Review: SIX at Orpheum Theatre

Six wives, six women, six individual stories all bonded by marriage to Henry VIII. Playwrights Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss explore each woman from their perspectives through a boisterous musical score mirroring easily recognizable contemporary pop and R&B vocalists. Not so much a history lesson as a bonding sisterhood tome, SIX is a high-powered, crowd-pleasing rock musical worthy of its many awards including Tony Award. for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics).

The setup is both simple and crafted to rouse audiences familiar with competition shows like American Idol and America's Got Talent. After introducing the queens in the opening number, a competition ensues to see who's sob story takes the crown. Backed by an all-female four-piece onstage band, each queen then gets a solo number to 'sell it to the judges' (the audience of course).

The order of wives' numbers is chronological, so up first is Catherine of Aragon played with sass and bravado by Khaila Wilcoxon who shows her defiance to forced nunhood in "No Way". Anne Boleyn (Storm Lever) sings "Don't Lose Ur Head", a heavy-handed nod and wink to her beheading. She'll use that fact as a trump hand in trying to win the title. Jane Seymour (Jasmine Forberg) sings the first ballad. Actually in love with Henry, she died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child. She's chided for dying of natural causes.

There's a funny dayglo ensemble number recalling how Henry found and married his fourth wife, the German princess Anna of Cleves. "Hans of Holbein" has Henry swiping left or right with potentials, a gag that got a huge laugh with the digital dating site app crowd. Anna (Olivia Donalson), rejected for her plain looks, extols the perks of queendom in "Get Down. Katherine Howard (Didi Romero), a true beauty and sexpot, fears all men just want one thing in her number "All You Wanna Do". Last up is Katherine Parr (Gabriela Carrillo), who outlived Henry. Her indifference is highlighted in "I Don't Need Your Love."

The score will remind folks of singers from Christine Aguilera to Beyonce, while Tony-winner Gabrielle Slade's costumes look like she had a field day in the metallic sparkle section of Mood. All the queens have powerful pop chops and the play moves briskly through its 85 minutes.

The fates of these women is mentioned frequently: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, and survived. History hasn't been kind to many of them, rocked by scandal, infidelity or disinterest from Henry. When the queens decide not to compete and instead unite against their common foe, SIX morphs into an empowering sister story where each reclaims their story. It's all great fun.

SIX continues through March 19th, 2023. Tickets available at 888-746-1799 or online at www.broadwaysf.com

Photo credit: Joan Marcus

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