Interview: Cecilia Snow of SIX at Saenger Theatre

A witty, pop-fueled musical on par with a Spice Girls concert, SIX THE MUSICAL remixes the history of the six wives of the notorious King Henry VIII as they take to the microphone to reclaim their HERstories once, and for all.

Since its early days as a student production in a 100-seat room at Sweet Venue during the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, SIX has become a global phenomenon. Its studio album has achieved in excess of 500 million streams across all platforms worldwide, and over 3 billion views on TikTok.

BroadwayWorld.com sat down with Cecilia Snow to talk about how she prepared to be the wife of a king, using pop music as a vehicle for telling history and what audiences can expect from this production.

BWW: Can you tell our readers what SIX is all about and what they can expect when they come to see the show?

Snow: SIX is the story about King Henry VIII's six wives with a feminine twist. It's all told from their perspective. You're going to come in, you're going to laugh a lot, it is a funny show, it's very witty. You might get a tad bit emotional, but I think also you're going to leave feeling empowered. While there is an overall arc and a storyline, it ultimately feels like a pop concert just mixed in with really well-written scenes as well.

BroadwayWorld.com: What did you know about this historical time period beforehand?

Snow: Pretty much nothing. I didn't know a whole lot about Tudor history, I didn't know the royals at all other than current stuff like Queen Elizabeth and now King Charles. But I didn't know anything about Henry VIII, and I found the fact that he didn't live very long, he was like 65 when he died, and he managed to have six wives. I was so intrigued by that concept. And then the fact that he had killed some of them. It was all very strange to me, and so after hearing the music to SIX, I did a little more research and found how much these women really did change the course of history and his marriages to them and how all of that changed everything as well. It was just so fascinating how powerful they were and how much focus there is on Henry but in actuality, the women were controlling some of these situations in a way that we don't care about.

BWW: Can you share how you prepared for your role? What is your take on your Queen's story?

Snow: So, I'm an alternate, so I cover three queens. I've officially debuted all of them: Aragon, Seymour and Cleves. Each of them are based on different pop stars, and so I have specific people in mind for each of them. Aragon is more of a Beyoncé, J-Lo vibe. Seymour for me is like Adele, Tori Kelly and Kelly Clarkson. Cleves is based on Lizzo and I throw in a little Alexis Rose from Schitt's Creek as well. Preparing for those roles, I turned to a lot of music by those artists, which naturally I already do but then also got to know the characters and who they were in real life, who they are in the show. There were a lot of vocal exercises, we did a lot of acting exercises too in rehearsals with everyone. It was almost like theatre camp where you go and play fun games and pretend to be this person.

BWW: What are your thoughts on using pop music as a vehicle to tell this story?

Snow: I love it personally. I do love pop music, I think it gets a bad rep, especially in musical theatre like it's a cop-out, but I think when it's done right when it's done well, it really can amplify a storyline. Especially in a show like this, it is pop music, but we didn't take Beyoncé's songs and put them into the show, it's all original music. You're gonna feel that pop inspiration through each song and it might even remind you of a specific artist who you love listening to. I think it can be a wonderful vehicle to move the plot along when it's done right, and I think it in this show is done right.

BWW: Was there anything particularly interesting you've learned about these historical women?

Snow: I found Catherine of Aragon very inspiring. She was very well-off in Spain and had exceptional parents. Her mother taught her how to fight, which back then women were not taught how to fight. She knew how to read, how to write and how to fight in battle. She married King Henry, after marrying his brother who then died, and then while King Henry was at war, she ran the country, which also is unheard of. At the beginning of their marriage, the two of them loved each other so deeply and respected each other. And the fact that the king, who has all the power in the world, respected his wife enough to run the country at a time when women were no more than childbearing tools says a lot about her as a person and says a lot about how he felt about her. She was also an exceptional debater. The entire song, "No Way," is based around when she went into court when Henry was like, "I'm going to divorce you." And she went in and pled her case when she wasn't supposed to and wound up winning that fight. The Pope decided that King Henry VIII couldn't divorce her on any sort of legal grounds because of what she had to say. She was wildly intelligent, so smart and extremely dutiful, and did not waver from the path even though her husband wavered more times than imaginable. And I found that so inspiring. I think she is such a badass to be perfectly honest.

BWW: So how do you think SIX fits in the context of the new wave of historical musicals like Hamilton? What is it about these shows that are capturing the hearts of younger audiences?

Snow: I think when the music is relevant to the times the young people are going to hop on board. So when you have things like Hamilton where there's a lot R&B, there's a lot of rap in there, I think the younger generation is naturally, at very least, intrigued by it. What the average person thinks of musical theatre is not rap, so I think that at least is going to capture their eye. And with SIX, kind of the same thing, the music reminds you of that artist that you are listening to regularly. It's got so many Beyoncé vibes, it's got so many Arianna Grande vibes, and there's Britney in there as well. At the heart of it, any generation can be captured if you have a good story to tell. These women lived extraordinary lives, and the complexity of their relationship with each other, to their husband, it's a fascinating thing to discuss. When you have a good story, when you have good characters, that will in itself allow people to gravitate towards it. I think the music and the storyline that's what people are gonna be drawn to and when those things are done exceptionally well the age doesn't matter.

BWW: In six words or less, what is the core message of the show?

Snow: Stay true and be super fierce.

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