Review: Fast-paced and fun, 'Six' musical channels Adele, Rihanna
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The king is dead; long live his queens.
Savvy, feisty and tuneful in bestowing belated power and voice to the six wives of Henry VIII, “Six” bedazzles.
The electrifying national tour of the 2022 musical, which opened Jan. 24 to a sold-out crowd at the Ohio Theatre, recasts one of the bloodier royal eras into a modern feminist ode to six much-abused women.
Fans of today’s touring-concert spectacles especially can enjoy this currently-hot Broadway hit even if they have scant interest in British history.
As a sharp 80-minute one-act without much plot or depth of characterization, “Six” makes virtues of its limitations by well-calibrating the duration of its reign over the audience.
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Surprisingly, given how almost all the wives end up divorced, beheaded or otherwise dead, “Six” ends up being lots of fun. Not that the six wives, exuberantly played by performers eager to top each other in concert-style competition, don’t make ruefully clear their stories of suffering.
British co-creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss cleverly lace their revisionist reinterpretations throughout the fast-paced show, but they don’t let polemics get in the way of entertainment.
Buoyed by the tight script, Tony-winning pop-rock score, glittering design, diverse casting and high-energy atmosphere, the six leading ladies come alive as somehow both traumatized historical figures and modern pop divas.
Co-directors Moss and Jamie Armitage knit together the fizzy, bickering and amusing ensemble while each Tudor queen tackles a powerhouse solo loosely inspired by a different pop diva.
Commanding and in control from the get-go, Khaila Wilcoxon struts her considerable stuff as Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s first wife. Wilcoxon takes the lead in introducing the show and its girl-power concept while belting out “No Way” with Shakira-level conviction.
Cassie Silva (replacing Storm Lever) plays Anne Boleyn with snarky charm and sarcastic humor. Before and after her passionate rendition of “Don’t Lose Ur Head,” Silva interrupts other wives with frequent reminders of her famous beheading.
As Jane Seymour, Henry’s third and beloved wife, Jasmine Forsberg invests deep emotionality into soaring vocals for “Heart of Stone,” a soulful Adele-style anthem of constancy and devotion.
Channeling Nicki Minaj and Rihanna as childless Anna of Cleves, Olivia Donalson joyously sustains the peppy rhythms of “Get Down.”
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As “unchaste” but childless Katherine Howard, Henry’s executed fifth wife, Didi Romero revels in the naughty humor and seductive exhibitionism of the Britney-Spears-style “All You Wanna Do.”
In a refreshing down-shift of pace and tone, Gabriela Carrillo connects to the humanity, grief and gratitude in Catherine Parr, Henry’s surviving sixth wife.
Her Alicia-Keys-style “I Don’t Need Your Love” becomes an anthem for all six wives about the power of choice as they recast history into “her-story.”
Backed by the four hard-driving women of the onstage band, amplified by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s deft choreography and strikingly embodied in Gabriela Slade’s Tony-winning costumes of period armor and royal flash, the well-knit cast develops vivid personalities via sound, movement and image.
Together, the 10 women onstage sustain a production so full of sass and power that they could energize an evening twice as long.
Virtually the seventh major character, the audience plays a larger role in “Six” than most musicals – so be prepared to clap along.
Although clapping and cheering are encouraged, these performers deserve it unasked.
“Six,” sold out, continues through Jan. 29 at the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St. (cbusarts.com).
@mgrossberg1
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Six Broadway musical brings high energy show to Ohio Theatre
