SIX
The Vaudeville Theatre • 29 September 2021 - 1 May 2022
If you’ve been reading about the return of six queens to the West End stage, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s yet another theatrical invasion of past Drag Race contestants, there certainly being enough of them blessed by the hand of Ru to fill London’s Theatreland several times over, and at times it feels like they have already have. SIX is not that show however. The queens referred to here are in fact the six wives of Henry VIII, brought vividly back to life by the creative partnership of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.
Arriving on stage adorned in incredible eye-catching costumes designed by Gabriella Slade, these queens look more like they have arrived from the future rather than being the resurrected ghosts from the past, and with Emma Bailey’s impressive set design my guess is that they also travelled here by Tardis, ready to reclaim ownership of their stories via some pop-tastic original songs. As crazily mis-matched as all of this might sound, there is no doubting this ‘histo-remix’ works on every level, Carrie Anne Ingrouille’s sharp choreography and Tim Deiling’s lighting design serving to enhance the whole experience, and in doing so helping to deliver what can only be described as a resounding success.
I should confess that history was never my strong point, my subject teacher at school having regularly marked my essays with such constructive notes as, “This is CRAP!”. The shame of this moment has long since been replaced by a self-appointed retro-rebellious badge of honour, and to be fair my essay would have probably been marked an A+ if the lesson in question had been ‘creative writing’, but with my flights of fancy containing precious little in terms of historical accuracy, I was clearly not wining any plaudits as a budding historian, and so history and I amicably parted ways many years ago. Imagine my surprise then, to find myself taking a seat at The Vaudeville Theatre to watch a show featuring Catherine Of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, (no, not that one), and the rest of Henry VII’s wives. Already triggered by the show’s opening rallying cry of ‘Remember us from your GCSE’s?’, I was clearly running the risk of reliving this childhood trauma all over again. However, I had already concluded that with the show having been written by Marlow and Moss, I was more likely to be mercilessly entertained than educated, and I was right… for the most part.
Toby Marlow has obviously long been on Jack The Lad’s radar as one half of the award winning Hot Gay Time Machine, first seen in 2018 at Crazy Coqs, and again at the Soho Theatre earlier this year. During those shows he had already proved himself to be as accomplished at writing a memorable tune as he was complementing it with a cleverly comedic lyric, but for this altogether more ambitious show constructed around the lives, (and deaths) of Henry VIII’s six wives, I wondered if he would still be able find the funny in this somewhat dry subject matter, and manage to mould it into a cohesive yet equally entertaining show? The answer is that in collaboration with Lucy Moss, he has not only equalled the irreverent entertainment of Hot Gay Time Machine, but has surpassed it with this hi-energy, impressively realised show.
It may have taken me a while to get to the party, SIX having originally been performed in 2017, but it’s safe to say my knowledge was already on a firmer footing regarding the history of this musical rather than it’s subject matter, having watched from afar as it’s increasing success was brought to an abrupt halt by the pandemic when, after a well-received London run, it’s Broadway debut was cancelled just three hours before the opening night, not to mention the aborted reopening of the touring show here in the UK, all of which is quite a story in itself. Tonight however, I finally got to see the six queens tell their story. Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived… ah yes… it was all starting to come back to me. If they had been alive today, I couldn’t help but wonder if the history books would have read, ‘divorced, died… cancelled’, such is the culture of the day.
The six queens actual fate may have already been sealed by history, but there is still plenty of room for Marlow and Moss to take sufficient poetic licence to make this musical soar, not least of which was having the SIX queens take it in turns to plead theirs is the story that contains the most suffering at the hands of Henry, and in doing so are competing to be the lead in this newly formed girl group. The show soon becomes an intoxicating mix of musical, review, pop concert and cabaret, all of which combine to create the ultimate feel-good night at the theatre.
With this crop of 9 original songs Marlow embraces, rather than tries to hide his musical influences, with flavours of Britney, Beyonce, Adele, Spice Girls and Little Mix all evident in the musical numbers but, along with his co-writer, they never loose sight of the need to entertain with decidedly more broader strokes, and songs like the irritatingly likeable Haus Of Holbein (guaranteed, if played loud, to clear the cobwebs on a dull winters afternoon) prove the writing couples capability of creating a theatrical musical score that is as fresh as it is original. Accompanied by faultless performances from the six leads, each one succeeds in the brief to outshine the other with their moment in the spotlight.
The only criticism is that this musical is noticeably short, which is not helped by the fact that SIX is so relentlessly engaging that it already feels a lot less than its 75min runtime. That being said, there is the distinct possibility that I learned more during this show than in three years of history lessons….and it was infinitely more fun.
Book your tickets for the true queens of the West End. I dare you to not be thoroughly entertained by this incredible feel-good show.
★★★★★
photographs: Pamela Raith
