Theater |

Now at Chicago Shakes, ‘Six’ gives these Tudor wives a voice and could be a huge hit

Hit shows — and, make no mistake, the dynamic new pop musical “Six” has clear Broadway potential — invariably arise from great ideas that fit a moment. Get a load of this mighty shrewd notion from the U.K.: The six wives of Henry VIII, dressed and acting somewhere between Ariana Grande and Beyonce, each get a microphone, a power ballad and a chance to keep their heads and make their case for a greater place in history/herstory than the rotund Tudor tyrant who tied their destiny together.

(And who was known for (a) getting lipstick on his ruff and (b) impetuous executions.)

The all-woman live band powering out the hip-hop, K-pop, EDM-fused, R&B-tinged mixes behind the ticked-off stars of the show? Their ladies in waiting.

Wednesday night was the North American premiere of this musical by newcomers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (with the Broadway producer Kevin McCollum quietly involved). But this starring sextet of singing sister-wives already has a cult following of people who know all their show’s defiantly anachronistic lyrics and beats from the show’s hefty YouTube presence. Sure, opening nights can’t be trusted, but it’s clear to me there already is a powerful young feminist fan base for this 80-minute show — maybe some of the same crowd that goes for “Dear Evan Hansen” or “Be More Chill,” and is more than ready not to be watching a show centered on a needy, whiny guy.

Branding is already underway. “Pull out your phones,” said Anne of Cleves, relieving the audience before the final number, the show’s selfie-friendly logo on the edge of ignition, as the tunes pumped up toward a megamix. “You’re gonna want to film this one.” If this show can find its way on to the Snapchats and Instagrams of high school girls and 20-something women around Chicagoland this summer, Chicago Shakespeare and Navy Pier really will have a thing here. And those are not the only potential audiences.

Could this show, directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage, be a Tudor version of “Hamilton,” only with six different self-actualizing heroines?

(Some of whom lived, some of whom died, all of whom are now retelling their stories.)

It’s certainly the right focus — it’s not like London could pump out a musical from the perspective of King George III. Nobody wants to hear more from him right now. But especially when portrayed mostly by women of color, the wives of Henster 8 are a way better match for a combo of historical heft and contemporary woke sensibility. Indeed, “Six” often nods directly in the lyrical and melodic direction of “Hamilton” (it samples its wares, let’s say), while similarly focusing on figures who don’t usually get to the center of the narrative of a (once-) powerful nation. The advantage of “Six,” though, is right in the title and in its focus on gender and historical inequity, redressed. In its best moments, it exposes the 16th century tolerance of toxic masculinity and makes you gulp at the mostly uncritical assessment centuries later, while still managing to be fun female empowerment, a dance party that races by before you can say Oliver Cromwell.

The premise of “Six” is that the wives — Catherine of Aragon (Adrianna Hicks), Anne Boleyn (Andrea Macasaet), Jane Seymour (Abby Mueller), Anne of Cleves (Brittney Mack), Catherine Howard (Samantha Pauly) and Catherine Parr (Anna Uzele) — all are competing in a kind of popularity contest as to who had the worst deal as Henry’s wife (my beheading trumps your abandonment!). That frame is way too central at present. For one thing, it’s a cliche (“Hands on a Hardbody,” “Ride the Cyclone” and “Cats” all have a version of that plot). For another, it brings up the uncomfortable question of whether beheadings and other forms of abuse can ever be funny, even when there are centuries of chronological remove.

Marlow and Moss — gifted comic writers — are smart enough to bring up that issue themselves toward the end, but the show still would be better if it roamed further from its own device and deeper into the actual stories of the women themselves (as does “Hamilton”), retaining the anachronistic vivacity. The sniping competitiveness of the women — which eventually starts to jar — also works against the feminist theme of the show. The real enemy here is Henry, ground zero of the patriarchy, you might say, and if the creators firm that up and lose some of the my-beheading-was-worse-than-yours stuff, they’ll have even more of a crowd-pleaser. The show is quippy, which is fine, but also too a-feared of serious and emotional moments. Actually, they’re needed here, along with another 10 minutes of material. And they don’t have to interrupt the fun; au contraire, they will only deepen our engagement.

While Marlow and Moss are working, the orchestrations sure could use more color. Mueller has a killer Celine Dion-like ballad in “Heart of Stone,” but she needs far more richness underneath. The whole show feels musically thin in places, and the perception that these are parody songs won’t help the Broadway case. Yet some of these numbers — “Ex-Wives, “Get Down” and “Six” — are potential earworms, ready to burrow their way toward widespread affection.

Aside from its sense of humor and spirited radicalism (and the musical force of the intensely committed and talented actresses in the show), the greatest asset of “Six” is the way it understands a complex historiographical paradox.

Everyone knows these wives — many of us learned the sequence by memorizing “divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived” — mostly because there were six. They’ve been immortalized collectively, but only in terms of their marriage to perhaps the most terrible husband in all of history. Even the mnemonic that keeps them alive, while male peers are forgotten, sees them only in terms of Henry, who murdered a third of them and probably cheated on all six. And this from the founder of the Anglican church.

High time, surely, for a fun musical of reparations.

“Six” already is a blast (Pauly, for the record, is spectacularly good throughout). The final number, “I Don’t Need Your Love” from the superb Uzele’s surviving Parr, conveys the right tone: entertainment without parody, honesty without compromise, collective empowerment without papering over complexity.

As they say in the show, “every Tudor Rose has its thorns.”

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: “Six” (3.5 stars)

When: Through June 30

Where: The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier

Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Tickets: $32-$62 at 312-595-5600 or www.chicagoshakes.com