'SIX' at the Vaudeville Theatre

'SIX' is the new kid on the block, a musical about the six wives of Henry VIII but told from their point of view. It started life as a little show at the Edinburgh Fringe and grew and grew, making it in the West End and then America. It's loud, brash and very sparkly and, of course, very good. Most of the songs are bangin' choons with the Queens taking lead and backing vocals throughout with the four-piece band of women so there are ten women on stage and not a man in sight. I had no idea what to expect from the show but it has won loads of awards so it must be OK, right?

The lights went down in the auditorium, the lights on stage came on and the band started playing as the Queens arrived for the first song with the refrain of 'Divorced, beheaded, died... divorced, beheaded, survived!'. All in sparkly outfits, strutting around the stage in carefully choreographed moves on the stage, taking turns with lead vocals, never still, never quiet, a royal girl group. Then, beginning with Catherine of Aragon, they tell us their tales of life before and during their marriage to the King. The Queens have a competition to decide which of them suffered the most during their lives and the show is off and running.

As you'd expect, it's very much an ensemble show with the six Queens interacting and sparring, singing and pulling shapes, trying to score points over each other. It's actually really quite funny with some laugh out loud moments. It's quick paced and only slows down with a ballad from Jane Seymour about how she actually loved Henry. Gosh, you can learn something every day, can't you?

It must be a very tiring show to be in, constant singing and lots of dance and movement, so there are a few understudies for each role. I suspect it's a good training ground for a new type of musical. With all the lights and sparkle it must be very different to the original Edinburgh version written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and they struck gold. As an idea it's not all that, the Queens competing for the suffering award, but it's how they did it that makes this show so good. 

There's also the moment towards the end when Catherine Parr - who survived - decides not to take part in the competition. The Queens had thought they were only known because they were married to Henry but, actually, Henry is only known because he was married to them. That's a big 'fuck the patriarchy' moment of empowerment and the audience erupted. The audience was probably about 80% female with lots of girls with their mothers and aunts. Good.

Many thanks to Amy Di Bartolomeo, Amanda Lindgren, Claudia Kariuki, Esme Rathero, Tsemaye Bob-Elbe and Meesha Turner for their energetic performances

Great staging, great lights and sounds and overall a great show. Go and see it!