One of the left-field hits of the 2018-19 London theater season, Six, is headed for Broadway next spring.
Written by young newcomers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and spun out of a student submission to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the concept musical takes the Tudor Queens hitched for better, or mostly for worse, to Henry VIII and remixes five centuries of their historical heartbreak into a jubilant pop reclamation of enduring girl power.
The performers in the roles of the six royal wives are backed by an all-female band dubbed the “Ladies in Waiting.”
The West End production, which followed a successful tour, has been playing to sold-out houses since January. It earned five Olivier Award nominations this year, including for best new musical. Songs from the original cast recording have been streamed on average 300,000 times a day since its release.
Related Stories
The concert-style show made its North American debut in May at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theatre in a record-breaking limited run that closes on Sunday, ahead of engagements through the rest of this year at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Canada; and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Broadway transfer, co-directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage, will begin previews Feb. 13 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, ahead of a March 12 official opening.
Four-time Tony Award winner Kevin McCollum (Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights) joins the Brit producing team of Kenny Wax, Wendy Barnes and Andy Barnes on the New York run, as well as musical composer George Stiles, making his producing debut.
“From its student beginnings at the Edinburgh Festival, via the West End, we’re absolutely thrilled to bring Six to Broadway,” the producers said Thursday in a statement. “Toby and Lucy have created an empowering musical about six of the most misrepresented women in history that couldn’t be more timely.”
Full casting and ticketing information are to be announced.
