All you wanna do is Get Down to the Haus of Six at the Arts Theatre in London to see this show that people are losing their heads over, it’ll build you up and tear you down but there’s No Way you’d want to miss out on this show, you won’t need anything else, all you’ll need Is SIX!
If you don’t know anything about Six, it is based around the six wives of Henry the 8th, competing for who had the most tragic story and therefore should be leader of the group that they were all in.
Six originated at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was written by two Cambridge college students; Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow – who wanted to experiment with the ‘traditional’ musical standards.
One of the ways it differs from the more traditional musicals is that it uses pop music style rather than the music in musicals such as Les Mis or other ‘older’ musicals. On top of that, each of the Queens is inspired by female artists you hear on the radio:
Catherine of Aragon – Beyonce and Shakira
Anne Boleyn – Lily Allen and Avril Lavigne
Jane Seymour – Adele and Sia
Anna of Cleves – Nicki Minaj and Rihanna
Katherine Howard – Britney Spears and Ariana Grande
Catherine Parr – Alicia Keys and Emeli Sande.
Her-story fact files:
The Cast!
First up we have Jarneia Richard-Noel who was the fierce and fabulous Catherine of Aragon! I loved how fierce Jarneia was!! Her performance was amazing! She had great energy and vocals to match. As one of the only principals I saw, it was great to see her have the amount of chemistry she had with the alternates! I enjoyed No Way live! As you’ll find out there was very little on the cast recording I gelled with but hearing all the songs live made me love them all! Jarneia’s fierce and bold vocals definitely helped! One of Aragon’s Queenspirations is Beyonce and you can 100% tell that from Jarneia’s performance!!
The other principal I got to see was Millie O’Connell as Anne Boleyn!! I’m glad I got to see her before she left on the 13th of Oct! I always found Boleyn’s song to be a little cringy and wasn’t overly fussed about the song on the soundtrack but after seeing Millie perform it at West End Live and then at the Arts Theatre it made me love the song and character! Millie was hilarious as Boleyn – a little firecracker! I really enjoyed the innuendos and banter that she had with the other queens – easily one of the most funny performances of the night!! Whilst I’m sad I only got to see Millie as Boleyn once I’m glad I got to and I hope I get the chance to see her in the upcoming production of Soho Cinders!
Ok Wow! Next up we have Hana Stewart who was portraying Jane Seymour for the performance! This was her second-ever performance (the first being the earlier matinee)! She slayed it! Her version of Heart of Stone was breathtaking. You wouldn’t know she was an alternate or that it was her first day at all! She sang it so so well you could feel every word and lyric! She was an incredible Jane and I’m so happy I got to see her and that she’s part of the 19/20 Six West End Cast!! Hope I get to see her again in the future!
Ok, you have to go see Shekinah as Cleves on the tour!! She was hilarious!! Her performance made me laugh and smile so much! She, like Jarneia, was super feisty which was fun to see! I’ll be honest Get Down was probably my most skipped Six songs prior to seeing the stage show but after seeing it with the context I never skip it! I can see how Nicki Minaj is one of Cleves’ queenspirations! Shekinah gave me so many Nicki vibes! I’m really glad I was able to witness her as Cleves!! Good news if you didn’t get to see her as an alternate on the West End she is now full-time Cleves in the Six Tour!! You wouldn’t wanna miss her performance!!
All I wanna do is try and get someone to see Six with me before Vicki leaves in December!! From the minute I really started listening to Six I have always loved Howard – she goes through so much in her song and I just wanna get her out of the situation she’s in. I loved the song even more live! You can really get to know Howard’s story so much more and when it’s live you can really feel the lyrics and the pain! Vicki was an amazing Howard, it’s no wonder that she’s been promoted to the principal Howard till December! Really hope I can try to convince someone to go with me!
As mentioned above, from the start I have always been a Howard girl but after seeing it live my Howard love is tied with my Catherine Parr love! I Don’t Need Your Love is such a good power anthem! You really need to experience it live to fully appreciate it!! Collette was an incredible Parr! During the show my mum mentioned that she reminded her of Heather Morris from Glee and I agreed, it wasn’t until I was reading the programme on my way home, that I saw that she was the Dance Captain! Her incredible dancing makes sense now! Not only was she an amazing dancer who draws your eyes to her she’s also a great singer…damn Collette save some talent for the rest of us please! XD
Some Other Thoughts
I loved all the banter and the laughs that all the queens were having on stage, you could tell they were all bonded and that they were having the times of their lives up there!
Overall!
Overall I loved six WAY more than I expected to! Whilst far from being considered a serious musical (Think Phantom or Les Miserables), I think it deserves all of the praise that it’s getting! It’s a fun,
Favourite song: I Don’t Need Your Love
Top Tip: Whilst you aren’t allowed to film the entire show, you are allowed to film the megamix…or in this case the MegaSix at the end! If you want to film I recommend you have your phones ready!
If you like the sound of this musical and would like to book tickets you can book them below! Get your tickets here!
If you want to buy a recording of the show to listen to you can do so here;
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Jess
15th October 2019This just makes me so exicted for Jan!!
mollyponders
15th October 2019Yess!
Katy
15th October 2019Sounds fabulous!