Review: Six the Musical
Dec. 2nd, 2023 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaThe official summary (and by 'official' I mean 'from their own website'): "From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the SIX wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse – remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st century girl power!"
Unofficially: the framing device is that they're taking the stage at a pop show, and competing against each other to be the official lead singer - whoever had it worst from Henry wins. Each of them, naturally, gets their own song, plus a couple of full-cast numbers.
What did I think: ...I liked it?
The reason for the question mark is that it felt like an id show, where everything is surface level and any depth is brought by the audience. During the opening number, Jane Seymour sings, "I'm not what I seem, or am I? Stick around and you'll suddenly see more." Except you don't. Jane's song is about her loving Henry no matter what. It's a beautiful song! But it doesn't exactly have any ~revelations~ about Queen Number Three (Who Henry Truly Loved, Although Maybe Just Because She Gave Him A Son). It makes me wonder whether the show honestly expected its audience to know literally nothing about the queens beyond "just one word in a stupid rhyme," to quote one of the lyrics.
To be fair, part of this might be a casting issue - our Anne Boleyn, for example, came across as a catty Valley Girl with all the depth of a puddle in the parking lot. But the other part is that the program has "Queenspiration" listed for each queen, and even for the ones I recognized, I don't know them well enough to be sure I'd recognize the vibe. ...no seriously, who is Emeli Sande and what has she sung?
This isn't to say that the show wasn't occasionally clever in ways I did recognize. Haus of Holbein pops up in the middle with German techno music, which made Wife and I laugh, although our seat neighbors didn't get the joke. Katherine Howard's song starts out being about how sexy she is, and turns into being about how men have taken advantage of her for her entire life. And both the sets (an electronic backdrop, which allows for LED backgrounds as needed or appropriate) and the costumes (a glorious mash-up of pop-stars and Tudor) are well done.
The ending, though...the ending, to me, felt like it wanted to be more than it was. Catherine Parr argues that they can take back their story, make it about themselves instead of being about Henry. Which, yay! Cue song (Six) where they all get to play with Modern AU Where It's Not All About Henry, and it's fun, it's just...I don't know. I expected more, I suppose - more of the queens, more of their personalities, more that isn't just the same stuff I learned in high school history, more than just fun.
Your mileage may vary. That's the thing with id shows, after all: it's not just the show on stage, it's what you as the audience bring to it. And regardless of my mild disgruntlement, I'm still getting the album - half the songs stayed stuck in my head for days.
Unofficially: the framing device is that they're taking the stage at a pop show, and competing against each other to be the official lead singer - whoever had it worst from Henry wins. Each of them, naturally, gets their own song, plus a couple of full-cast numbers.
What did I think: ...I liked it?
The reason for the question mark is that it felt like an id show, where everything is surface level and any depth is brought by the audience. During the opening number, Jane Seymour sings, "I'm not what I seem, or am I? Stick around and you'll suddenly see more." Except you don't. Jane's song is about her loving Henry no matter what. It's a beautiful song! But it doesn't exactly have any ~revelations~ about Queen Number Three (Who Henry Truly Loved, Although Maybe Just Because She Gave Him A Son). It makes me wonder whether the show honestly expected its audience to know literally nothing about the queens beyond "just one word in a stupid rhyme," to quote one of the lyrics.
To be fair, part of this might be a casting issue - our Anne Boleyn, for example, came across as a catty Valley Girl with all the depth of a puddle in the parking lot. But the other part is that the program has "Queenspiration" listed for each queen, and even for the ones I recognized, I don't know them well enough to be sure I'd recognize the vibe. ...no seriously, who is Emeli Sande and what has she sung?
This isn't to say that the show wasn't occasionally clever in ways I did recognize. Haus of Holbein pops up in the middle with German techno music, which made Wife and I laugh, although our seat neighbors didn't get the joke. Katherine Howard's song starts out being about how sexy she is, and turns into being about how men have taken advantage of her for her entire life. And both the sets (an electronic backdrop, which allows for LED backgrounds as needed or appropriate) and the costumes (a glorious mash-up of pop-stars and Tudor) are well done.
The ending, though...the ending, to me, felt like it wanted to be more than it was. Catherine Parr argues that they can take back their story, make it about themselves instead of being about Henry. Which, yay! Cue song (Six) where they all get to play with Modern AU Where It's Not All About Henry, and it's fun, it's just...I don't know. I expected more, I suppose - more of the queens, more of their personalities, more that isn't just the same stuff I learned in high school history, more than just fun.
Your mileage may vary. That's the thing with id shows, after all: it's not just the show on stage, it's what you as the audience bring to it. And regardless of my mild disgruntlement, I'm still getting the album - half the songs stayed stuck in my head for days.