'Six" brilliantly remixes Tudor history

When Mel Brooks made his now famous comedy “The Producers” back in 1967, the central plot device of a musical comedy based on the life of Hitler was sufficiently absurd to be a joke all by itself.  Since then, though, we’ve had musicals based on Argentinian dictator Juan Peron and his wife (“Evita”), Presidential assassins (“Assassins”), Lizzie Borden (“Lizzie,” premiered locally at New Line Theatre in 2017), and of course, the enticing mix of serial murder and cannibalism at the hands of a barber (“Sweeney Todd”).

[Listen to the original Broadway cast album on Spotify.]

So these days Cole Porter and I would suggest that “Anything Goes.”

Zan Berube as Anne Boleyn
Photo: Joan Marcus

Still, you might think the essentially tragic fates of the six wives of Henry VIII wouldn’t be a sound foundation for a glitzy, small-cast rock musical. If so, you could hardly be more wrong.

Originally written for and performed at Cambridge University in 2017 by students Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the musical “Six” went on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Arts Theatre in London’s West End, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and finally, Broadway—where it copped multiple Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards. Now, finally, the ”Boleyn” USA tour is at the Fabulous Fox through February 5th and local audiences have a chance to find out why “Six” has become an international phenomenon.

The reason why is obvious from the very start. A measure or two of “Greensleeves” (the old folk tune frequently and incorrectly attributed to Henry VIII) quickly gives way to a bass drone and ominous drum thwacks from the onstage band (the appropriately named Ladies in Waiting). Then the six ex-wives, in a moment reminiscent of “The Cellblock Tango,” deliver one-word summaries of their fates: “divorced” (Catherine of Aragon), “beheaded” (Anne Boleyn), “died” (Jane Seymour), “divorced” (Anna of Cleves), “beheaded” (Katherine Howard), “survived” (Catherine Parr).

Amina Faye as Jane Seymour
Photo: Joan Marcus

Finally the lights come up on the slick, high-tech set and the Six, decked out in sparkling, mock-Tudor outfits, launch into the defiant “Ex-Wives,” the first of nearly a dozen irresistible “earworms” that blend rock, hip-hop, Latin, and pop ballad elements to produce a witty, inventive, and tuneful remix of Tudor history.

The premise of “Six” is that Henry’s ex-wives have returned as contemporary pop/rock divas. They can’t decide who should lead their new group, though (divas are like that), so they’ll tell their own stories in song and the audience will vote on who gets to lead the band based on who got the worst deal from jolly old King Henry.

The problem with that is that they’re still defining themselves in terms of Henry. And that, as they triumphantly sing in the last number, stops now:

We're one of a kind
No category
Too many years
Lost in his story
We're free to take
Our crowning glory
We're SIX!

Tercia Marie as Anne of Cleves
Photo: Joan Marcus

They’ve come a long way, baby. And they’re portrayed by six preternaturally talented performers.

Substituting for an ailing Gerianne Pérez, Dance Captain Cecilia Snow is a bold, assertive Catherine of Aragon. In “No Way,” she makes it plain that Henry’s annulment of their marriage is just the last in a series of outrages. “If you think for a moment / I'd grant you annulment, just hold up / There's no no no no no no no way.” In a sharp contrast, Zan Berube is hilariously clueless as Anne Boleyn, who Marlow and Moss have turned into a pop punk airhead in the ironically titled “Don’t Lose Ur Head.”

Amina Faye’s wounded but resilient Jane Seymour has one of the more emotionally powerful songs in “Heart of Stone.” “You can build me up / You can tear me down” she sings, “You can try but I'm unbreakable.” There’s an unmistakable resemblance to “Unstoppable” by Sia who, along with Adele, is listed in the program as one of the “Queenspirations” for the character.

"The House of Holbein"
Photo: Joan M archs

“House of Holbein,” a hilariously on-point parody of European techno (think Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express”) leads into “Get Down,” in which unforgettable Tercia Marie jubilantly gloats over being “Queen of the castle” despite being cast aside by Henry. Not surprisingly, the Queenspirations for her “I’m too sexy for my crown” attitude are Nicki Minaj and Rihanna.

