Theatre review: Henry VIII's queens bring down history and the house in defiantly catchy SIX
In girl power–fuelled show, performers channel sounds of Beyoncé, Lily Allen, and more in turning the tables on doomed relationships
Danielle Mendoza in SIX. Photo by Joan Marcus
Broadway Across Canada presents SIX: The Musical at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre to May 18
ROYALTY HAS ARRIVED in Vancouver and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre is an appropriately named venue to host some divine monarchs this week. The smash Broadway musical SIX is in town, care of Broadway Across Canada, and on opening night, the queens ate and left no crumbs.
Directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, SIX is a pop concert–style retelling of the stories of the six wives of Henry VIII. Each queen performs a song detailing her doomed relationship with Henry to get the audience on their side and be crowned the leader of the group. There’s plenty of tea to spill, from messy divorces to messy deaths that include beheading.
Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s Tony Award–winning score is composed of catchy, girl power–fuelled songs that sound more like commercial pop than musical theatre.
As with Hamilton, we see a funky blend of period and modern fashion, such as metallic-sheen corsets combined with fishnets and sparkly boots, thanks to costume designer Gabriella Slade.
The 80-minute, no-intermission experience is like being at a concert, with all the queens repeatedly bringing down the house with dynamite vocals, set to Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s fierce hip-hop and commercial-jazz choreography.
In this retelling of “her-story”, each queen’s musical style—or “queenspiration”—ties into current musical artists. Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon (the powerhouse Chani Maisonet), echoes Beyoncé and Shakira, and her solo “No Way” is an anthem for strength displaying the same defiance she showed when she refused Henry’s wish to send her away to a convent.
Anne Boleyn (a hilarious Gaby Albo) embodies the cheekiness of Lily Allen and Avril Lavigne—a mischievous attitude that causes her to lose her head in more ways than one. In her solo “Heart of Stone”, Jane Seymour (a passionate Kelly Denice Taylor) exudes Adele and Sia–like emotional pain. The party is turned up a notch by the fun-loving Anna of Cleves (the playful Danielle Mendoza), giving off Nicki Minaj and Rihanna vibes in “Get Down”.
The drama heightens with the last two queens, Katherine Howard (Alizé Cruz) and Catherine Parr (at this performance, Taylor Sage Evans), each showing the darkness and broken hearts that lie under the surface. Cruz delivers a layered emotional performance in her Ariana Grande and Britney Spears–inspired “All You Wanna Do”, and Evans carries the emotional storytelling even further in her Alicia Keys and Emeli Sandé–flavoured “I Don’t Need Your Love”.
SIX demonstrates how much storytelling can be accomplished in a single song. It’s all too easy to get lost in the fun of one of SIX’s songs, only to realize afterward that you just learned about someone’s entire life. And this creative storytelling extends beyond the music and lyrics. In the Eurovision-like “Haus of Holbein”, the cast compares Henry VIII’s wife-selection process to Tinder, with Mendoza embodying possible love matches for Henry getting swiped either left or right.
Be prepared to scream and cheer throughout—and to dance at the end. In fact, Anna of Cleves may even appoint you as her bestie and command you to get up and dance in the middle of the performance. If this happens, just roll with it. After all, the fun in this show is driven by messages of empowerment, individuality, and sisterhood. Find your inner queen at SIX. 
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