Six – Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury and Touring

Chlöe Hart in Six at the Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury. Picture: Isaac Grinnell

Six continues at the Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury until 16 July 2022 and on tour until 8 July 2023.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

There is a whole bunch of reasons why Six The Musical has become such a huge success but one of them is that Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ international hit seems to improve on every return visit.

Of course there will have been theatregoers in the Aylesbury audience discovering the brilliance of Six for the very first time, and that is memorable in its own way.

But what always takes me by surprise is how exciting it still is to hear the first chimes of the score, however many times I have been fortunate enough to see the show before, and then track after track the goosebumps rarely go away.

When Six was first put in front of an audience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017 (our reviewer at the time wrote: “With an original score as brilliant at this one, it is hard not to predict a bright future for Marlow and Moss as a writing duo”) it would have been impossible for the producers and creatives to predict how far the show would travel and how many performers would be queuing up to play the Six wives of Henry VIII.

Yet it is the extensive repertory of these artists, and fans know each and every one, that massively contributes to keeping the show fresh.

Whether classed as ‘leads’, ‘alternates’ or ‘super swings’, these Queens are the lifeblood of Six and press night of the tour at Aylesbury was a pretty good example with four of the ‘leads’ present at court – Chlöe Hart (Aragon), Jennifer Caldwell (Boleyn), Casey Al-Shaqsy (Seymour), Jessica Niles (Cleves) – plus one alternate Leesa Tulley (Howard). And as if by magic Elena Gyasi, who I believe left the tour a few months ago, was called in to cover Parr!

Not even a hot sultry night was going to reduce the energy exuding from this ensemble, with each Queen bringing their personality to the table while still staying true to the ever-infectious core material.

Hart gets the evening off to a flying start with great attitude, characterisation and off the scale vocals. It’s wonderful to see her talent shine in this way.

Indeed the singing is just first class all round: Caldwell begins with a cutesy innocence which turns into a killer instinct for getting her own way (until of course her head is metaphorically chopped off); all is quiet and intense as Al-Shaqsy builds up the emotional depth of ‘Heart of Stone’; and Niles is delightful as she embraces the pleasures of a privileged life without the King getting in the way.

Tulley gives one of the most powerful performances of ‘All You Wanna Do’ I have ever witnessed. Such a disturbing and topical track which upends an audience’s expectations, and she really brings it home.

And huge credit to Gyasi for returning to the fold at short notice. Who knows if she felt under-rehearsed but it never showed and her rendition of ‘I Don’t Need Your Love’ was a triumph.

Over the years this productions has been refined in all kinds of way, there have been upgrades in the costumes and set and lighting design, but thankfully all the ingredients that first made the show such a hit still remain ­(including it staying as one act without an interval). So credit as always to directors Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, choreographer Carrie-Anne Ingrouille (just stunning), set designer Emma Bailey, costume designer Gabriella Slade, lighting designer Tim Deiling – we could go on.

Plus, of course, the awesomely talented Ladies In Waiting need to be celebrated: MD Jenny Deacon, Maddy Slater, Kat Bax and Migdalia Van Der Hoven.

It was wonderful to see plenty of young theatregoers in the audience relishing their chance to see the Queens in action and hopefully taking on the empowering messages the show weaves into the narrative.

So far Six has travelled from Edinburgh to the West End, across the UK and Ireland, to Broadway, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Let’s hope this ‘herstory’ continues to be told worldwide for many years to come.

Lisa Martland