Overview
If you've ever needed proof that some stories never get old, the ongoing obsession with Britain's royal history provides plenty. On screens and stages, a slice of regal intrigue is regularly awaiting our viewing, interpreting and remixing the past in the process. The Crown might take ample artistic license with reality, but it's got nothing on the empowering pop-scored twist on the 16th century that's been wowing audiences in Six the Musical.
Taking a few cues from well-known history, adding toe-tapping tunes and making theatre magic: that's this hit's approach. If you think you know the stories of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, then you probably do — even those with little interest in Britain's past kings and queens are likely aware that Henry VIII had six wives — but Six the Musical's version isn't about telling the same old tale.
That's what Australian audiences discovered in 2021, 2022 and 2023 — and can again in 2024 and 2025. Every year is a royally excellent year for this production, which has just announced returns to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Exact season dates haven't been locked in as yet, but Victoria's next dance with the show arrives from August 2024 at Comedy Theatre. Sydney's will start from October 2024 at Theatre Royal Sydney and Brisbane's from January 2025 at QPAC Playhouse.
First premiering back at the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, then jumping to London's West End — and winning Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Costume Design, plus a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theatre Album, along the way — Six the Musical gleans inspiration from one of the most famous sextets there's ever been. It also finds its own angle despite how popular the Tudor monarch's love life has been in pop culture. So, move over 00s TV series The Tudors and 2008 movie The Other Boleyn Girl — and this one takes the pop part rather seriously.
Six the Musical is presented as a pop concert, in fact, with the Catherines, Annes and Jane all taking to the microphone to tell their stories. Each woman's aim: to stake their claim as the wife who suffered the most at the king's hands, and to become the group's lead singer as a result.
Cast details for the new season haven't yet been revealed, but expect Six the Musical's comeback tour to be popular. In Sydney, it played a whopping 15-week Sydney Opera House from December 2021, then returned to the Harbour City from August 2021 due to demand.
SIX THE MUSICAL AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2024–25:
From August 2024 — Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
From October 2024 — Theatre Royal Sydney, Sydney
From January 2025 — QPAC Playhouse, Brisbane
Six the Musical will tour Australia again in 2024 and 2025. For more information and to join the ticket waitlist, head to the musical's website.
Images: James D Morgan, Getty Images.