Review of 'Six'

https://thevaudevilletheatre.co.uk/tickets/six/

“Six” is a riotous rock musical telling the story of each of the six wives of Henry VIII. Over the course of 80 minutes (no interval) each of the wives tell their story via amazing choreography and song. This is an amazing “girl power” musical with powerful and often moving songs that seem to demand you stand up and start dancing with enjoyable numbers such as “No Way” and “All You Wanna Do” never mind the signature track “Ex-Wives”. The cast are joined on the (small) stage with a live 4-piece orchestra (two guitars, keyboard and drums).

Ever since I first saw the songs performed at “West End Live” I have become addicted to the many ear candies that are present here. I have since purchased the album and all but memorized them all. This amazingly fun and vibrant music is brought to life on the small stage (leading to some incredibly coordinated choreography) of the Vaudeville Theatre by some amazing talent. We saw the second cast which is Amy Di Bartomoleo (Catherine of Aragon), Amanda Lindgren (Anne Boleyn going on about her having suffered the most from being beheaded), Claudia Kariuki (Jane Seymour), Dionne Ward-Anderson (Anna of Cleves rejected by Henry after being moved to England from her home in Germany), Tsemaye Bob-Egbe (Katherine Howard), and Meesha Turner (Catherine Parr). For the most part all of the cast perform their pieces incredibly well though my musical companion did detect a few slight duff notes in the lower registers by Kariuki in “Heart of Stone” which she manages to shove out of the way as the song progresses. Otherwise the range of the singers is truly incredible as they work their way through the incredible harmonies of the soundtrack that takes in the gamut from slow and contemplative (“Hear of Stone”) to fast rock to German music parody (“Haus of Holbein”).

Some historical purists may be left cold by the heavy rock and somewhat irreverential attitude of the wives but setting this aside the musical is a lot of fun. Mind you, I continue to enjoy listening to the Spice Girls…Sure, it doesn't have any particularly deep message but it warms your heart which, let's be honest, is one of the best bits of musical theatre. I love it.

Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”

Review Date: 2022-01-20

Location: London (England)

Address: 404 Strand, London WC2R 0NH ENGLAND

Public Transport: Temple Charing Cross Covent Garden

Telephone: +44 (0) 330 333 4814

URL: https://thevaudevilletheatre.co.uk/

A small theatre on the Strand that features shorter run shows. There is a bar area on the first floor between the dress circle and upper circle. With the (small) size of the venue and the stage all seats feel quite close to the action.