DETROIT, MI–A tightly wound musical that creatively redefines the history (or her-story) of the six wives of monarch Henry VIII, the rowdy, sassy musical “Six” doesn’t hold back and is a total blast from start to finish. 

It’s hard enough to formulate a top tier band these days let alone find one who shares a common denominator: in this case, imagine if all of the singers had an abusive, traumatic, and murderous relationship with former King Henry VIII. Thankfully, it’s been a long time since the 1500s and morals have certainly changed, which allows these queens the ability to recontextualize how abnormal these encounters and courtships were. You know, like how Henry had his wife, Anne Boleyn, beheaded with no real evidence and then the very next day was engaged. As someone cheerfully says in the show: “Different times.” 

Co-writers and directors Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss have created a lively, hip, and ingenious premise wherein the jaded wives, Catherine of Aragon, Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Kathrine Howard, and Catherine Parr, are a girl band modeled after the likes of Fifth Harmony, Spice Girls, with singular inspiration provided ala Beyonce, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Avril Lavigne, who are basically trying to find closure for their tumtulous marriages and, in some cases, unexpected deaths. Ran over the course of a brisk unabridged 80-minute presentation, each queen is given the spotlight and a kick-ass, sometimes immaculate choreographed, song to plead their case to the audience as to why their brief stay with Henry was far worse than the others. Boleyn might have the advantage considering the whole “off with your head” thing, but each of the characters certainly make a strong case. 

Read the rest of Nate Adams review here.