Over-Analyzing Six the Musical: All You Wanna Do

Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six: “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

I got to see Six on Broadway again last week! It was amazing! And it reminded me that it’s really high time for me to finish out this song series. So it’s K HOWARD TIMEEEE.

I used Gareth Russell’s “Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard” while writing this blog post! Highly recommend you read it, as it’s a wonderful book full of important societal and cultural context and compassion for Katheryn as a person.

Note: As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, spellings of names were not standardized in Tudor times, and people often spelled their own names in different ways. I’m generally using Katheryn in here (as that’s how she signed her letter), but other spellings of her name as valid as well.

The writers of Six have explicitly stated that their main pop inspirations for Katheryn Howard were Britney Spears and Ariana Grande. These influences come across in her outfit, styling, persona, and the sexy but young bubblegum pop sound of her song. Remember: Britney Spears was 12 when she was cast in the Mickey Mouse Club, 15 when she first signed with a record company, and 17 when she released her first album. Ariana Grande starred on Broadway at 15, next appeared on a Nickelodeon show, signed with a record company at 18, and released her first record at 20. Both stars were sexualized by society at a young age, and Britney in particular has struggled with others controlling and dictating her life, just like Katheryn Howard.

The great part about this song is how it repositions Katheryn as the focus of her own story, which historically, has often been positioned as much more of a battle for power between her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, and the king’s advisor, Thomas Cromwell. Although her song talks much more about men than the other songs in Six, it’s ultimately about how /she/ feels about those relationships and her rise in the world and what effect it has on her life.

The original West End cast of Six performing “All you Want to Do,” with Aimie Atkinson at the center as Katherine Howard. Credit: Idil Sukan

A 1540 miniature by Hans Holbein. Although this painting has been identified as Katheryn Howard many times in the past, it’s more likely to actually show Anna of Cleves. Credit: Royal Collection Trust

All you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
I think we can all agree I'm a ten amongst these threes

“I'm a ten amongst these threes”: This line refers to the commonly used 1-10 scale of attractiveness, where 10 is apparently just the best and hottest. Obviously this scale is problematic, but this line simultaneously shows Katheryn reclaiming it for her own, and using her bravado to distance herself from the other 5 queens, as she has in multiple other lines by this point in the show. Over the course of the song, she’ll lose her attempts to control her narrative with flippant words when she becomes overwhelmed by all her trauma.

We don’t actually know what Katheryn looked like, as we have no portraits that are definitively identified as her. The portrait I’ve seen most commonly described as showing her is actually probably Anna of Cleves. However, contemporary descriptions do consistently refer to her as quite pretty, specifically referring to her “very delightful” appearance, and describing her as “flourishing in youth, with beauty fresh and pure.”

All you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
And ever since I was a child, I'd make the boys go wild
All you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby

“And ever since I was a child, I'd make the boys go wild”: This lyric can often slip past you quickly before you realize how creepy this line really is. And it’s supposed to be. This song is designed to sound chipper and positive but has a dark, disturbing background that only really comes towards the end.

Take my first music teacher, Henry Manox,
I was young it's true but even then I knew, The only thing you wanna do is... *kiss* ahh

Broad, dark, sexy Manox, Taught me all about dynamics
He was 23, And I was 13 going on 30

Dynamics refer to the relative loudness or softness of notes or phrases in a musical piece.

13 Going on 30 is a 2004 rom com that follows a 13 year old who wakes up one day in the future, at age 30. In this context, it refers to the way Katheryn was forced to behave as an adult at a very young age.

We don’t know for sure when Katheryn was born, but estimates of her age at the time of her marriage to the king have varied from 15-19 over the years. Tudor Historian Gareth Russell, who wrote “Young and Damned and Fair” about Katheryn Howard, places her most likely birth year as in 1521/1522. His full reasoning on this subject is explained fully in this Royal History Geeks article.

Gareth also estimates that at most, Manox was 5 years older than Katheryn . He began teaching her in 1536, and although we don’t know exactly when their “relationship” started, it ended in early 1538. Thus, Katheryn was 15-16 when their relationship began, and Manox was at most 21, although he was 23 by the time their relationship ended.

Obviously from a modern perspective, a relationship between a teenage girl and an adult man is problematic and criminal. It was also viewed as problematic in that time, although that was more due to Manox and Howard’s class differences, the risk to her reputation, and the religious concerns with “sinful” sexual activity than their actual age difference.

We'd spend hours strumming the lute, Striking the chords and blowing the flute
He plucked my strings all the way to G, Went from major to minor, C to D

lute, flute: I don’t believe we have any evidence indicating which instruments Katheryn learned to play, but both the lute and flute were very common instruments in Tudor times. We know that Henry VIII himself played the lute and the flute, along with the organ, other keyboard instruments, various recorders, and the harp. He also sang and wrote music.

“He plucked my strings all the way to G:This lyric puns on the fact that musical instruments (in western tradition) have notes corresponding to the letters A through G + the existence of string bikinis/underwear referred to as G Strings (or thongs).

“Major to Minor” refers to the musical scales. I’m not going to explain this in depth, but essentially a song written in a major scale generally sounds brighter and happier, while a song written in a minor scale is more likely to sound sad or ominous. “C to D” refers to musical keys, which is a group of pitches, named after the starting note.

Tell me what you need, What you want, you don't need to plead
'Cause I feel the chemistry, Like I get you and you get me

And maybe this is it, He just cares so much, it feels legit
We have a connection, I think this guy is different

There aren’t any historical or cultural references here in particular, but the lyrics in general refer to the character Katheryn’s desire to be loved and appreciated. “I think this guy is different” indicates that Katheryn already has reason to distrust men and relationships, even at such a young age.

Unknown woman, formerly known as Catherine Howard, after Hans Holbein the Younger, late 17th century

'Cause all you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Is touch me, love me, can't get enough, see
All you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Is please me, squeeze me, birds and the bees me
Run your fingers through my hair, Tell me, I'm the fairest of the fair
Playtime's over, The only thing you wanna do is...*kiss* ahh

“Birds and the bees” refers to stories parents tell to children when they’re explaining sexuality and how babies are made. This not only refers to actual sexy time activities, but continues to underline Katheryn'’s relative youth to the adult Manox. Evidence indicates that while Katheryn fooled around with Manox, she was reluctant to actually have sex with him and “lose her virginity” (note: virginity is an incredibly damaging social construct designed to control and shame women, and it’s not actually possible to lose it because it doesn’t actually exist. but! that’s a rant for another day).

I couldn’t find any actual evidence that anyone called Katheryn “the fairest of the fair” in Tudor times (“the fairest of the fair” is actually a march by John Philip Sousa!). However, “fair” was very commonly used to describe attractive women at the time, and several contemporary records described Katheryn with this word. This may have literally just meant “beautiful” then, or it may have referred to Katheryn having a light complexion or light hair, but since we don’t have a definitive Katheryn portrait, the exact meaning is unclear. For the record, Gareth Russell’s book describes Katheryn with blonde hair.

But then there was another guy, Francis Dereham
Serious, stern and slow, Gets what he wants, and he won't take no
Passion in all that he touches, The sexy secretary to the Dowager Duchess

Life at the Dowager Duchess’s: Katheryn’s parents died when she was fairly young. After that, she lived in the household of her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, and roomed with numerous other girls in the maiden’s chamber, in a dormitory type set up. Even if her parents hadn’t died, she likely would have been sent to her grandmother’s for a while; it was very common for noble children to live in a different family’s household for several years.

It was pretty common for men to sneak into the maidens’ chamber at night with wine and treats to speak and flirt with the various girls there. Apparently it was fairly easy for the men to hide behind a curtained area of the chamber if anyone came to check in on the girls in the night. Katheryn herself stole a key to the staircase up to the chamber and had it copied, to ensure that these visits could continue without issue.

Francis Dereham had been the Dowager Duchess’s secretary for about two years before his relationship with Katheryn started in 1538. According to Gareth Russell’s research, Dereham was very confident and had quite the temper. Dereham had already had a few flings with other servants at the Dowager Duchess’s home, including Joan Acworth, Katheryn’s roommate and secretary. Joan was clearly over Dereham by this time and apparently said very nice things about him to Katheryn .

