All Hail the Queens

Six – Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. So goes the rhyme to help history students through the ages remember the order and fates of the six wives of Henry VIII. But in this recent import from London, the six queens get to tell their side of story. And it was an absolute blast.

Six presents the six variously ill-fated queens as a pop group, and whichever can convince the audience they had the worst time with Henry will get to be the lead. Walking into the show, I was a little hesitant, I’ll admit. Worst case scenario, the choice of pop anthems never connects to the material and you end up with warmed over Schoolhouse Rock, blandly reciting a list of facts to music. Happily this is something closer to Hamilton meets the Spice Girls, and anyone who knows me knows that I love both Hamilton and the Spice Girls and that is not a compliment I hand out lightly.

I’m bit of a history buff, and Tudor England is a particular interest of mine, and I have to say I think the show struck a good balance between being a slightly deeper dive than what most people know about this era while not getting lost in the weeds. What really shined through the performances and stories built around them is that it made the women feel like vital parts of their time, not just ours. These women were writers and musicians and played politics as well and as badly as their male counterparts. They affected the world around them and that’s something easy to lose when you reduce them to how their marriage to an increasingly violent and detached autocrat ended. The lyrics also did a good job of balancing getting its point about what women (then and now) face across without deflating the upbeat energy in the room. It would have been easy to veer into flattening the story or killing the buzz, and the show stuck that dismount perfectly.

Another huge part of why the show is so successful is that the music is great. Full stop. With some minor alterations to cut references to annulments and beheadings, any of the songs could easily stand alone as a fantastic song. My personal favorites were Catherine of Aragon’s defiant “No Way,” sung in response to Henry’s attempt to replace her with his mistress, and Anne of Cleves’ “Queen of the Castle.” After being set aside by Henry, she was given a palace in Richmond which she owned in her own name for the rest of her life, and the song celebrates her freedom rather than laments that Henry didn’t find her as attractive as her portrait. Another treat is “House of Holbein,” a techno infused dance song about the most famous portrait painter of the day.

All of the catchy lyrics and fun wordplay in the world wouldn’t matter if it weren’t being supported by an amazing cast. Each and every one of them was a fantastic singer and nailed the tongue-in-cheek tone of the show, while making sure the individual songs resonated with the audience. Adrianna Hick’s Catherine of Aragon was my personal favorite, but that’s not a slight to the other five performers, each of whom was fantastic. This is a very technical compliment, but bear with me. Something that annoys the hell out of me in modern pop is the use of riffs and belting a note as substitutes for knowing how to sing. Running up and down the scales is a cover for the fact that they can’t find the note or can’t sustain it if they could. These performers do not suffer that problem. Each and every increasingly amazing feat of vocal acrobatics was expertly and intentionally executed, and it made extremely happy.

I also want to compliment the diverse casting and decision to not have the performers adopt bad English accents. Hamilton really opened a door that should have been opened long ago. My sense of immersion was created by stellar performances, not superficial resemblance or accents. It’s also always great to see women of color get to tackle complicated, imperfect women in roles that they almost certainly don’t get offered often enough.

The show is witty and manages to make a point without beating you to death with it. The cast is phenomenal and worth the ticket and time alone. Above all, this show was fun. When I got to the theater on Friday, I was in, if you’ll pardon the expression, a royally bad mood. By the end, I had a huge grin on my face and immediately went home and downloaded the album.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented May 14 –June 30 extended by popular demand to August 4th, at Chicago Shakespeare Theater at 800 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago.

Tickets are available at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found at www.theatreinchicago.com.