Six – Musical By Lucy Moss And Toby Marlow, Oxford Playhouse Review

Reviewed by Lindsay Burton

Only once a generation (if we’re lucky), does a musical become a cultural phenomenon!
Six is one of the first genuine post-Hamilton musicals – only this time the redemption of the past is for the ladies we’ve dismissed, or labelled as the bad guys.

In Six we go back hundreds of years, as the wives of Henry VIII take the stage. Their marriages were nothing of the matrimonial bliss one would expect but rather bloody, messy, church-reforming, and scrutinised over by nosey and tale-telling historians – but for once, their stories are told by them, their way! By performing in a contest starring the most gorgeous pop spirit-girl group you’ve ever seen, these ladies tell their tale to the world!

Singing together with absolutely on point sounds and even more synchronised choreography, I could not stop staring at these ladies! When each get their moment to take the spotlight and go solo, the audience is completely entranced with each wife!

Lauren Drew, Maddison Bulleyment, Caitlin Tipping, Shekinah McFarlane, Vicki Manser and Elena Gyasi truly make the role their own in each and every way possible. From the second the music starts, you get to know each character’s personality and even though they are competing for the most “hard-done” by wife, you sympathise for each sad tale and ordeal they had to endure for the sake of their husband and the commitments and condemnation that entailed.

Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, Six takes pro-feminism of the 2010s, and mixes it into a dazzling, compact and sassy musical revue that sees the Queens transform from breaking each other down to building one another up. This happens often with funny and occasionally heart-felt musical pieces that are saturated with an obsession for pure pop, royal history, and giving females their part in our history. In particular, Jane Seymour’s (Caitlin Tipping) solo moved me to tears!

The show is an absolute hit with musical theatre’s young fanbase – it’s the second-most streamed cast album in the world. We can thank the phenomenal all-female band for that – led by musical director Sarah Burrell on keys, with Vanessa Dominique on drums, Frankie South on guitar, and Kat Bax on bass – who absolutely took the show to another level. Tim Deiling’s lighting is dynamically bright abs colourful, and Gabriella Slade’s costumes, which mix Tudor finery into bling and sequinned West End stage worthy masterpieces are definitely show stopping and world class. I LOVED the costumes!

But I went to see the Queens, and they did not disappoint. Catherine of Aragon (with nods at Beyonce and Shakira) is played by Lauren Drew, who moves and sounds like a pop princess; Maddison Bulleyment (my personal favourite) is Anne Boleyn (Lily Allen and Avril Lavigne), with the kind of star power and cheek that should see her to more major musical stages in the very near future; Caitlin Tipping plays Jane Seymour (Adele and Sia), whose beautiful ballad just hit me in the heart; Anne of Cleves (Nicki Minaj and Rihanna) is played by Shekina McFarlane, Vicki Manser plays Katherine Howard (Ariana Grande and Britney Spears), and gracefully moves from blithe to dark in one short song; and Catherine Parr (Alicia Keys and Emeli Sande) is played by Elena Gyasi, who blows the roof off with stunning vocals and – crucially – makes the ladies consider why they are famous!

Six is a joyous celebration of sisterhood. It’s the kind of show that makes you want to be a teenager again; if you’d found Six when you were sixteen, you’d be obsessed too. I sat in the audience of the Oxford Playhouse last night and a young girl who sat behind me knew each song, word for word, as she sat singing right through the show. At the end I was forced to ask if she was perhaps related to one of the actresses and her parents said no, she was merely obsessed with the songs!!!!! No wonder it’s getting thousands of streams per day with this sort of fan base!

Six is currently showing at the Oxford Playhouse. The venue and hospitality was fantastic and the entire evening was easy and so very entertaining! A must see for anyone who’s enjoys musical theatre!!

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost from £10 

Six is at Oxford Playhouse from Wed 25 August – Sun 5 September 2021, for more information or to book tickets visit https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/six-of-the-desert-the-musical/new-theatre-oxford/ or call 01865 305305 

Beaumont Street, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX1 2LW