“Six: The Musical” is a fun, catchy, modern retelling of an integral time in British history with a dark comedic twist.

The premise of the show is the six wives of Henry the Eighth have formed their own pop-rock group, and you, the audience, are attending one of their first performances. However they have yet to decide which one of them is the leader of their group.The former queens address the audience and inform you that they are holding a competition. Whoever had “the biggest load of B.S.” to deal with while being married to Henry the Eighth will be the lead of the group. Thus each of the queens perform their own number explaining the hardships they went through, including Anne Boleyn’s ironically named “Don’t Lose Ur Head” and Katherine Howard’s raunchy recollection of her many affairs in her search for love in “All You Wanna Do”. 

The idea for the musical originated from Toby Marlow while he was studying for his final exams at Cambridge University. He then roped in his friend Lucy Moss, to help him write it while the two were taking their exams for their final year of college. 

Each number is structured like a pop concert we would see today would be, right down to the flashy costumes and colorful laser light displays. The songs feature a twist of dark comedy, and the modern retelling of the tales make it something many can relate to and laugh at despite the stories taking place in a much different time. An example being the show relates the tale of Henry the Eighth falling in love with a beautiful painting of Anna of Cleaves only to find out she was far from beautiful in real life, to being catfished on a dating website.

The musical has won several awards, including Best Off-West-End Production and Outstanding Music Direction. “Six: The Musical” toured the United Kingdom in 2018, and is currently touring the United States prior to its Broadway debut scheduled for 2020.

The thing I enjoy most about this show is that it really has something for everyone, even those folks who aren’t theater fanatics. For those who want to try getting into musical theater soundtracks, this show is perfect as it has all the theatrical characteristics of show-tunes under the guise of a pop-rock song you’d hear on the radio still today. For those who have no interest in musical theater, the songs are still catchy and fun to sing along to. So if you’re looking for a laugh or even just trying to find a fun way to study for that British history test, I highly suggest giving this musical a listen.