What is Six The Musical about? Full plot synopsis of hit show

Six is the hit musical based on the lives of Henry VII – here’s your ultimate guide to the show?

SIX turns Tudor queens into pop princesses as 500 years of historical heartbreak becomes an hour of 21st century sass.

The show – written and composed by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss – has become a huge hit since first premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017.

It now has productions all over the world including London’s West End and Broadway in New York as well as Australia.

What is Six The Musical about? Full plot synopsis!

Six is performed as a fictional singing competition where each of Henry VIII’s infamous six wives are competing to be crowned the ultimate musical sensation – based on how much “BS” they had to put up with from Henry.

The show opens with all six wives introducing themselves and the competition (Song: Ex-Wives). Each of the six queens goes on to perform a song about their time with King Henry.

Catherine of Aragon kicks things off singing about how Henry wanted to annul their marriage (Song: No Way) in order to marry Anne Boleyn.

Anne quickly gives her side of things (Song: Don’t Lose Ur Head) before sharing the story of her bloody death.

Next up, Jane Seymour performs an emotional ballad (Song: Heart of Stone) in which she sings about giving Henry his much-wanted son but never saw him grow up having died two weeks after childbirth.

The Queens come together for the next song (Haus of Holbein) which introduces Henry’s next wife, Anna of Cleves, chosen by Henry based on her painting by German artist Hans Holbein.

Anna of Cleves then shares what happened next (Song: Get Down), telling how Henry rejected her after being unhappy with how she looked in real life versus the painting. Rather than being upset, Anna celebrates her newly single life with her riches.

Next into the spotlight is Katherine Howard, who sings about her past relationships leading up to Henry (Song: All You Wanna Do) and the emotional abuse she suffered ahead of her beheading at just 19-years-old.

The last queen to perform is Catherine Parr who begins to sing about having to leave her true love for an arranged marriage Henry (Song: I Don’t Need Your Love) before speaking about her life after his death.

Realising how their lives have been defined by their relationship with the King, the Six queens decide to cancel the contest as they come together to focus on themselves (Song: I Don’t Need Your Love (Remix)).

Closing the show, the Queens rewrite their stories, singing a fictional account of how their lives panned out (Song: Six) before ending with an encore medley (Song: Megasix) performance.

How long is Six The Musical?

Six The Musical is a one-act musical with a running time of around 75-80 minutes. Although mostly sung-through, there are some short dialogue scenes in between some of the songs.

If you can’t get to see the show live, a studio cast recording is available to download, stream and on CD here.