South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
This is not a royal putdown, but Broadway’s ‘Six’ may need a different kind of ‘palace’
If you are preparing for a test on the Tudors, then “Six” is about as fun a tutorial — akin to a musical mashup of CliffsNotes and Billboard’s Hot 100 — as you can possibly hope for.
Staged as a pop music concert, this show skips and twirls its way through the lives (and, for some, deaths) of the six wives of King Henry VIII.
The Broadway national tour is now at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the Performing Arts through Oct. 23. Then almost immediately, South Floridians will get a second run when “Six” moves to Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts from Oct. 25-30.
Presumably, if you are preparing for
such academic examination, you are young, still firmly in the Gen Z or Gen Alpha camps. This musical is made for you. The Tony Award-winning score has a libretto straight out of Urban Dictionary with bon mots such as “okurrr” and “queen, please.” Describing her own beheading, Anne Boleyn declares, “It was so extra.” And lyrics such as “history is about to get overthrown” and “my jam comes on the lute” are generously peppered throughout.
The concert format keeps things moving through a brisk 75 minutes with no intermission. That turbo-powered, fast-moving pace — along with regularly-scheduled exclamations right out of today’s pop culture playbook and a few hip-hop-tinged dance moves — elicited roars of approval from the audience on opening night Tuesday, Oct. 11.
There are only nine songs, though with remixes and reprises it sounds like more, say maybe 11 or 12. None of them linger long in your memory, though it must be said that “Heart of Stone” sung by Jasmine Forsberg as Jane Seymour is a melismas masterclass with trills that thrill and riffs that ride to the roof of the cavernous Broward Center.
And that’s another thing: This show, though an adept application of sparkle and lighting, just doesn’t feel substantial enough for the venue. “Six” — with all its charms and lovability — is essentially an exceptional diva-delicious cabaret act that, one might venture, would be a nice fit in a casino, at a theme park or aboard a cruise ship.
That is not a royal putdown. The production is supposed to entertain and that it does. But ... well ... the story as told here is as thin as a sequin, and there’s no conflict that the whole thing couldn’t seemingly remedy with a few more bugle beads. And, yes, the costumes won “Six” its other well-deserved Tony Award in 2020.
The show never aims its considerable wit and girl power vibe to get a firm grip on the troubling tributaries that flow just underneath the why-ness of the show: These women, nobility be damned, are one and all inextricably tied to a fundamentally-flawed man.
But if you’re looking for a slick top 40-infused, nonstop production, then this will hit all your pleasure points. The cast comport themselves well, wailing and cooing as they evoke Destiny’s Child, Shakira, Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and (again with Jane Seymour) Adele. Additionally, there is just a whisper of Rihanna, Avril Lavigne and Alicia Keys.
It’s all conveniently broken down for you in the Playbill — which royal queen is sampling from which pop princess, as well as a little biography info that is a must-read if you didn’t have the chance to check Wikipedia.
That mix of historical and chart-toppers makes for a pleasant enough performance, especially with such disciplined staging. Or you could wait until “Hamilton” comes back to Fort Lauderdale in November and see how that same dynamic is done with — yes, we’re going to say it — majesty.
IF YOU GO What: “Six” When & where:
Oct. 1 2 -2 3 at Broward Center, 2 0 1 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
Oct. 2 5 -3 0 at Arsht
Center,1300 BiscayneBlvd., Miami
Cost:
$35-$145 at Broward Center
$40-$165 at Arsht Center
Information:
SixSouthFlorida.com
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