Katheryn had likely only ended her relationship with Manox a few weeks before starting her relationship with Francis Dereham. She was apparently quite in love with Dereham and did indeed have sex with him, despite the lack of privacy in the maiden’s chamber. Witnesses attested to hearing both Dereham and Katheryn talk about how they knew how to have sexual relations without risking pregnancy.

Content Warning, Sexual assault: “He won’t take no”: Another ominous, creepy line delivered playfully enough that you can often miss it initially. Although some witnesses at the time said that Katheryn and Dereham seemed to have consensual relations, Katheryn herself said that Dereham coerced her and raped her. She said in a letter, “Francis Dereham by many persuasions procured me to his vicious purpose, and obtained first to lie upon my bed with his doublet and hose, and after within the bed, and finally he lay with me naked, and used me in such sort as a man doth his wife, many and sundry times.” Although she might have saved her life if she testified that there was a precontract between her and Dereham, as this would have given the king a pretext for annulling the marriage (and potentially saving her life), she steadfastly denied this.
*Note: In the initial form of this post, I accidentally left out Katheryn’s own testimony as to the nature of her relationship with Dereham in this post. Katheryn always asserted that Francis Dereham coerced and raped her, and I erred in leaving that aspect out of this post. This was a huge oversight and I apologize for it.

Helped him in his office, had a duty to fulfil, He even let me use his favorite quill
Spilled ink all over the parchment, my wrist was so tired
Still I came back the next day as he required

The innuendo in this section gets even more explicit. If you don’t understand it, I’m certainly not going to explain it. :)

The actual action (of Katheryn helping Francis in his office) described here likely didn’t happen, as Katheryn was a high ranking noble woman and would not have been helping a secretary with his work whatsoever. As I noted before, she actually had her own personal secretary (although she likely had very little correspondence, so that was really more an indication of her station than a necessity).

Quills and ink: In Tudor times and for many centuries after, feather quills were used to write. When properly cut, a feather’s ink can hold ink and slowly release it for the writer’s use. Quill feathers often came from geese or swans.

A 1793 copy of a 1513 depiction of Katheryn Howard’s step grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Katheryn lived in her household as a child in the 1530s.

You say I'm what you need, All you want, you don't need to plead
'Cause I feel the chemistry, Like I get you and you get me

And I know this is it, He just cares so much, this one's legit
We have a real connection, I'm sure this time is different

'Cause all you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Is touch me, love me, can't get enough see
All you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Is please me, squeeze me, birds and the bees me
You can't wait a second more to get, My corset on the floor
Playtime's over, The only thing you wanna do is...*kiss* ahh

The choruses of this song are very repetitive and often have only minor variations on the same theme, so I’m not going to analyze them all in depth. There isn’t really much historical content in here anyway, it’s all characterization of the character’s thoughts on her relationships.

In Katheryn Howard’s time, corsets were actually called bodies or stays.

Yeah, that didn't work out, So I decided to have a break from boys.
And you'll never guess who I met

This song, as long as it is, concentrates on Katheryn’s state of mind and really doesn’t get into a lot of the details about what actually happened in her relationships or at the end of her life. To elaborate a bit more, Katheryn’s step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess, eventually walked in on Katheryn embracing Francis (in the company of her friend and secretary Joan) and apparently was QUITE angry; she punched all three people and raged for a while, but never actually fired Dereham (she wasn’t the greatest of guardians, tbh). Francis adored Katheryn and very much wanted to marry her, giving her several costly gifts. She seemed to indulge him for a while, and they called each other “husband” and “wife.”

Although Dereham seemed to think that they were pre-contacted to marry, Katheryn did not. A precontract was a commitment to marry in the future, which was often used so a couple could start sleeping together before the actual wedding. Precontracts were legally considered as good as marriage, and could be used to annul later marriages or disinherit children from now-invalid marriages (Henry VIII used a supposed precontract between Anna of Cleves and Francis of Lorraine to dissolve his marriage with her).

Katheryn Howard broke things off with Francis when her uncle the Duke of Norfolk arranged for her to join the new queen Anna of Cleves’ court as a maid of honor. Francis later claimed that Katheryn wept when they parted, saying she had to do as her family ordered, while Katheryn said that she lost her temper and told him to do what he liked. Whatever the actual truth was, Francis apparently still believed after the conversation that he had a chance with Katheryn in the future, and might still be her husband.

Katheryn joined the royal court in the late summer/early autumn of 1539, and was reportedly quite enthusiastic about her new position. We don’t know exactly when she met Henry VIII, but it was probably around this time.

Tall, large, Henry the Eighth, Supreme head of the Church of England
Globally revered, Although you wouldn't know it from the look of that beard

The lines here aren’t nearly as clever or as flirtatious as her previous compliments. This is a subtle way of indicating that Katheryn isn’t really interested in Henry at all, and is struggling to say anything sexy or good about him.

Tall, large, Henry the Eighth: We actually have a pretty good idea of Henry’s size in 1540 based on the dimensions of his suits of armour. He was 6’1” in height and the armour he had made a year before his marriage to Katheryn Howard had a 51 inch waist and a 54.5 inch chest circumference.

Supreme head of the Church of England: Henry established the Church of England with himself at the head in 1536, so he had only been in this role for a few years when he married Katheryn. It might be a bit of an exaggeration to call Henry “globally revered” though. Maybe more “globally notorious.”

Made me a lady in waiting, Hurled me and my family up in the world
Gave me duties in court and he swears it's true,
That without me, he doesn't know what he'd do

lady in waiting: As I noted earlier, Katheryn’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, actually arranged for her position as a maid of honor for Anna of Cleves before she even met Henry. The maids of honor were the lowest ranked noble ladies in the queen’s household. They were younger than the ladies in waiting and unmarried. They accompanied the queen and served as her companions, but also supervised various servants and performed various tasks, such as dressing the queen or fetching items for her. This usage of “lady in waiting” as a substitute for “maid of honor'“ is consistent throughout Six, as presumably, the writers were concerned people would get confused by the nomenclature, given its modern meaning in a wedding party sense.

Hurled me and my family up in the world: It’s interesting that anyone would say Katheryn or her family were hurled up in the world, as she was actually very well placed already as a Howard. Although her parents died when she was young and she was relatively penniless before she came to court, as a maid of honor, she received lodgings and a decent salary, and she had numerous family members in prominent places at court. She would have been fine money and status-wise even if Henry had never noticed her, perhaps not wealthy or well known, but still comfortable and happy.

However, the king did give her many presents, starting in April 1540 (when he was still married to Anna of Cleves), so the relationship did materially benefit her. In April, she was given the property of two condemned criminals, and in May, Henry bought her 23 light silk quilts.

Although many tellings of the story of Henry annulling his marriage to Anna of Cleves and then marrying Katheryn Howard position her as the victim of her uncle’s machinations, the evidence seems to indicate that their relationship was a bit more spontaneous than that. Katheryn’s youthful misadventures at the Dowager Duchess’s home were widely known enough that if anyone had dug much into her background, they would have found evidence of them pretty quickly (as later became clear). It seems unlikely that the Howards would have deliberately put her forward to distract the king without vetting her, and she honestly wouldn’t have made it past such a vetting. The Howards did use the king’s attraction to Katheryn to their own advantage later, but there’s really no indication that they set it up themselves.

You say I'm what you need, All you want, we both agree
This is the place for me, I'm finally where I'm meant to be

Then he starts saying all this stuff, He cares so much, he calls me love
He says we have this connection, I guess it's not so different

He cares so much, he calls me love: Henry VIII considered himself a romantic at heart and really wanted to be in love with his wives. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer (who I honestly think was one of the most emotionally intelligent members of Henry’s court), even said to Thomas Cromwell pre-Anna of Cleves’ arrival in England that it would be “most expedient the King to marry where that he had his fantasy and love, for that would be most comfort to his Grace.”