Aline Mayagoitia has possibly the biggest acting challenge, moving from unapologetic sexy bad girl (“I’m the ten amongst these threes”) to abuse victim in the course of “All You Wanna Do.” At a little over seven and one-half minutes, it’s a chillingly concise mini-tragedy, and Mayagoitia could not be more convincing.

Finally, there’s the inspired and inspirational Catherine Parr of Sydney Parra. Her song, “I Don’t Need Your Love,” begins with a heartbreaking farewell letter to love Sir Thomas Seymour (from whom she had to part because of the arranged marriage with Henry). But it ends with a ringing declaration of her independence from the king (whom she outlived) and a reminder of her individual accomplishments as a writer and education advocate.

Aline Mayagoitia as Catherine Howard
Photo: Joan Marcus

Marlow and Moss have written a score that’s melodically memorable and stuffed with clever rhymes and historical references. The way in which they have recontextualized 16th-century history in a 21st-century rock concert setting is just plain ingenious. In fact, everything about “Six” is a brilliant example of old Tudor wine in new, high-tech bottles, all packaged as a short (under 90 minutes), fast-paced one-act.

Too many newer musicals, in my experience, suffer from theatrical overkill, running just a little too long with just one or two production numbers too many. “Six” is one seamless package with just the right amount of everything.

Sydney Parra as Catherine Parr
Photo: Joan Marcus

The tight, energetic music of the Ladies in Waiting (Katie Coleman, Sterlyn Termine, Liz Faure, and Caroline Moore) keeps the energy level high and Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s intricate, character-driver choreography creates a torrent of arresting visuals. It also looks demanding to perform, with the actors often moving in tightly packed formations that would give even the late Bob Fosse the fantods. But they carry it off flawlessly.

“Six” will continue to light up the stage at The Fabulous Fox through March 5th. It’s a welcome change of pace from some of the bloated mega-musicals of recent years. Don’t miss it. More information is available at the Fabulous Fox web site.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Review: A desert song

In the era of the jukebox musical (imagine: Absolutely Free: the Frank Zappa Musical), the amusement park musical (bright lights, strobes, 3-D projections, a cast of dozens!), the reverse revival musical rewrite (let's change EVERYTHING!), and similar extravaganzas, one occasionally encounters an intimate, small-cast show that stands out like a tiny diamond in a pile of costume jewelry.

The Company
Photo by Evan Zimmerman

The Band's Visit, the national tour of which is now playing at The Fabulous Fox, is one of those little gems. Based on an award-winning 2007 Israeli film of the same name and boasting a captivating and ingenious score by David Yazbek (previously famous for big-budget stage versions of popular films like The Full Monty and Tootsie) and book by playwright Itamar Moses, The Band's Visit is the modest tale of an Egyptian police band which, due to some linguistic confusion at the main Tel Aviv bus station, finds itself marooned for the night in the tiny desert town of Bet Hatikva instead of their intended destination, the city of Petah Tikvah. Over the ensuing 24 hours, their lives become entwined with those of the villagers in ways none of them could have predicted.

Sasson Gabay, Janet Dacal
Photo by Evan Zimmerman

Heading the uniformly excellent ensemble cast are Sasson Gabay as the melancholy widowed band director Tewfiq (the role he created in the original film) and Janet Dacal as Dina, who runs the local restaurant and longs for some romance in her life to break up the daily monotony of living in, literally, the middle of nowhere. In a touching and subtly acted scene late in the show, she tries to get him to break out of his shell and he tries to do so. Alas, as the old song goes, "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Joe Joseph, Sasson Gabay, Janet Dacal
Photo by Evan Zimmerman

There's finely nuanced work as well from Joe Joseph as trumpeter and would-be ladies' man Haled, whose standard pickup line is "do you like Chet Baker?" Not surprisingly, when he gives romantic advice to repressed villager Papi in "Haled's Song About Love," he does so in the soft, lyrical style of the late jazz trumpeter and vocalist. Substituting for Adam Gabay (son of Sasson) on opening night, Danny Burgos was a wonderfully vulnerable Papi who handled the character's wide-ranging song "Papi Hears the Ocean" with great skill.

Other standout performers include James Rana as the clarinetist and frustrated composer Simon, Pomme Koch as the village slacker Itzik, who loves his baby son but can no longer reach his wife, and David Studwell as Itzik's father-in-law Avrum.

