Hail to the queens: Smash musical 'Six,' about Henry VIII's wives, rules in OKC bow

All hail the half-dozen queens who seize the stage and remix their tragic fates in the innovative and empowering pop musical "Six."

A smash in London, on Broadway and on Tiktok, "Six" is making its Oklahoma City bow through Oct. 1 at Civic Center Music Hall as part of OKC Broadway's 2023-2024 season.  

Part pop concert and part history lesson — or "her-story" lesson — "Six" rules as must-see entertainment, receiving a raucous royal reception from the OKC audience at its Sept. 26 opening-night performance.

Here's what you need to know about 'Six':

What is 'Six' the musical about?

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss wrote the music, book and lyrics for "Six." They were still students at England's Cambridge University when they penned it to play at the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

The show went on to rule as a hit on London's West End in 2019, but it got off to a rough start on Broadway, closing in March 2020 on what was supposed to be its opening night due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, "Six" made a stunning comeback 18 months later in New York, where it now reigns as a bona fide Broadway sensation. 

The crowd-pleasing musical, which won 23 awards during the 2021-2022 theatrical season, including the Tony Award for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics), continues to play on both the West End and Broadway. Plus, two national tours are criss-crossing North America, with the supremely talented Boleyn Company performing in OKC.

"Six" abdicates the stage to the six ill-fated Tudor queens who married Henry VIII — Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr — who take their turns at the microphone, channel contemporary pop stars and rewrite their historical heartbreak. 

What can audiences expect from 'Six?'

For 80 thrilling minutes, the commanding cast and band of "Six" — who are all women or nonbinary performers — hold court in concert, with no intermission needed or desired.

The show wears its influences on its spangly sleeves: The program includes handy bios of all six queens and reveals the modern-day music superstars who provided the "Queenspiration" for their depictions in the show.

Rooted in the real-life drama royal hound dog Henry VIII continually created during his rather eventful reign — although the truth about certain aspects of these women's lives remains hotly debated among scholars — the songs are densely woven with historical facts, musical theater Easter eggs and current pop-culture references.

Given the pace of the show, the volume of the onstage band and the intricacy of the lyrics, it's impossible to catch every word during the show, but rest assured that YouTube will be there for you after the final bows. These songs will rule your brain for days, and most music fans, history buffs and theater enthusiasts will be eager to put the Tony-winning score on repeat so they can dive deeper into the tunefully spilled tea.

Envisioned as a royal talent contest in which "the queen who was dealt the worst hand shall be the one to lead the band," "Six" bows with a banger: The opening group number "Ex-Wives" gives an hip-shaking rundown of Henry VIII's ill-treated queens, who were, in order, "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived."

Which pop stars provide the inspiration for the queens of 'Six?'

The same order applies as each queen rules the stage for her solo number, with the other monarchs serving as backup singers and dancers. Gerianne Pérez regally portrays Henry VIII's loyal and long-suffering first wife Catherine of Aragon, bringing the diva energy of Beyonce and Shakira to the defiant anthem "No Way."

Zan Berube is irresistibly feisty as the controversial Anne Boleyn, whose cheeky pop-punk rave-up "Don't Lose Ur Head" channels Avril Lavigne and Lily Allen and wins the crown as the show's mightiest earworm.

As Jane Seymour, who delivered the son that earned Henry's love but tragically died in childbirth, Amina Faye belts the show's big piano power ballad, "Heart of Stone." And she delivers the eloquent power worthy of the song's "Queenspirations," Adele and Sia.

The story of fan-favorite Anna of Cleves gets a wunderbar polka-meets-dance-party setup with the group number "Haus of Holbein," a head-banging reference to the painter whose depiction of the German artistocrat famously brought her to Henry's attention. Inspired by Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, Anna of Cleves' rowdy rap anthem "Get Down" is a showstopper, and Terica Marie has the necessary skill, sass and sarcasm to turn the story of the harshly rejected queen into an unlikely triumph.

As the star-crossed and often-maligned Katherine Howard, Aline Mayagoitia gets one of the show's most infectious pop songs with "All You Wanna Do," which morphs into one of the most sobering moments of "Six." Just a teenager when she was wed to the 49-year-old Henry VIII, Howard was used and abused by powerful men for several years even before her doomed marriage, and the canny choice to model her after pop stars Britney Spears and Ariana Grande, who also were sexualized from a young age, only makes her sad story more resonant.

At the OKC opening-night performance, Kelsee Kimmel did justice to Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, with the soulful anthem "I Don't Need Your Love," which starts out as a mourful ode but gets a remix that sets up the show's empowering finale. Inspired by 15-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys, the number fittingly pays homage to Parr's protofeminist work as a writer, scholar and religious reformer.

The royals rebelliously rewrite history for the rousing finale "Six," which brought the OKC crowd cheering to its collective feet, the better to dance, clap and sing along to "The Megasix (Encore)."

How do the details in 'Six' pay homage to Tudor history?

The Boleyn Company of "Six" boasts six powerhouse leading ladies who know how to rule the stage. But The Ladies in Waiting band — Music Director Jane Cardona on keyboards, Sterlyn Termine on bass, Rose Laguana on guitars and Kami Lujan on drumes — prove royally entertaining as well.

It's interesting to note that the queenly characters don't refer to the band members by their real names, instead calling them Joan, Bessie, Maggie and Maria. That's because each musician actually takes on the persona of one of the monarchs' real ladies in waiting.

Details like that make "Six" so fun to savor, from the fashion in which costume designer Gabriella Slade incorporates historical tibits like Anne Boleyn's legendary ties to the folk song "Greensleeves" to the way Tom Curran's orchestrations reference 16th-century madrigals as well as 21st-century pop beats.

So, bend the knee and bow low, because "Six" deserves a crown for living up to its considerable hype.

'SIX'

• When: Through Oct. 1.

• Where: Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N Walker.

• Tickets: https://www.okcbroadway.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Smash musical 'Six,' about Henry VIII's wives, rules in OKC debut