The Dowager Duchess later testified that the king liked Katheryn the moment he met her. This instant attraction to a woman really fit into Henry’s own romantic ideals of love, and even if this interest didn’t result in him pursuing a relationship with her for a few more months (there’s no evidence that Henry pursued her until early 1540 sometime), this connection was probably revived anew the moment he realized he didn’t want to marry/stay married to Anna of Cleves.

The Howards moved Katheryn back to Lambeth at some point during Henry’s courtship of her for the sake of her reputation. However, Henry visited her multiple times there in his royal barge, which probably only increased the level of gossip about their relationship.

'Cause all you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Is touch me, love me, can't get enough, see
All you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Is seize me, squeeze me, birds and the bees me
There's no time for when or how 'cause you
Just got to have me now, Playtime's over
The only thing you wanna do is...*kiss* ahh

All you wanna do: We have no idea when Henry began a physical relationship with Katheryn. However, as Gareth Russell noted in his book, Henry was impressed by his past wives’ abstaining from sex until marriage (Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour), so it’s possible that they waited until after his fourth marriage was annulled and his fifth marriage was performed.

So we got married, Woo

The annulment of Henry’s marriage to Anna of Cleves was motivated by many things (which I addressed more in depth in my post on her song “Get Down”), and was made official in early July 1540. Anna was given numerous properties and a very high rank in return for her acquiescence during the process.

Henry and Katheryn married in a small ceremony on July 28, 1540. At the time, Henry was 49 and Katheryn was probably 19. For comparison’s sake, Henry’s daughter Mary was 24 at this time (Elizabeth was almost 7 and Edward was nearing 3).

With Henry, it isn't easy, His temper's short, and his mates are sleazy
Except for this one courtier, He's a really nice guy, just so sincere
The royal life isn't what I planned, But Thomas is there to lend a helping hand
So sweet, makes sure that I'm okay, And we hang out loads when the King's away

Henry really did have a terrible temper. There are countless examples of this from throughout his life, but one of the most relevant for Katheryn’s story is the downfall of Thomas Cromwell. Although Cromwell had served on the king’s privy council since 1530 and as his chief minister since 1534, Henry was so displeased with his fourth marriage and the breakdown of the alliance secured by that marriage that he ordered Cromwell arrested in June 1540, and executed on July 28, 1540. Henry came to regret executing Cromwell and later blamed the decision on his privy council, reportedly stating: “on the pretext of several trivial faults [Cromwell] had committed, they had made several false accusations which had resulted in him killing the most faithful servant he had ever had” (this was reported in a letter by a French ambassador in March 1541).

Despite the lyrics in this song implying “Thomas” was different than Henry’s usual friends, Thomas Culpepper was very much sleezy himself. He was a gentleman of the King’s privy chamber and a close friend to the King, who gave him numerous properties. He was apparently quite handsome, flirtatious, and, as Gareth Russell described him, “unashamedly promiscuous with consensual partners.”

Content Warning, Sexual assault: We also have records indicating that sometime in 1540, Culpepper may have raped the wife of a park-keeper and killed a man when the villagers tried to apprehend him for the crime. I say “may have” because we only have one report of the case, and it is possible that the letter writer mixed up Thomas with his older brother. Regardless, whoever committed the crime, the king pardoned him for the rape and murder.

Gareth Russell’s book notes that Culpepper noticed Katheryn pretty quickly after she arrived at court and pursued her, but after she played hard to get, he moved on to someone else. This upset Katheryn more than she may have expected, as it apparently caused her to weep in front of several of her fellow maids of honor. Rumors of this did get back to Francis Dereham, who came up to court and confronted Katheryn about it. Katheryn apparently rather brutally put him down and said she would not have Francis and if he had heard anything about Thomas, he knew more than she did.

This guy finally Is what I want, the friend I need
Just mates, no chemistry, I get him and he gets me

And there's nothing more to it, He just cares so much, he's devoted
He says we have a connection, I thought this time was different
Why did I think he'd be different?, But it's never, ever different

We know that there was a LOT of evidence gathered in the case against Katheryn Howard and that many many interviews were conducted. However, a lot of these documents were lost or destroyed over the years, so we don’t quite have the full story.

Although courtly love and flirtation games were de rigeur in royal courts of the time, Katheryn’s relationship with Culpepper appeared to have crossed that line into a much more emotional entanglement than was generally accepted.

A drawing believed to be of Jane Boleyn (formerly Jane Parker), by Hans Holbein

Reports indicate that Katheryn met with Culpepper and secretly gave him a cap in March 1541, specifically asking him to keep the cap hidden until he was back in his rooms. at which point he teased her a bit about their previous relationship. A few months later, she sent food to him several times while he was sick.

When the court was on progress, Culpepper met with Katheryn and Jane Boleyn, Dowager Viscountess Rochford (wife to George Boleyn, executed years earlier) late one night in a large lavatory; Lady Rochford apparently dozed in the corner while the couple spoke for several hours, until 2 or 3 a.m. They met up in the lavatory again the second night and reportedly, this was when the two confessed their love for each other (Katheryn spoke first). When Culpepper left her, he kissed her hand and told her it was the only physical intimacy allowed.

After this, the couple was less discreet with their feelings. One witness noted that she saw Katheryn gazing dreamily out the window at Culpepper; conveniently, that same night, Katheryn told her ladies that no one was allowed in her bedchamber that night except for Lady Rochford. This was highly unusual for the time. Evidence indicates that Culpepper came to Katheryn’s rooms on many nights. We don’t know exactly what happened when they met up, but the two clearly joked with each other and enjoyed each other’s company; Katheryn sent him several gifts that referred to their inside jokes.

Katheryn Howard’s supposed love letter to Thomas Culpepper.

Katheryn also sent him a letter when he was sick that has often been described as a love letter, but could also be interpreted as a letter between friends, as passionate language was commonly used in friendly letters of the time. This is also the only example we have her handwriting, so it has to be viewed with a bit of suspicion. The letter also may contain writing from two different people, as there are several words at the beginning of the letter which look quite different from the rest of the writing. I’m really not pulling these doubts out of thin air, by the way; Conor Byrne’s “Katherine Howard: Henry VIII’s Slandered Queen” argues that Katherine neither had romantic feelings nor sexual relations with Culpepper. I haven’t read his book in depth, but will need to do so in the future to really explore this argument, which he laid out a bit in a blog post.

Later when he was interrogated, Thomas said that he had not actually had sex with Katheryn, but that “he intended and meant to do ill with the Queen and that likewise the Queen so minded with him.” Thomas was not tortured, but apparently was quite frank and open in his discussion of his relationship with Katheryn, so he really might have been speaking the truth here.

'Cause all you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Is touch me, when will enough be enough?
See, All you wanna do, All you wanna do, baby
Squeeze me, don't care if you don't please me
Bite my lip and pull my hair, As you tell me, I'm the fairest of the fair
Playtime's over, Playtime's over, Playtime's over
The only thing, The only thing, The only thing you wanna do is...*kiss* ahh

The formerly playful and sexy lyrics are now angry and desperate and are performed with much more intensity and disgust as the character loses her equilibrium. It’s honestly a really powerful moment of the show and leaves me breathless every time.

Because this song and the show doesn’t address Katheryn’s ultimate downfall and execution beyond noting that she was beheaded, I won’t get too much into those details. However, in short, reports of Katheryn’s pre-marital relationships ended up reaching the privy council and the king and a thorough investigation launched into the reports also uncovered her relationship with Culpepper (whether it was friendly or romantic in nature, she undoubtedly met with him in secret, which looked…bad, to say the least).

Three confessions were taken from Katheryn in the course of the investigation, which related to her pre-marital relationships. You can read those letters, along with Katheryn’s letter to Culpepper over at The History of England website.

What led to Katheryn’s ultimate fate was summarized very well by Gareth Russell in his book, who said “What happened to Catherine Howard was monstrous and it struck many of her contemporaries as unnecessary, but it was not a lynching. The Queen was toppled by a combination of bad luck, poor decisions, and the Henrican state’s determination to punish those who failed its king.” She was ultimately executed on February 13, 1542. The night before, she asked for the execution block to be brought to her so she could practice placing her head on it.