The Company
Photo by Matthew Murphy

"Once not long ago a group of musicians came to Israel from Egypt," runs the sentence projected on a scrim at the top of the show. "You probably didn't hear about it. It wasn't very important." And, indeed, nothing that happens in The Bands Visit would be of any importance to the world outside of Bet Hativka. But to the inner lives of the villagers, the events in this 90-minute, one-act musical are very important indeed.

Performances continue through March 8th at The Fabulous Fox in Grand Center. When you go, make sure you hang around for the band's irresistibly lively post-curtain call session on stage. The ensemble of violin, cello, clarinet, oud (a Persian lute), and darbouka (a "goblet drum" that's harder to play than it looks, as I can attest from personal experience) is solid and guaranteed to send you out into the night with a smile on our face and maybe even a melismatic melody in your heart.

Review: Long layover

The cast of Come From Away

Some musicals are hits despite their books. Come From Away, the national tour of which opened a two-week run at The Fabulous Fox on May 14th, is a hit largely because of its tightly constructed and emotionally powerful book. In some ways, it's not a traditional musical at all so much as a great play that just happens to tell its tale with music.

Based on the true story of what happened when the citizens of the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, suddenly found themselves playing host to the 7,000 passengers (and 19 companion animals) of 38 airplanes grounded because of the 9/11 attacks, Come From Away is an uplifting story of how disaster can bring out the best in humanity rather than the worst. Faced with the need to suddenly find food, clothing, and shelter for strangers from all over the world, the Newfoundlanders rose to the occasion with the stalwart resilience described in the energetic opening number "Welcome to the Rock."

Becky Gulsvig and the company

With book, music, and lyrics by the team of Irene Sankoff and David Hein--whose charming but far less substantial My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding got such a fine production at New Jewish Theatre four years ago--Come From Away never fails to entertain, delight, and move. There's not a false note or cliché to be seen. The energetic score, performed by a terrific seven-piece onstage band, prominently features traditional instruments such as Uilleann pipes, Irish flute, Bodhran, and harmonium--a reminder of Newfoundland's strong roots in Irish and English culture. If you go, be sure to stick around for the band's short, high-energy set after the curtain calls.

Everyone in the versatile twelve-member cast (plus six standbys) takes on a variety of roles in addition to those described below, creating the illusion of a much larger ensemble.

Becky Gulsvig is a powerful presence as pilot Beverly Bass (the first female captain of an American Airlines plane), describing how her optimistic view of the world was changed by the attacks in "Me and the Sky." Danielle K. Thomas and Julie Johnson have many wonderful moments as passenger Hannah, worried about her first responder son back in New York, and sympathetic islander Beulah. Chamblee Ferguson is utterly charming as the geeky Brit Nick who finds unexpected romance with divorcée Diane, winningly played by Christina Toy Johnson.

Kevin Carolan, center, and the company

James Earl Jones II has great comic moments as Bob, who finds his hosts' friendliness disconcerting. Kevin Carolan is a big, affable delight as Mayor Claude, as is Harter Clingman as police constable Oz. Other members of this wonderful cast are Megan McGinnis (SPCA worker Bonnie), Emily Walton (local TV reporter Janice, suddenly in the spotlight), and Andrew Samonsky and Nick Duckart as Kevin T. and Kevin J., a gay couple whose relationship is damaged by the crisis. There's not a less than sterling performance in the bunch.

Beowulf Boritt's stark and simple scenic design of bare trees and a plank wall conjures up the rugged beauty of the island and makes scene changes lightning-fast. Wooden tables and chairs are the only set pieces, and they're quickly rearranged to create buses, airplanes, homes, and the local bar. At one point the chairs become the scenic overlook where Nick and Diane acknowledge their affection for each other. Kelly Devine's musical staging and Christopher Ahsley's direction capture the power and vigor of Newfoundland life.

Would a small town in America respond in the generous and openhearted way that Gander did? I don't know, but this is the kind of show that makes you think they might.

Performances of Come From Away continue through May 26th at The Fabulous Fox in Grand Center. If you're looking for a respite from the relentless torrent of bigotry and small-minded spite spewing from our nation's capitol (and no small number of state legislatures), this is surely the show for you.