After becoming a surprise West End hit and making its sold-out Australian premiere at the Sydney Opera House in January 2020 – crowned with a four-star review from Time Out Sydney – Six the Musical is coming to Melbourne as part of a national tour. Much like Hamilton before it, the pop musical is making history buffs out of legions of musical theatre tragics, telling the story of the six wives of Henry VIII.
The premise of the show is sort of hilarious: all six wives are members of a pop band that is trying to decide who should be the lead singer. It's basically a pop concert in which all six wives compete to determine who had the worst time with the infamous Tudor king, and who should therefore be the star of the sextet. Together, they're a little bit Spice Girls, a little bit Destiny's Child, and a little bit Little Mix, with a set of songs inspired by the pop stars of today. The musical was penned by young Brits Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, who wrote the show while they were studying at Cambridge. The original soundtrack has become a hit, having garnered more than 200 million streams worldwide since its release.
Four out of six queens from the original Aussie staging (Kala Gare, Loren Hunter, Kiana Daniele and Vidya Makan) are returning to their royal roles, with two new queens – Phoenix Jackson Mendoza (American Idiot) and Chelsea Dawson (Shrek the Musical) – joining the cast. We’re sure this remixed cast will pack all the spectacular sass and musical theatre excellence that won us over the first time.
The tour is opening in Brisbane in November before heading to Sydney in December. Melbourne's Comedy Theatre is on the cards for 2022, but the dates aren't yet set. Tickets go on sale in August. You can join the waitlist here.