Are you a fan of British history? Do you unapologetically stan female pop sensations? Do you believe that we should be demystifying the landscape of musical theatre by introducing popular cultural forms that speak to a wide range of audiences? Then do I have the musical for you: SIX the musical, written by two university students procrastinating for their exams, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. It follows the six wives of Henry VIII as they form a girl group in retaliation to the sexist historians who’ve conveniently forgotten their lives apart from Henry. They attempt to prove who’s the most significant queen by bearing the “biggest load of BS to deal with from the man who put a ring on it” (Anne of Cleves, 2017). Essentially, it’s god-tier historical shitposting as a means of exploring the trauma of a toxic relationship — just really gay. And I love that.
But what makes this musical fantastic isn’t the amazing cast, the talented writers, or the costumes that, as one YouTube commenter puts it, look like they were bejewelled with the tears of Henry VIII. It’s the music that has stirred up a lot of controversy in the Musical Community™, being more overtly produced than your standard musical soundtrack. Each of the queens were based on real life pop sensations, from Beyoncé to Adele to Alicia Keys. Many avid musical fans were originally put off by this, as pop music apparently doesn’t carry enough artistic weight to be incorporated into musical theatre. However, I think the beauty of the music is its female-driven pop roots: it’s a celebration which carries thematic significance.
Just think about it: the whole story is about the six wives re-claiming their story and de-centring themselves from Henry. What better way to do that than to use a musical style that has been majorly scrutinised as being culturally inferior to tell the stories of six overshadowed women? The best example of this is Katherine Howard’s song All You Wanna Do, which borrows the musical stylings of young, over-sexualised pop stars like Britney Spears and Ariana Grande. It sheds light on the trauma and abuse Howard faced because of her youth and beauty, subverting the mainstream portrayal of her as a promiscuous mistress. She was, by the way, sexually abused when she was 14 and married Henry when she was 16. Songs such as Don’t Lose Your Head references Anne Boleyn suffering from PTSD, and Heart of Stone is really a ballad illustrating the complex psychology of being in love with an abuser. That’s what I love so much about this soundtrack — it’s brilliant use of pop allows us to read into the trauma that the six wives endured at the hands of a power hungry man.
The one gripe I do have is that the music could’ve delved into what the history books don’t tell us about the queens, instead of reframing what we already know from a different angle. This would have made it easier to fully reclaim the stories of the six wives. But other than that, the soundtrack is amazing, whether you’re a fan of pop music or trying to get into it. It’s a short listen with only nine songs, and there’s a medley of all the queens’ songs if you search up ‘MEGASIX’ on Youtube. And please, for the love of God, do NOT skip Haus of Holbein. Play it out loud at your next house party, you won’t be disappointed.
