When creating SIX, Tony winners Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss approached the show as if they were writing a studio album first, and then made the concert performance of it. So when it came time to make a Broadway album, the pair wanted to stay true to those pop concert roots.
"This was really kind of inspired by Beyoncé: Homecoming, a live album," says Moss. Check out the video above, where the two discuss how they created Six's cast album, which was recorded live on the show's opening night. That album is now nominated for a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
Listen to the bops-filled SIX: Live on Opening Night album below.
The Tudor pop musical follows six Renaissance women: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr, who all happened to marry the same man, King Henry VIII of England. SIX gives the royals a chance to tell their stories past the well-worn phrase "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived."
Marlow and Moss won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Original Score, with Marlow making history as the first out nonbinary composer-lyricist to win a Tony. Six is co-directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage. The production features set design by Emma Bailey, costume design by 2022 Tony winner Gabrielle Slade, lighting design by Tim Deiling, and sound design by Paul Gatehouse. Kenny Wax, Wendy and Andy Barnes, George Stiles, and Kevin McCollum serve as its producers on Broadway.
Currently starring on Broadway are new queens Hailee Kaleem Wright, Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Bella Coppola, Nasia Thomas, Zoe Jensen, and Taylor Iman Jones along with alternates Marilyn Caserta, Kristina Leopold, Aubrey Matalon, Ayla Ciccone-Burton, and Holli' Conway.
The new cast of SIX recently stopped by Playbill studios to play some trivia about the historic women they've taken on. In their group interview after the game, the performers shared stories, including Ellis-Gaston's worst stage fear coming true, Coppola's memory of staring at all the iPhone lights during her Broadway debut solo, and building a sisterhood advocating for each other backstage. Read more here.
Visit SixOnBroadway.com.
Check out photos of SIX's latest Broadway queens below.
Taylor Iman Jones (center) Hailee Kaleem Wright, Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Bella Coppola, Nasia Thomas and Zoe Jensen in Six
Zoe Jensen (center) with Hailee Kaleem Wright, Nasia Thomas, and Leandra Ellis-Gaston in Six
Nasia Thomas (center) with Taylor Iman Jones, Bella Coppola, Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Zoe Jensen and Hailee Kaleem Wright in Six
Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Zoe Jensen, Hailee Kaleem Wright, Taylor Iman Jones, Bella Coppola and Nasia Thomas in Six
Bella Coppola in Six
Leandra Ellis-Gaston (center) with Taylor Iman Jones, Bella Coppola, Hailee Kaleem Wright, Nasia Thomas, and Zoe Jensen in Six
Hailee Kaleem Wright (center) with Nasia Thomas, Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Bella Coppola, Taylor Iman Jones, and Zoe Jensen in Six
Nasia Thomas, Zoe Jensen, Hailee Kaleem Wright, Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Bella Coppola, and Taylor Iman Jones in Six
Bella Coppola, Zoe Jensen, Hailee Kaleem Wright, Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Nasia Thomas, and Taylor Iman Jones in Six