Although there’s a legend that Katheryn said “I die a Queen, but I would rather die the wife of Culpeper,” she really did not. We have witness accounts of what she actually said, and it’s not that. In addition, saying something like this would have been incredibly foolish , as if the king disliked something she said from the block, he could very well go punish her entire family after her death.

Katheryn was not the only victim of her downfall. Lady Rochford was executed right after her.

From necessity, this post can’t even slightly cover all the events of Katheryn Howard’s life. I highly recommend reading Gareth Russell’s “Young, Damned, and Fair” for more info."

Tia Kofi's Tribute Outfit for the Six Vinyl Launch!

The Six album reissue on vinyl (and gold album record announcement) occurred earlier today on TikTok! The event was hosted by Tia Kofi, a season 2 contestant of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.

I honestly hadn’t heard of Tia before this event but she was SUCH an amazing host. So funny and clearly just the biggest Six fan. And she sported an absolutely fabulous outfit that was a loving tribute to the musical’s costumes, incorporating numerous elements from lots of different main cast and alternate cast costumes. Although at initial glance, her outfit reads most clearly as a tribute to Katherine Howard, it actually includes numerous clever references to other costumes!

This outfit was designed by Jay W. Parsons of Stitches by Jay.

The Color: Although almost every Six costume incorporates the color black with silver studs (Catherine of Aragon has gold studs), Tia’s costume uses a color we’ve never seen before in a Six costume - purple! As Six costume designer Gabriella Slade has mentioned before in an Instagram takeover Q&A there actually aren’t any purple costumes /because/ it’s the brand color. So this is a wonderful way for Tia to differentiate herself and really stand out as the host for this key event.

Sleeves: Tia’s outfit incorporates the long mesh sleeves seen in K. Howard’s costume, but is topped with big, bold, spikey shoulders that most closely resemble Catherine of Aragon’s sleeves.

Credit: Idil Sukan

Credit: Eleanor Howarth

Sleeve References: Tia Kofi, Aimee Atkinson (K Howard West End) ; Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon, West End)

Lattice patterns: Tia’s costume incorporates a lot of diagonal black lines over a base color, resembling latticework. Diagonal lattice designs have become more and more prevalent in the Six costumes over time. You started off really seeing them most in various parts of the alternate costumes.

Lattice References in the alternate costumes: Zara McIntosh (West End, going on for Howard), Byrony Duncan (Bliss, going on for Boleyn), Natalie Pilkington (Bliss, going on as Aragon), Grace Mouat and Colette Guitart (West End, not sure who they’re playing)

Then K. Howard’s costume was updated with the lattice pattern in the Australia costumes. When the show hit Broadway, lattice work also showed up on Catherine Parr’s outfit.

I don’t quite consider these next two lattice work, as it’s more of a harlequin-y pattern? But you do see similar patterns in the Orange alternate costumes and in the Broadway Catherine of Aragon costumes as well, and they’re so close that i feel like people would comment negatively if I left them out of this post, lol.

Credit: Joan Marcus

Credit: Joan Marcus

Lattice Reference: Courtney Monsma (Howard, Australia), Anna Uzele (Parr, Broadway)
Pseudo Lattice references: Harriet Watson (UK tour, not sure who she’s playing), Adrianna Hicks (Aragon, Broadway)

Split front: The split down the middle of Tia’s top can be seen in a couple outfits - Parr’s and Harriet Watson’s above, as well as teal costumes worn by Vicki Manser and Jennifer Caldwell.

Neckline: Tia’s neckline most closely resembles the Jennifer Caldwell costume below, but has sharper angles and doesn’t exactly match any one costume.

Credit: Joan Marcus

Split front references: Tia Kofi, Samantha Pauly (Howard, Broadway) Jennifer Caldwell (UK tour, going on for Howard), Vicki Manser (West End, going on for Cleves)

I am not as familiar as what any of these costumes look like from the back, but Tia’s costume from the back looks a lot like Catherine of Aragon’s in overall silhouette and pattern!

Silhouette: Tia Kofi, Candace Furbert (Aragon, Bliss)

Skirt pattern: Cassandra Lee (UK Tour, going on as Aragon); Shekinah McFarlane (West End, going on as Aragon)

Skirt pattern: The split skirt in front and the varied pattern around it most closely resembles K. Howard’s updated costume (per usual) but also resembles a few alternate costumes.

FYI, the split skirts in Six directly reference a layered style of overdress over kirtle (underdress) popular in Henrican times. This portrait of the original Katherine Parr demonstrates the fashion.

Gabriella Slade used a lot of Tudor fashion and even architecture in her costume designs! I talked about a lot of them over here: The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes of Six (with Painting References!)

Hair References: Tia Kofi and her friggin amazing hair; Alicia Corrales-Connor (K. Howard, 2019 Bliss); Natalie Paris (Jane Seymour, West End)

Hair: Seems to mostly be a reference to K. Howard’s high ponytail, but its length and volume may also indicate an homage to Jane Seymour’s half back look.

Bonus Tribute Costume: Tia Kofi actually had another tribute costume made as well! She posted it on Instagram in September. This one is designed and made by @the_real_lady_marmalade. and is much more colorful!

I just gave you a run down of references in her launch party costume; what references do you see in this red costume? I’d love to hear what you see in the comments!

All My Six the Musical Posts!

Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

Over-Analyzing All the References in Six: "Heart of Stone"

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

I’ve been meaning for a while now to write out analyses of all the songs in Six, looking at all the historical and pop culture references in them, but i’ve had a lot of trouble finding the focus and motivation to do so during all this self isolation. I started this series in like….April? But here we finally are. Hope you enjoy it. I plan on putting up one for each song, hopefully at least one a week for a while. I need a purpose!

Today, we’re looking at Jane Seymour’s featured song - Heart of Stone. This is a slow, evocative song in the style of Adele and the only ballad in the show. I don’t have a TON to say about the history here because it’s mostly just metaphors without much actual historical content.

Dialogue and lyrics in the show are in bolded font and my commentary is in italics. :) A lot of times, it’s really not relevant who said what line of dialogue, but I’ve inserted the queen’s name if it is.

An early photo of the Six queens on the West End, with Jane Seymour (played by Natalie Paris) front and center, by Idil Sukan.

Sketch of Jane Seymour, Hans Holbein the Younger ~1536-1537

Jane: Anyways, I'm pretty sure it’s my turn next.

You! Queen, please!

Are you joking?!

Yeah, weren’t you the one he truly loved? [echoing Jane’s line in “Ex-Wives”]

Oh yeah, didn’t you give him the son he so desperately wanted?

Anne Boleyn: Yeah, like, I had a daughter and he literally chopped my head off.

Jane: Yeah, I know. I was lucky in so many ways. Well, I had a beautiful baby boy and Henry got his heir to the throne, so of course I was going to be the one he truly loved. But you know, if Edward had turned out to be a little baby Edwina, well, I know that his love wouldn’t have lasted. 

As I mentioned in “Ex-Wives” - he concept that Jane Seymour was Henry’s favorite wife and “the only one he truly loved” was forwarded by Henry himself, but doesn’t actually track with his actions at the time. Jane DID give Henry his only surviving son, the one he had wanted for so many years, which is probably why he viewed her with such fondness in later years. She WAS the only one of his wives who was given a queen’s funeral. There are all sorts of stories about how Henry wore mourned for Jane for years, but in reality, the search for his new queen began shortly after Jane’s death (as is discussed in Haus of Holbein]. He wore black for three months after her death, but this was pretty typical for the time.

Anne Boleyn: Wow, yeah, what a stressful situation. I’ve never had anything similar happen.

Catherine of Aragon: Yeah, babe, do you have any idea?

