SIX the Musical
Saturday, November 26, 2022
SIX Queens of Sass.
A Tudor Triumph is now holding court at Crown Theatre!
Feeling more like a sassy high-energy pop concert than a musical, SIX is the Spice Girls meets the History Channel as they remix the stories of the Six Wives of Henry VIII. The premise of SIX is each of the Queens of Henry VIII will tell you their story in song, to convince you they had the most harrowing tale.
Wife one is Catherine of Aragon (Phoenix Jackson Mendoza) who storms the stage to start us off with No Way in the style of Destiny’s Child, which makes you want to sass-click your fingers and shout “You Go Girl!” Catherine is followed by the irreverent Anne Boleyn (Kala Gare) with a cheeky Don’t Lose Ur Head. The pace is slowed with an Adele style song Heart of Stone by wife three Jane Seymour (Loren Hunter).
Get Down is a hilarious and slightly bogan Rihanna style sung by an empowered confident wife four Anna of Cleves that will make you want to get up and dance. Wife five is Katherine Howard (Chelsea Dawson) whose song All You Wanna Do reminds you of Britney Spears, but slowly divulges its deeper meaning. No spoilers here about Catherine Parr’s song I Don’t Need Your Love (by Vidya Makan), but you will want to fist pump the air by the show’s end.
At only 75 minutes with no interval, it is a short and sharp fun night out, leaving plenty of time for dinner afterwards. The high octane energy is compacted into a small stage space, with all six Queens on stage almost the whole time, as are the all female band Ladies in Waiting.
SIX is incredibly fun, but just don’t expect the typical musical – there are no costume or set changes, no love story, and barely any script. Instagrammers will also be delighted that photos are welcomed in the encore, in a smart marketing move by the producers. Due to a last minute illness this reviewer’s guest ended up being her 10 year old son who adored it and has been playing the SIX soundtrack non stop on Spotify, so we can say with certainly this is not just a ladies night.
The Queens are incredibly strong performers. Phoenix Jackson Mendoza (Catherine of Aragon) and Vidya Makan (Catherine Parr) demonstrated the emotional maturity and self awareness of their characters. This compared perfectly with self-centred Boleyn by Kala Gare who you will love to hate. Loren Hunter (Jane Seymour) was the strongest dancer who pulls your eye with her detailed mannerisms.
Chelsea Dawson (Katherine Howard) lacked the comic timing of her co-stars, missing moments to hold the pause for the audience to laugh – something that Kiana Daniele (Anna of Cleves) did brilliantly to endless rounds of laughter. Kiana’s performance was so fun-filled that you wondered at times if she was improvising some lines on the night, giving the impression of spontaneity while actually being well rehearsed – something all performers strive for!
All hail the Queens of SIX!
SIX + 4 = 10/10
MELISSA MANN
