REVIEW: 'Six' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
- We Talk Theatre
- Nov 5, 2024
- 3 min read
Review from - October 30th, 2024 (Opening Night)
Pictured: The Cast of SIX
Divorced, beheaded, and live in living colour are Henry VIII’s wives in the return season of
Six the musical, the ex-fringe show progeny of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss turned
international social media phenomenon, where the gals reclaim their narrative via pop-
infused feminist herstory.
The premise of the show is simple: whichever queen can prove that they had the worst time
with Henry by way of paying homage to various recording artists in their character number
will become the leader of the band.
Pictured: Kimberley Hodgson as Catherine of Aragon
Kimberley Hodgson’s Catherine of Aragon is in the trickiest position, having to present the
safest of the songs, “No Way”, to define the palette of the show at the risk of being lost in
memory; however, Hodgson makes an indelible mark on the tone of the show with her gusto
and, notably, her ability to riff both vocally and comedically on the material.
Fresh off her stint in The Rocky Horror Show, Deirdre Khoo plays Anne Boleyn, whose
tendency to run her mouth and insist people “Don’t Lose Ur Head” leads to her famous fate
of decapitation. Khoo presents a more interesting study on Boleyn, framed more as a girl
who never lost her childlike zest, which causes fantastic tension with the other queens
holding their heads so high.
Pictured: Loren Hunter as Jane Seymour
Loren Hunter, a life member of the Australian company, returns as Jane Seymour, boy-mum
and “the only one he truly loved”, and she brings an entirely different slant than that of my
previous experience in 2021. Here, her Jane is more refined, more self-assured, and raspier
in her ballad “Heart of Stone”, rendering a far more impactful experience.
Hamilton alumna Zelia Rose Kitoko as Anna of Cleves provoked my interest the most, being
from a burlesque background and therefore having a more eclectic approach to
performance. The structure of the musical numbers – broadly: verse-chorus-verse-chorus-
bridge-another chorus where they riff for their lives – benefits Kitoko the most, as the
flexibility and rubato of the home stretch gives her the room to demonstrate some incredible
vocal stylings.
Pictured: Chelsea Dawson as Katherine Howard
Rounding out the sextet are Chelsea Dawson’s Katherine Howard, who delivers the most
complex and emotional showtune in all of musical theatre, “All You Wanna Do”, and Giorgia
Kennedy’s Catherine Parr, both of whom present the sobering reality at the core of the show:
women have not been treated kindly in history nor in modernity, and the best ending is to
pick up the scraps of pride society cares to spare and turn it into empowerment for everyone
around us.
Pictured: The Cast of SIX
From the all-female cast to the all-female band to librettist Lucy Moss being the youngest
female-identifying director of a Broadway musical in over 40 years, Six is a true celebration
of unapologetic femininity and, most importantly, the healing power of community, whether it be a common husband that binds you, or a passion for music, or even mutual divorce or
beheading.
Six runs for 80 exhilarating minutes and plays at the Theatre Royal Sydney until 28
December 2024; from there, it plays at the Playhouse Theatre at the QPAC in Brisbane from
2 January 2024, The Civic in Auckland from 27 February 2024, and Newcastle’s Civic
Theatre from 10 April 2024.
Tickets available via sixthemusical.com.au
Review by Jack Madden
Produced by We Talk Theatre
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