Jane: Okay okay, look, you’re right. You’re so right! You queens kicked some major Tudor ass! And that’s what everyone wants to hear about. You know, like, girl power, woo! What I mean to say is that, I wouldn’t do any of that. Instead, I stood by him. It didn’t matter how many stupid things he did. I was there, by his side. And that’s… not because I was weak or scared. It’s because… I loved him. So, Henry…

Jane draws a sharp distinction between her and the other queens in her opening dialogue by referring to how powerful and kickass they were, while referring to herself only in terms of her love of Henry. This is probably a reference to the fact that while Henry’s first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, were highly educated and strongly opinionated, Jane had a far more typical education for an English noblewoman of the time. She could read and write, but had really been trained more in tasks like, needlework and managing a household than in scholarly activities. She was described as very meek, sweet natured, and gentle. This probably highly appealed to Henry after dealing with his strong-willed first and second wives. She took the motto “Bound to obey and serve” upon their marriage and by all accounts, held to that.

You’ve got a good heart, But I know it changes. A restless tide, untameable.
You came my way, and I knew a storm could come too. You’d lift me high or let me fall.
But I took your hand, Promise I’d withstand any blaze you blew my way.
‘Cause something inside, it solidified. And I knew I’d always stay.

This first verse and how it’s talking about Henry as a “restless tide” and an unpredictable “storm” can be interpreted to refer to the tumultuous start to their relationship, which appears to have started while Henry was still married to Anne Boleyn. Jane took a cue from Anne Boleyn in her approach to Henry; when Henry showed interest in her, she refused his sexual advances and his offer of gold coins as a gift. This outward show of morals apparently impressed Henry. Henry was betrothed to Jane a day after Anne’s execution in May 1536 and married her less than two weeks after the execution.

Jane served as a maid-of-honour to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, so she had been around court since at least 1532, and possibly as early as 1527. She knew very well how Henry had treated his first two wives, and how poorly both of their lives had ended as a result. The “storm” was a very very real concern for her.

“But I took your hand, Promise I’d withstand any blaze you blew my way.” - This, of course, refers to their wedding vows, recited during the couple’s handfasting, or joining of hands. This was a remnant of medieval times, when couples could actually just get married by joining their hands and vowing that they were married before witnesses, without involving the church at all. The vows during Tudor times would have been very similar to today’s traditional vows (we know this because we have actual documentary records of the vows that Henry and his later wife, Katherine Parr, exchanged, from the king’s prothonotary, or principal clerk of court).

Henry: "I, Henry, take thee to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part, and thereto I plight thee my troth." 

Jane: "I take thee, Henry, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and health, to be bonny and buxom, in bed and at board, till death do us part, and thereto I plight thee my troth.”

This song uses a lot more imagery and a lot fewer historical and pop culture references than most of the other Queens’ songs. This is likely because we really don’t know that much about Jane. We don’t know her birth date and she wasn’t particularly notable or well known before her marriage to Henry. Most of the descriptions of her during her time as Queen focus on her meekness and gentleness rather than giving us much indication of her personality or thoughts. She unfortunately died too early for us to really know much about her. The fact that it took Henry until 1536 to notice her possibly indicates how quiet she really was. It may also indicate how enthralled and absorbed he was in Anne Boleyn, but realistically, he’d already had at least one affair during his marriage to Anne before falling for Jane.

Co-writer Lucy Moss has said in interviews that this was the hardest song in the show for them to write, and this lack of information explains why. The writers did a brilliant job covering up this blank page in history by characterizing Jane in the show as a motherly, awkward figure and by centering her song around the ballad, a genre which is traditionally pretty vague on details.

The motherly characterization does seem to be supported by some evidence actually. Jane specifically advocated that Henry’s 20-year-old daughter with Catherine of Aragon, Princess Mary,be brought back to court. She started quietly suggesting this before they were even married, and continued working on Henry until he agreed. She also may have had a role in bringing three-year-old Princess Elizabeth (Anne Boleyn’s daughter) back into Henry’s life as well, as she was invited back to court for Christmas 1536. We have no idea what her reasons are for this, but she clearly wanted the royal children back with their father (she also suggested that they be added back into the succession, but this wouldn’t occur until Henry’s last Queen, Katherine Parr, persuaded him to do). This is also supported by the fact that she came from a large family herself - she was the 7th of 10 children, including 6 boys. Her mother’s obvious fertility may have strengthened her appeal to Henry as well, since he was still on the hunt for a son.

The writers of Six addressed the incompleteness in the record of Jane’s life directly in her first solo line in the show, which says “But I'm not what I seem or am I? Stick around and you'll suddenly see more.” (in Ex-Wives, which I analyzed in depth here). It reminds me a lot of how other musicals have used creative storytelling to deal with blanks in history. What comes to mind first is “Burn” in Hamilton, which addresses the lack of documentary evidence of Hamilton’s love letters to Eliza by explaining that she burned them all after the incident of The Reynolds Pamphlet. “The Room Where it Happened” is another excellent example of this, as it’s all about The Compromise of 1790, which we only know about from Thomas Jefferson’s POV. We don’t /really/ know what happened there, and that song took that fact and made it into an acerbic, brilliant observation on the nature of politics (sidenote, this is one of my favorite musical songs ever, can you tell? It’s so jaunty that it takes a few listens before you realize how dark and pessimistic it really is).

I asked friends for more examples of songs in historical musicals that use creative methods to talk about historical knowledge gaps as well. My friend Megan suggested “Someone in a Tree” from Pacific Overtures, which is about Commodore Perry coming to Japan and the westernization of that country. In this song, supposedly Stephen Sondheim’s favorite of everything he’s written, two witnesses talk about the little they saw of the negotiations between the westerners and the Japanese, noting that there’s no official Japanese version of events and they don’t trust the westerner’s version.

CHORUS:
You can build me up, You can tear me down, You can try but I’m unbreakable.
You can do your best, But I’ll stand the test, You’ll find that I’m unshakable.
When the fire’s burnt, When the wind has blown, When the water’s dried,
You’ll still find stone. My heart of stone.

The imagery in this song is so dark and discouraging in a way. It’s a love song, but there’s an edge to it, which I imagine is quite intentional. “Heart of Stone” is used as a positive attribute for Jane’s steadfastness here, but throughout history, a heart of stone, or a hard heart, has always been referred to as a negative thing. This goes back to even Biblical times. Job 41:24 (ESV) says “His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone.” The Rolling Stones song “Heart of Stone” talks about the singer’s life as a womanizer and how he won’t let a specific woman break his “heart of stone.” It shows up as the name of countless other songs, all about hard-hearted lovers.

So its use here is really quite …unusual. I feel like it might be an allusion to several complicated factors in her relationship with Henry. Her husband was terrifying and could kill her pretty easily, and she knew it. She may love him but she sure as heck didn’t have any choice in whether to marry him or not. It also may refer to the fact that Jane watched Anne get falsely accused and executed, then got engaged to Henry a day later and married him less than two weeks later. It really does take a heart of stone to go through with that after serving said mistress for several years.

This entire chorus also really characterizes her marriage to Henry as a struggle and a battle, which adds a very sad undertone to it all.

The Family of Henry VIII c. 1545, unknown artist (previously attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger).

You say we’re perfect. A perfect family. You hold us close for the world to see.

Henry looked at Jane with a lot of fondness in later years. She was painted into a family portrait years after her death, even when Henry was married to other women, and Henry was indeed buried next to her when he died.

The above dynastic portrait of Henry VIII and his family was painted around 1545, when he had already been married to Catherine Parr for two years (and two years before his death). As you can see, Henry is front and center with his son and first heir, the future Edward VI, and Jane Seymour, who had been dead for about eight years at this point. His daughters Princess Mary (Catherine of Aragon’s daughter, on the left) and Princess Elizabeth (Anne Boleyn’s daughter, on the right side) stand on either side of the central arrangement. Furthest on the right is Henry VIII’s jester Will Somers (who had served the king for 20 years at the time of this painting and was apparently the only one who could lift Henry VIII’s spirits when he was troubled by his painful leg). The woman on the far left is unidentified, but may be Jane, a jester of Catherine Parr and later Mary I (possibly Anne Boleyn as well). 

This family portrait of the Tudor kings was actually painted in 1669, long after all the Tudors had died. Clockwise from back left: Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth of York, Queen Jane Seymour, Edward VI, and Henry VIII.

