprockets.”
Comparisons to Hamilton may be inevitable but aren’t especially apt. By contrast with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s deep dive into history, Six more or less skims its surface, and the misery-contest premise is just strong enough—just—to hang a show on. (Be sure to banish from your realm anyone wanting to spoil the finale’s twist; suffice to say the splendid Anna Uzele redeems the last Mrs., Catherine Parr, from pallid oblivion.) Six’s real ancestor is the long-running Altar Boyz, though the sheer energy and emotion summoned by the queens far outstrip anything the five evangelizing fellas were ever asked for. Tim Dieling’s concert lighting both employs and spoofs the tropes of today’s massive arenas, and Gabriella Slade’s bedazzled costumes make Velvet Goldmine look like How to Succeed in Business.
Six brings you to your feet in a rousing tribute to woman power, 500 years ago as much as today. A tribute to the power of theatre, too.
Six opened August 24, 2019, at the Loeb Drama Center (Cambridge, MA) and runs through September 29. Tickets and information: americanrepertorytheater.org
