“Off with her head!” is normally the quote people think of when recalling Anne Boleyn, one of King Henry VIII’s infamous wives. Yet, what about the other five wives? Each has their own story to tell, and Britain’s Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss are bringing their stories to life in a new Broadway musical.
Six, which is currently running at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, is set to hit Broadway in 2020. The show, which only clocks in at 80 minutes, features an all-female cast and all-female band, focusing on each woman’s miserable marriage. Directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage, the show will delve into the history of Henry’s six wives — Catherine of Aragon, Ann Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Ann of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr — all while dancing along to an original, pop score.
Marlow, who is only 24, had an idea for the show while daydreaming in a poetry class at Cambridge University, the New York Times notes, and Moss, 25, had never seen a Broadway show until earlier this year. The pair co-wrote the show for their first collaboration while still undergraduates at Cambridge. However, they didn’t expect the show to take off as much as it did; after scoring a slot at Cambridge’s festival by the musical theater society, Six was discovered by commercial producers. It’s already a hit on the West End in London and is concluding its 12-week sold-out run in Chicago, where it broke box office records.
Ahead of its Broadway opening, Six will play at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Citadel Theater in Edmonton, Alberta, the Ordway in St. Paul, Missouri, and will embark on a tour across Britain this October. It is set to begin previews at New York City’s Brooks Atkinson Theater on February 13, 2020, followed by an opening on March 12. Six heads to the stage as multiple Broadway shows are set to close this fall, including Pretty Woman, Waitress, and The Cher Show.