And when I say you’re the only one I’ve ever loved, I mean those words to you fully.
But I know, without my son your love could disappear.
And no, it isn’t fair, But I don’t care. ‘Cause my love will still be here.

As I mentioned before, we really don’t know much about Jane, and unfortunately we really have no idea what she felt for Henry.

“Without my son your love could disappear” does seem like a pretty accurate statement. Henry started looking to annul his marriage to Catherine, his wife of 16 years, around 1525, when it became clear that she was past child-bearing age (her last pregnancy was in 1518). And after chasing Anne Boleyn for ~7 years before marriage, Henry began talking about divorcing her in Christmas 1534 (after around two years of marriage) after she’d had one girl (Elizabeth) and one miscarriage. His relationship with Jane Seymour was incredibly brief in comparison to his first two wives, as it appears that Henry’s interest first began in February 1536, they married in Mary 1536, and she died in October 1537.

CHORUS

Soon I’ll have to go. I’ll never see him grow.

Jane Seymour died shortly after giving birth to her son Edward, later Edward VI. She had a very difficult labor that lasted two days and three nights. Edward was born on October 12, 1537, and Jane lasted until October 24. Modern historians believe she probably died of either an infection from a retained placenta, puerperal fever following a bacterial infection, or a pulmonary embolism, but it’s hard to know.

If anyone ever tells you that she had a c-section and died of it, you should ignore then because they’re very very wrong. In renaissance England, c-sections were really only performed when someone had already died or was about to die and the baby had to be removed immediately. People just didn’t survive c-sections. An example of an actual c-section from that time period is the character of MacDuff from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped" (Act 5 Scene 10).

But I hope my son will know, He’ll never be alone.
‘Cause like a river runs dry And leaves its scars behind.
I’ll be by your side, ‘Cause my love is set in stone. ...Yeah!

I have nothing historical to examine here (I haven’t been able to find any discussion of Edward VI’s thoughts of his mother), so I’ll just mention one more possible “stone” reference. It was standard practice for Henry VIII to have his wife’s initials, arms, and badge carved in various of his palaces. Jane’s can still be found in Hampton Court Palace. You can also find a few examples of Henry’s initials intertwined with Anne Boleyn’s as well, as clearly some of these were missed in the hurry to erase Anne and put up Jane’s name.

Henry VIII’s arms combined with Jane Seymour’s arms at Hampton Court Palace.

Henry VIII’s coat of arms

Jane Seymour’s Coat of Arms

Several CHORUSES to the end

Jane: Because what hurts more than a broken heart?

-Anne slowly walks up to her.-

Anne Boleyn: Severed head.

Over-Analyzing All the References in Six: "Don't Lose Your Head"

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

I’ve been meaning for a while now to write out analyses of all the songs in Six, looking at all the historical and pop culture references in them, but i’ve had a lot of trouble finding the focus and motivation to do so during all this self isolation. I started this series in like….April? But here we finally are. Hope you enjoy it. I plan on putting up one for each song, hopefully at least one a week for a while. I need a purpose!

Today, we’re looking at Anne Boleyn’s featured song - Don’t Lose Your Head. This song is influenced by Lily Allen and has s a similar sassy wit and melodic structure to her early songs.

Dialogue and lyrics in the show are in bolded font and my commentary is in italics. :) A lot of times, it’s really not relevant who said what line of dialogue, but I’ve inserted the queen’s name if it is.

Andrea Macasaet (center, as Anne Boleyn) with the cast of “Six.”LIZ LAUREN

Hang on a sec. Who was that other one?

Aragon: I think you’re thinking of me!

No, there was definitely a really important one.

Aragon: Yeah, still me!

Yeah. I think she, like, overlapped with you. Yeah, the really important, controversial one that people actually care about. Yeah. You know…

The one you’ve been waiting for. The mystery, The one who changed history. The temptress. The one with the plan, The plan to steal the man!

Queens: Anne!

The one who chased the king, But paid the price with a swordsman’s swing.

Queens: Will she be the one to win? Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn!

Boleyn: What? Oh… sorry.

She points to Maggie and she gives her a beat.

A German engraving c. 1830, showing Anne Boleyn’s execution.

I don’t know of any way to prove this with a study or anything, but Anne Boleyn is arguably the most famous of Henry VIII’s wives. If you talk to random people on the street and ask them to name the 6 wives, I promise you, Anne Boleyn is the one they’re most likely to get correct. She was notorious at the time and only grew more notorious after her death, as rumors about her being a witch and having six fingers grew and grew over the centuries.

Incorrect thing here - all the records we have indicate that Henry VIII actually chased Anne for a long time; she was definitely not the one pursuing him. The main thing distinguishing Anne from the other women Henry had already slept with outside of his marriage was that she refused to do so. She wanted to be married if she was going to be with the king. It’s a damn shame that she’s been called a whore for centuries because of that.

Anne was indeed executed by a French swordsman. Generally, those executed in England were killed by an axe wielded by an English executioner who could have a lot of experience or very little. An inexpert executioner could draw out the pain and death significantly (see: Margaret Pole, executed in 1541 - some reports indicate that an inexperienced axemen missed her neck the first time, hitting her shoulder instead, and had to hit her ten more times with the axe before she died.). So it was actually pretty merciful of Henry to summon an expert swordsman from Saint-Omer in France to perform the execution. She was killed very quickly and expertly and likely felt much less pain than she would have otherwise.

As I noted previously, Maggie the Guitar Player (in the band Ladies in Waiting) is named for Lady Margaret Wyatt, who served Anne Boleyn and was likely her closest friend. She served as chief mourner at her funeral. You can learn more about all the Ladies in Waiting in my previous post on them here.

VERSE 1
Grew up in the French Court, Oui, oui, bonjour

A portrait of Anne Boleyn by an unknown artist, copied from an original by Hans Holbein the Younger.

I’ve seen people misinterpret this line online as indicating that Anne Boleyn was French. That is NOT the case. Anne was an English woman, the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, a prominent diplomat who served both Henry VIII and his father Henry VII, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Howard (part of the powerful Howard family), but as was fairly common for the time, Anne was sent away from her family to complete her education in the households of various noble families. Those families just happened to be some of the rulers of the Netherlands and France.

Anne was sent to join the household of Margaret of Austria in 1513 (in the low countries, in modern day Belgium), when Anne was either 12 or 6 (Anne’s exact birth year is unknown and there are NUMEROUS debates about which year is more likely - 1501 or 1507). Margaret of Austria was the daughter of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and was serving as the governor of the Habsburg Netherlands at the time. Anne’s father Thomas had been sent as an envoy to Margaret the year before and got along so well with her that he managed to secure Anne’s place at the time. Margaret of Austria was highly educated and cultured and her court had a reputation for having an extremely well-stocked library and art collection. Scholars, poets, and artists were constantly around the court. Here, Anne gained a fluency in French, which led to Mary Tudor choosing her for her household in the French Court in 1514.

About a year after she went to Margaret of Austria’s court, Anne was sent to serve Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister, who was marrying the French King, Louis XII. Anne’s sister Mary probably served Mary Tudor as well, but it’s a little unclear how long either of them served her, as many of her English attendants were dismissed the day after the wedding. Less than three months into the marriage, the French king died. Although Mary Tudor went back to England (and scandalously married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, without Henry VIII’s knowledge or permission), Anne Boleyn stayed on in France and joined the household of the new Queen, the 15-year-old Claude. Queen Claude also loved scholarly manuscripts and art, so her court was full of such beautiful things and exciting people.

By the time Anne was recalled to England in January 1522, she had spent 7-8 years of her life on mainland Europe and almost that long in the French court. She would have been there from ages 12-20 OR ages 6-14. Either way, although she was English born, it’s more than fair to say that she “grew up in the French court.”

“Oui Oui Bonjour” means “yes yes, hello” in French.

Life was a chore so (she set sail), 1522 came straight to the UK - All the British dudes, lame (Epic fail)

Anne Boleyn was summoned back to England in January 1522 by her father to marry her Irish cousin, James Butler, in order to settle a dispute over a title and some land. This marriage fell through for an unknown reason.

