The North American Tour Boleyn Company of SIX. (Photo by Joan Marcus)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
Hollywood Pantages
Thru March 8
RECOMMENDED
Emma Elizabeth Smith (Photo by Joan Marcus)
If you are feeling frightened and frustrated by the state of the union and the world, a healthy dose of Sixmay be in order.
The musical, now playing at the Pantages through March 8, is a blitz of glitz guaranteed to lift your spirits and help you face the world again. Call it the willful suspension of angst.
Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, this musical about the six wives of Henry the VIII began as a student production at Cambridge, where Marlow and Moss met. After a sold-out run at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe, it has since exploded into a beloved fan phenom, with productions still running on the West End and Broadway.
Part of a North American tour, the Pantages production has been co-directed by Moss with Jamie Armitrage, Moss’s co-director on all major productions since the Fringe. Music supervisor Joe Beighton and choreographer Carrie-Anne Ingrouille have also been onboard since its inception, as have scenic designer Emma Bailey, costume designer Gabriella Slade, lighting designer Tim Deiling, and sound designer Paul Gatehouse.
Little could they know it at the time, but those creators were hopping aboard the Little Engine that Could, a durable entertainment machine that shows no signs of slowing down. Their combined expertise is apparent, most notably in Marlow and Moss’s dynamic staging— an aerobic bombardment of showstoppers that never flags. Among the superlative design elements are Slade’s Tony-winning costumes—all bustiers, exposed midriffs, and swirling mini-skirts— that blow the dust off of history and put us firmly in pop-rock territory.
The Wives are played by Emma Elizabeth Smith (Catherine of Aragon), Nella Cole (Anne Boleyn), Kelly Denice Taylor (Jane Seymour), Hailey Alexis Lewis (Anna of Cleves), Alizè Cruz (Katherine Howard), and Tasia Jungbauer (Catherine Paar). A true ensemble in the best sense, all are powerhouse performers who tear into their roles with gusto. The audience, many of whom I suspected were dedicated Six afficionados, responded with roaring approbation throughout.
The Wives’ solos, delivered in the chronological order of Henry’s marriages, are linked by the repeated refrain “Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived”— a concise summary of their ultimate fates and the terror they experienced at the whims of the bullying, brutish spouse whom they struggled to appease.
The flimsy premise has the wives competing for the distinction of who will be deemed the most historically significant among them. Of course, their “contest” resolves in a feel-good ending, as all come to the mutual realization that they are not adversaries but rather sisters in adversity.
It’s hardly a feminist manifesto, but this lighter than air and distinctively original show will let you put your worries on hold for a brisk 80 minutes or so. With the increasingly dire reports that bombard us on a daily basis, pure escapism is to be cherished. And so is Six.
The Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; check website for schedule; thru March 8. https://theatreinla.tixculture.com/los-angeles/shows/29742-six-scfta 80 minutes with no intermission.
