Exclusive: SIX Director Recalls Feeling ‘Complete Disbelief’ They Finally Opened After COVID Shutdown

When Six began its first preview on February 13, 2020, at Broadway’s Lena Horne Theatre (then the Brooks Atkinson), no one knew it would be more than a year and a half until its opening night. 

However, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the unprecedented 18-month shutdown of Broadway shows — and Six was supposed to open the night the Great White Way was put on pause. 

“We’d been working so hard,” Jamie Armitage, who co-directed the musical alongside Lucy Moss, exclusively tells BroadwayWorld. 

“It felt like we’d got near the summit of the mountain and then had to stop,” he says. “It was a very dislocating experience as it was for so many. But I think coming back on the other side and knowing that we were going to be the first new musical to open after the pandemic — and what that somehow came to represent about theater’s return to New York — was very, very special.” 

When Six finally opened on October 3, 2021, it became the first new musical to officially open on Broadway since the beginning of the pandemic — and it served as a celebration for the entire community. 

“It was complete disbelief,” Armitage — the writer-director of A Ghost in Your Ear, now playing at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre — recalls. “I think we all kind of struggled to express it to one another.” 

Looking back on the night, he remembers “it was a lot of holding one another and trying to print this moment in our memories forever.” 

“It’s just a sensation of genuine achievement that we could be proud of and something that we would remember for the rest of our lives,” he says.

Though Broadway came back after such a sudden halt, things have never been quite the same since the COVID-19 pandemic. Shows seem to be experiencing shorter shelf lives, but there was something about Six that had a lasting power. 

When Six closes on January 3, 2027, it will be nearly seven years since its first performance on February 13, 2020.  

“It seemed to encourage a beautiful form of fandom where people could see themselves in a show and see elements of their personality reflected in our amazing performers,” Armitage reflects. “We always really embraced the individuality of who was in that show.” 

The director says that what he also loves about Six is that “anyone can come along and have a great time.” 

“One of the things that always makes me proudest is when you can see a dad who’s brought along his teenage daughters to see the show, and maybe he’s a bit [apprehensive], then suddenly after five minutes, he’s having an amazing time,” Armitage points out. 

The message, he says is, “You’re all welcome here.” 

“And I think Six seems to do that pretty well,” he says.