At this time, Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary Boleyn was at Henry VII’s court. Historical records indicate that Mary Boleyn was Henry’s mistress, and rumors abound that one or both of Mary’s children were Henry’s, as opposed to her husband William Carey’s, but there’s no definitive evidence on the subject. Anne joined the court at least by March 1522 as a maid of honor to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and quickly became very well known there. She was described as being very intelligent, stylish, and quick-witted. Apparently she had numerous admirers among the men at court, including the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. Anne actually entered into a secret betrothal with Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, but this was broken off when Percy’s father and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (who was acting as the king’s chief courtier at this time) both refused to support the match.

“The UK” and “British dudes” - Technically the UK (United Kingdom) wasn’t called that until 1800, when Parliament passed an act uniting Great Britain and Ireland as “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.” In Anne Boleyn’s time, it was just called England and its inhabitants were only called English, not British (although the Romans called the British Isles Britannia and occasionally referred to the larger island as Great Britain, the name wasn’t widely used to refer to the kingdom on the British Isles until 1707, when the kingdoms of England and Scotland were officially joined into one political union).

Thomas Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Anne’s father.

Ooh, I wanna dance and sing - Politics, not my thing

Anne was an extremely accomplished dancer, singer, and played numerous musical instruments. However, after Henry put her in a position of power, Anne actually wielded tremendous influence on his policy, particularly as it related to religion. There’s evidence that Anne persuaded Henry to read so called “heretical” pamphlets by Protestant writers about how kings had a responsibility to control the Catholic church and stop its excesses. She also was very influential in granting petitions, receiving diplomats, and was a patron to numerous nobles and artists, including the famed Hans Holbein.

I don’t love this line and some of the others in the musical because of the ditzy way in which Anne is portrayed, which is very different from reality. However, I try to remind myself that she’s just a character, and she isn’t meant to be historically accurate.

Ooo, but then I met the King - And soon my daddy said, you should try and get ahead

It appears that Anne caught Henry VIII’s eye in 1526. Having learned from her sister’s example though, Anne refused to sleep with him or become his mistress. She quickly gained the ability to influence the king.

There isn’t much evidence that her father Thomas Boleyn actually pushed Anne toward her relationship with Henry, but this is a common portrayal of the situation in books, film, and TV shows.

He wanted me, huh, obviously, Messaging me like everyday,
Couldn't be better, then he sent me a letter and who am I kidding, I was prêt-à-manger
Ooh, sent a reply, Ooh, just saying hi, Ooh, you're a nice guy, I'll think about it maybe, XO baby

Henry VIII wrote Anne many love letters which still exist today. You can read them here. These letters give us most of the information we have about their relationship, including the fact that Anne refused to sleep with him for much of their seven-year courtship.

Unfortunately, we don’t have Anne’s replies to Henry, but evidence indicates that she really did avoid his advances for a long time and

Prêt-à-manger literally means “ready to eat” in French.

Here we go (You sent him kisses), I didn't know I would move in with his missus (What?),
Get a life (You're living with his wife?), Like, what was I meant to do?

As I noted previously in the blog post on No Way, Anne Boleyn was already living in the same palace as Henry and Catherine even before Henry noticed her. Anne was Catherine’s maid of honor, and thus, lived at court along with many many other nobles and aristocrats. However, in December 1528, Henry set Anne up with her own “very fine lodging…close to his own,” as reported by a French diplomat of the time, and there are lots of reports that she basically had her own shadow court and was acting as a second queen at that time.

“What was I meant to do?” has a slightly humorous effect in this song, but it reflects the reality that Anne Boleyn really didn’t have many choices here. She was able to resist Henry’s sexual advances, but she couldn’t fend him off altogether because he was the king, and her livelihood and the rest of her family’s livelihoods really depended on his favor. She tried to make the best of the situation by refusing to sleep with him and insisting that he marry her, but she didn’t have much control over it beyond that.

CHORUS
Sorry not sorry 'bout what I said - I'm just tryna have some fun

In an interview with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, co-writer Lucy Moss said that “Sorry, not sorry” was directly inspired by one of Anne Boleyn’s mottoes in life - “Let them grumble; that is how it’s going to be.” Anne very briefly adopted the Latin version of this motto in 1530, “Aisi sera groigne qui groigne.” She even had this motto embroidered on her servants’ livery coats! This demonstrates Anne’s feelings about those protesting her elevation and the king’s attempts to get rid of Catherine of Aragon. She didn’t end up using it very long - the imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys, who /hated/ Anne, claimed that she changed it once she realized it was actually Margaret of Austria’s motto (Groigne qui groigne et, vive Bourgoigne). However, Anne spent several years at the court of Margaret of Austria as a child, so it seems unlikely that she wouldn’t have realized this. Another possible explanation is that she just realized the motto wasn’t doing anything to calm the tensions.

Don't worry, don't worry, don't lose your head
I didn't mean to hurt anyone - LOL, say oh well - Or go to hell
I'm sorry not sorry 'bout what I said - Don't lose your head

“Don’t lose your head” is a common colloquialism meaning “don’t lose your temper.” I tried to figure out where this saying came from and how old it is, but didn’t have much success. Some people do say that it actually originally specifically was referring to executions by beheading, so it works very well in this context.

The lyric obviously refers to Anne’s ultimate demise, but it also refers to Anne Boleyn’s infamous temper. Anne was brilliant, but it’s well documented that when angry, she often said spiteful, threatening things. One courtier said that she spoke to her uncle once in words that "shouldn't be used to a dog." It’s also reported that she said if Henry ever left her as Regent when he was away, she would have Princess Mary killed.

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn at Cardinal Wolsey's, Library of Congress

VERSE 2
Three in the bed and the little one said, If you wanna be wed, make up your mind
Her or me, chum - Don't wanna be some Girl in a threesome, Are you blind?

Reports from the time indicated that Anne and Henry had a very stormy relationship and had a tendency to have huge arguments and then later would reunite blissfully. One report described their relationship as “storm followed sunshine, sunshine followed storm.” We also know from Henry’s love letters that Anne refused to sleep with him for most of their pre-marital relationship, so there’s definitely a lot of truth to the fact that Anne demanded things from Henry that really no other woman ever had.

“Three in the bed and the little one said” - refers to the nursery rhyme “Ten in the Bed,” which has an unknown origin.

Ooh, don't be bitter, Ooh, 'cause I'm fitter
Ooh, why hasn't it hit her? He doesn't want to bang you, Somebody hang you

“Somebody hang you” is both modern day slang for telling someone to kind of fuck off and also refers to an incident in 1531, before Anne was queen. Anne “said to one of the Queen’s ladies that she wished all the Spaniards in the world were in the sea; and on the other replying, that, for the honor of the Queen, she should not say so, she said that she did not care anything for the Queen, and would rather see her hanged than acknowledge her as her mistress.”

Here we go - (Your comment went viral)
I didn't really mean it but rumours spiral
(Wow Anne, way to make the country hate you)
Mate, what was I meant to do?

Anne really was pretty unpopular at the time. The English people really loved Catherine of Aragon; she had been their queen since 1509 and had seen the country through many tough times, including serving as regent while Henry was away at war and publicly begging for the King’s mercy for various subjects on several occasions. Records indicate that crowds shouted out encouragement to Catherine of Aragon whenever they saw her during the king’s “Great Matter.”

In addition, the entire concept that a man could set aside his wife really scared women, as it was an attack on traditional family values and a threat to their own security. At the time, women depended entirely on their husbands. If their husbands could set them aside, they would be ruined and destitute. In November 1531, a mob of women (supposedly 7,000-8,000) actually went after Anne while she was dining at a house on a river; she only narrowly escaped them by crossing the river in a boat. This wasn’t the last riot of women against Anne Boleyn either; another one happened in 1532.

Finally, apart from the common people’s general dislike of her, plenty of nobles hated her as well, as she had a temper and a sharp tongue and was known for being rather arrogant. She also played a large role in influencing Henry VIII and was very active in her support of or opposition to various policies.

CHORUS

Pope Clement VII, by Sebastiano del Piombo, c. 1531. He condemned Henry and Anne’s marriage and ordered Henry to return to Catherine of Aragon.

