Review: SIX at Des Moines Performing Arts

Every once in a while, a show finds its own path. "Six" started as a group of Cambridge University students at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 before embarking on a UK tour. It continued building excitement with a West End Run before launching a pre-Broadway Tour and an eventual Broadway Run. The US national tour is making its second stop in Des Moines this week at Des Moines Performing Arts, and almost 10 years later, the show still has the same level of excitement it did then.

We all heard of Henry VIII and his six wives, either in history class or a PBS documentary, but whose version of the story have we heard? "Six" gives each of Henry's wives a chance to tell their story. And they do it as a contest. They tell us at the beginning of the show that each Queen will get a chance to tell her story, and the audience will get a chance at the end to vote on who had the worst marriage to Henry. How similar are their stories, and who wins? To find that out, you'll have to go to the show. You might could even lose your head with excitement.

What makes "Six" the success it is, and warrants a return trip to Des Moines? The show allows the story and the characters to be what is most important. If we go back to our theatre history and directing classes, we find that, according to Aristotle's Poetics, the two most essential parts of a show are plot and character. Emma Bailey captures this in her set, with an open area at the front of the stage for the show and a raised section for the band. She continues her set by giving the "queens" a raised portion at upstage center, ensuring the focus and storytelling are always in the queens' hands.  There are some fun surprises in the set for different scenes, but it never pulls focus from the story.

The idea of the story and character being the primary focus continues with Gabriella Slade's costumes. While the materials used in the costumes tie them together, each costume also has its own individual details.  The details that make each Queen stand out include the color of each costume and the crown each Queen wears.  Having seen the show before, I appreciated seeing more of the individual details in each costume.

You can't talk about "Six" without talking about the six amazing women who bring the characters of each Queen to life on the stage. At opening night, our Queendom was ruled by  Emma Elizabeth Smith, Nella Cole, Kelly Denice Taylor, Hailey Alexis Lewis, Alizé Cruz, and Tasia Jungbaur. Through humor and heart, each lady does a phenomenal job bringing their respective queens to the stage. While each of these ladies gives powerful vocal performances, it's when they come together as a group that we realize it's not one of their stories that makes this Tony-winning show so successful. It's the impact they have together that makes for a truly unforgettable evening.