skygiants | (no subject)

Tonight

genarti and I went to go see SIX, the musical in which the six wives of Henry VIII compete to be lead singer in their pop-rock band by comparing miserable facts about their lives through the medium of catchy and potentially chart-topping singles!

The program: "No longer on the outskirts of history, these Queens are taking over the world!"
Me, reading this out to

genarti: Okay, sure, but can anyone really say that the six wives of Henry VIII are on the outskirts of history?

genarti: It's true, they are extremely in-skirted.

Was the show good? ... I mean, what is 'good'? What is 'art'? Is it a synth-heavy remix of "Greensleeves" punctuated by shouts of "Divorced! Beheaded! LIVE!" Is it a pop-feminist musical that takes 75 minutes to come to the conclusion that, perhaps, defining historical women by the men in their lives is Bad? Who am I to say? I'm just a humble theater lover who's here to watch six talented and sparkly women don giant ruffs and fake German accents in a transcendently weird ode to Hans Holbein and Renaissance-era makeup while a hail of confetti rains down on their heads.

(At first I assumed the costuming was inspired by historical portraiture and was disappointed that I couldn't correctly identify which wife was which from the poster except for Anne Boleyn with her signature B, but it turns out their costumes are instead all mostly homages to their pop musical inspiration with some vague Tudor elements so now I feel less bad.)

Do I have beef? Obviously I have beef, I have far too many Tudor opinions not to have beef. My biggest issue is the almost complete and total erasure of political ambition as a motivation for any of the wives, which comes out most significantly in Anne Boleyn's frustrating presentation as an airheaded Mean Girl but seems like kind of a significant oversight in a musical whose stated project is about returning voice and agency to historical women ...

In pettier news, it's not like anyone can prove "Jane Seymour truly loved and was loved by Henry VIII" is wrong, technically, it's just the most boring Jane Seymour take possible in this or any other year.

(

genarti's theory is that the Boring Jane Seymour Take reflects the showriter's opinions on Adele and the genre of soulful white girls, on whom her musical stylings are based, as much as it does their opinions on Jane Seymour herself, and this may well be true but I'm still annoyed.)

All that said: were we not entertained? Yes, we were, extremely, and it's entirely possible I'm going to buy the cast recording at some point and happily listen to relisten to the siren sound of synth-pop Greensleeves in the comfort of my own home.

Threaded | Flat

From:

sovay

Yes, we were, extremely, and it's entirely possible I'm going to buy the cast recording at some point and happily listen to relisten to the siren sound of synth-pop Greensleeves in the comfort of my own home.

Is the music better than the politics? (The costumes look amazing.)

From:

thistleingrey

That pic is awesome.

From:

aberration

I just, I know in my heart I would not be able to get past these bad Tudors takes

From:

vass

The costumes are amazing.

From:

antisoppist

it turns out their costumes are instead all mostly homages to their pop musical inspiration

Ah. My first question was going to be "what is the historical thinking behind the only one who is in trousers and which one is she?" I feel it should be Catherine Parr though.

From:

aquamirage

everything about this musical made more sense to me when i found out they wrote it while procrastinating on studying for university exams

From:

rmc28

I had a ticket to see this in Cambridge at the ADC after its run at Edinburgh, and then spouse didn't get home in time for me to get to it and I was mildly annoyed. But I had it mentally tagged as "amusing-sounding student theatre" and now it seems to have become an International Musical Theatre Phenomenon ~~and I don't have the bragging rights of knowing it before it was cool~~.

From:

annotated_em

Life truly is a rich tapestry.

From:

aamcnamara

a) of course this exists
b) of course you and

genarti went to see it
c) I think, based on this review, I will not make a special effort to see this show, but I may look up synth-pop Greensleeves sometime

From:

oracne

Even though not perfect, it sounds FASCINATING.

From:

vintagewitch

This is ... incredible. I just ... wow

I kind of want to see it? But I don't know? But kind of????

From:

evewithanapple

which comes out most significantly in Anne Boleyn's frustrating presentation as an airheaded Mean Girl

HJK;LBGK;LKJHKM,;.'LKOIJHUYGTFVBHJNHKML;,KJBHBWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

*deep breath*

So, what do they do with my girl Catherine Howard?

From:

osprey_archer

One of my coworkers is obsessed with this show! So I am glad to hear about someone seeing it In the Wild, although at the same time it seems like kind of a lost opportunity that they did not base the wives' costumes on Tudor portraiture, only with 110% more glitter.

I feel like leaving out the wives' political ambitions is kind of big misstep for a show that aims to return voice and agency to historical women. What even was Anne Boleyn about if not political ambition?

From:

ladymondegreen

I'm actually really looking forward to this show, which I've been listening to on Spotify after seeing it mentioned somewhere. It's not Historical Accurate, but the songs are a lot of fun.

From:

cinaed

I remain amused at the fact that I saw a musical about the six wives of Henry VIII, except that it was clearly not this one, because mine had the six wives putting Henry on trial in the afterlife and pretty much all telling him he was a dick.

From:

obopolsk

I cannot wait to see this! I won't manage to make it to Boston in time but am definitely going once it gets to NYC.

From:

alchimie

I would really love to see this; I do have many many Tudor Opinions but also I just cannot resist the glitter and big pop numbers and -- everything.

Please tell me more about what they did with my favourite, Anne of Cleves?