Five out five liked Six: A musical "her-story" of the real housewives of King Henry VIII

Six at Fisher Theater. The musical features the story of the six wives of Henry VIII.

The six wives of Henry VIII would make great reality television - a battle of ambition, beauty, morality and opportunity. "Six, The Musical", is a mash up "Real Housewives" and "The Voice" (and if you're old enough, "Queen for a Day"), pitting the better halves of the Tudor king in a competition as to who  suffered the most as a result of their marriage to Henry. 

Last week, Six, came to Fisher Theater, and so did five ladies in my family: the elders, Sandy and me and the youngers: Rachel (who joined us for dinner only as she had tickets for the weekend show), Megan, and, the organizer and biggest fan of the show, Marti. (In fact, the night of our patronage marked Marti's sixth time seeing Six).  And, although the play may have more of a millennial appeal, with the queens' pop-idol inspirations (and the writers of the play are only 30 years old), Boomers will still be entertained. Our five gave it ten thumb's up.

Four of the five "ladies in waiting" for the play to start.

The  Five:  Boomers and  Millennials 

There are really no spoiler alerts in Six for even the most casual followers of English history are familiar with the fate of at least a few of the wives, In brief: two were beheaded, two divorced. one died shortly after her son was born and the last, outlived Henry, but in a later marriage, also died of complications related to childbirth. 

True tales of great tragedy and brief triumph, but with Six, the stories are cleverly and compellingly put to music as each queen belts out her plight in song.

Reviewing the program with English Breakfast tea and our monarchy mug from England.

While it's hard to figuratively "crown" a winner, I'm going with Anne of Cleves. She lived the longest of any of the wives, had the least amount of responsibilities and lived quite comfortably in her own royal residence.  The only real brutality she may have suffered was one of humiliation. 

Henry agreed to marry Anne based on her portrait, never seeing her personally until she arrived in England from Germany.  Without the filters, Henry found Anne very unattractive and blamed her appearance for their unconsummated marriage.  As Anne explains in song from Six:  "you said that I tricked ya, 'cause I didn't look my profile picture. . . "

However, it's likely that her nonconfrontational agreeableness to an annulment served Anne well. Henry moved on quickly to his next wife, young and pretty Katherine Howard, but as Six's Anne, sings, she did okay: 

    

Sittin' here all alone

On a throne

In a palace that I happen to own

Bring me some pheasant

Keep it on the bone

I'm a wiener schnitzel, not an English flower

No one tells me I need a rich man  

Doin' my thing in my palace in Richmond

Six isn't a history lesson, but it does provide an engaging depiction of King Henry VIII's spouses and their unique position that certainly made them the most popular wives of all the Henry kings.  To drive home that point, the queens take turns asking each other  "Do you know who's the wife of Henry VII? the VI?, the . . ." - well, you get the idea. 

The six wives battle in a sad competition.

The Six queens unite in their recognition of how they received more attention together as they may never have achieved on their own. 

And, yes, Six, knows these queens would have made a great reality show - one of high ratings  and worthy of several seasons. But, we were happy to spend an hour and a half with these ladies and join Six in singing their praises. 

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We enjoyed reading through the program again today with an English Breakfast tea reminiscent of the one we brought back from our own visit to King Henry VIII's royal residence, Hampton Court Palace in 2015. For fans of Bridgerton, another series filled with royals and scandals, see BTS blog from May, 2023, Queen Charlotte, Bridgerton Prequel. where we highlight Hampton Court (one of the Bridgerton filming sites).

Gulleys at Hampton Court Palace, 2015