Marlow and Moss drew on a range of sources when writing Six, including Antonia Fraser’s The Wives of Henry VIII and documentaries hosted by historian Lucy Worsley. “With all of them,” says Moss, “there was so much of interest beyond the moment they got married or divorced.”
Though Six prominently features the rhyme historically used to describe the fates of the Tudor king’s queens-“divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived”-the musical moves beyond these reductive one-word summaries to present its subjects as fully realized individuals. The Tudor period, with its “soap opera”-esque political machinations and rich cast of female characters, offered the duo the opportunity to explore contemporary issues like feminism through a historical lens. “It came from us having an interest in the representation of women in musical theater, having women on stage doing funny and hilarious things.” Moss, 27, adds, “What we were interested in doing was reframing the way that women have been perceived in history and telling their side of the story.” Six “didn’t come out of a love of the Tudor period particularly,” says Marlow, 26. L to R: Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), BrittneyMack (Anna of Cleves) and Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) (A cast soundtrack released in September 2018 similarly became an unqualified success.) Now, after an extended delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the musical is finally making its Broadway debut. The product of the pair’s collaboration- Six, a modern reimagining of the lives of Henry VIII’s six wives-premiered on London’s West End in 2019 to much acclaim. Then an undergraduate student tasked with writing an original show for the upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Marlow brought his idea to classmate Lucy Moss, who agreed to help bring his vision of a Tudor-themed pop musical to life.
Participating in a discussion on William Blake, he found his mind wandering and began scribbling a series of unrelated notes: “Henry VIII’s wives → like a girl group … Need Lucy!!” Inspiration struck Toby Marlow during a comparative poetry class at Cambridge University in fall 2016.
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