VERSE 3
Tried to elope, But the pope said nope, Our only hope was Henry
He got a promotion, Caused a commotion, Set in motion the C of E
The rules were so outdated, Us two wanted to get x-rated
Soon, ex-communicated, Everybody chill, its totes God's will

“Tried to elope but the pope said nope” - Henry started asking Pope Clement VII for a dispensation to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn starting around 1527. They likely thought this would be pretty easy, as there was precedent for royals getting annulments and marrying again. However, Catherine of Aragon just happened to be the aunt of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who sacked Rome in May 1527 and took the Pope prisoner. However, even after the Pope was released, he avoided issuing any sort of official ruling on Henry VIII’s petition. He did allow for Cardinal Wolsey (of England, and then Henry’s chief courtier) to hold an ecclesiastical court on the matter, but stipulated that another papal legate had to be there as well. This legate, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, had been instructed to delay things as long as possible, as the Pope was hoping that Henry would get sick of Anne and the issue would go away. Although the court case lasted from May 31, 1529 to July, Campeggio adjourned it for a summer recess. The court never met again. Wolsey was later arrested and likely would have been convicted and executed for treason if he hadn’t died from illness beforehand. Henry eventually left Catherine of Aragon completely, riding away one day without saying goodbye and having her moved to another household.

Henry and Anne married secretly in November 1532. She quickly became pregnant. The new Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (formerly Anne’s family chaplain) declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void in May 1533, and shortly thereafter, declared Henry and Anne’s marriage to be good and valid.

Thomas Cranmer by Gerlach Flicke. Cranmer was the Boleyns’ former family chaplain, married Anne and Henry, and declared Henry’s first marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void.

“He got a promotion, Caused a commotion, Set in motion the C of E” In 1533, the English House of Commons (with encouragement from Henry) forbade all appeals to Rome and penalized those who tried to introduce papal bulls into England. This set up the modern Church of England, separate from Rome and the Pope’s influence. After this, Pope Clement VII finally acted, condemning Henry’s marriage to Anne, declaring the marriage to Catherine legal, and ordering Henry to return to Catherine in March 1534. The Pope also announced a provisional sentence of excommunication against Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer. However,his excommunication wouldn’t be formally enacted until 1538, after Henry and his courtiers dissolved the monasteries in England, dismantled several of the shrines, and executed a ton of Catholic rebels involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace.

In late 1534, Parliament declared Henry the supreme head of the Church of England.

“The rules were so outdated” probably refers to Henry not being able to annul his marriage to his first wife.

[wedding march plays]

At this break, a section of Felix Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays. This song was written in 1842 and is one of the most frequently used wedding marches.

Henry's out every night on the town, Just sleeping around, like what the hell

Keep in mind, before Henry got with Anne, he slept with her sister Mary enough that LOTS of people believed that Mary’s children were his. That’s gotta make you paranoid. And he already had an acknowledged illegitimate child with another noblewoman, Bessie Blount.

Henry started taking mistresses during Anne’s first pregnancy (couples at the time generally abstained from sex during pregnancy to avoid hurting the child). was almost certainly sleeping with Anne’s first cousin Margaret Shelton, who served as one of her maids of honor, for around six months in 1535. Finally, starting in February 1536, reports came out that Henry was super interested in another of Anne’s maids-of-honor, Jane Seymour. We all know how that turned out. Henry reportedly gave Jane a locket with a miniature portrait of himself inside; Anne ripped it off her neck when she saw it. Henry was betrothed to Jane a day after Anne’s execution in May 1536 and married her less than two weeks after the execution.

If that's how it's gonna be, Maybe I'll flirt with a guy or three, Just to make him jell

/sigh/ This is a vast oversimplification of the entire situation at hand, but yes, Anne was known for being flirtatious and charming throughout her time at the English Court in the tradition of courtly love. However, she was specifically accused of adultery with one of her musicians Mark Smeaton, courtiers Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, and Sir William Brereton, and her own brother George Boleyn. Most historians believe that these charges and the evidence to support them were made up by Thomas Cromwell, a powerful courtier, in order to bring down Anne. Anne had argued with Cromwell over the redistribution of church revenues from the dissolution of the monasteries (Anne wanted the revenues distributed to charitable and educational institutions, Cromwell wanted to give it to the king and take his own cut as well) and foreign policy (they disagreed over whether to ally with France or the Holy Roman Empire).

Henry finds out and he goes mental, He screams and shouts, Like so judgmental, You dam-ned witch
Mate, just shut up, I wouldn't be such a b- If you could get it up
Here we go (Is that what you said?), And now he's going 'round like off with her head (No)

There’s a report of one argument between Henry and Anne after the investigation against her began, but most evidence seems to indicate that Henry just left a tournament one day and never spoke to Anne again. She was arrested soon after, taken to the Tower of London, and tried and convicted of adultery, incest, and high treason. However, Henry and Anne had definitely had some serious arguments before Anne was brought down. There are numerous reports of them fighting and shouting at each other.

“you damned witch” - It’s pretty common to hear that Anne Boleyn was a witch or engaged in witchcraft in some way now, but this wasn’t a real charge at the time. However, in later years, various people spread the rumor. One Catholic writer Nicholas Sander described Anne Boleyn as having six fingers on her right hand and having a projecting tooth (but he said this in 1585, so like - how would he know?). He also alleged that she miscarried a monstrously deformed child. None of Anne’s contemporaries actually mention her having an extra finger, projecting tooth, or deformed child- and considering how much they hated her, wouldn’t they have mentioned it at the time if she did?

“wouldn’t be such a b- if you could get it up” - As I noted before in the post on Wives, there’s no historical evidence about Henry’s abilities in bed to support this line. However, this may refer to one of the grounds for the annulment of his marriage to Anna of Cleves later in his life, as Henry claimed he could not consummate the marriage with Anna. It also just seems to further demonstrate Anne’s known habit of saying things in anger that she regretted later.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he means it (Seems it) - What was I meant to do? (What was she meant to do?)
Like what was I meant to do? (What was she meant to do?) - No, but what was I meant to do?

[dialogue break] Boleyn: No guys, seriously, he’s actually going to chop my head off.
I guess he just really liked my head.

[back to music] CHORUS

(Sorry not sorry 'bout what she said), Sorry not sorry 'bout what I said
Don't lose your head - Haha sorry

Boleyn: So yeah. What a weekend.

Wait, did you actually die?

Boleyn: Yeah, it was so extra. Anyway, I’m obvs the winner, so I think I’ll do another solo. My next song is one I wrote about the moment I found out Catherine of Aragon had tragically died. It’s called “Wearing Yellow to a Funeral.” Please sing along if you know the words.

The day after Catherine of Aragon’s death, Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII appeared at court dressed “from to top to toe” in joyful yellow. However, different chroniclers differ on whether it was Henry /or/ Anne /or/ both of them appeared in yellow, and whether this was intended to be a celebratory gesture or not.

Boleyn: Catherine was a massive-

The queens shout and cry in a large uproar.

Who decided you were the winner? She wants another turn?

Aragon: Over my dead body!

Over-Analyzing All the References in Six: "No Way"

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

I’ve been meaning for a while now to write out analyses of all the songs in Six, looking at all the historical and pop culture references in them, but i’ve had a lot of trouble finding the focus and motivation to do so during all this self isolation. I started this series in like….April? But here we finally are. Hope you enjoy it. I plan on putting up one for each song, hopefully at least one a week for a while. I need a purpose!

Today, we’re looking at Catherine of Aragon’s feature - No Way. The entire song has a heavy Latin beat. The Spanish background is probably why Maria is the drummer in the band specifically. The writers of Six said at BroadwayCon that this was the first song they wrote for the show, but it’s also the song that’s gone through the most revisions.

Dialogue and lyrics in the show are in bolded font and my commentary is in italics. :)

The UK Tour cast of Six, with Catherine of Aragon (played by Lauren Drew), at the center. (Credit: Johan Persson)

Aragon: But there’s only one you need to hear from tonight. (City name), I’m about to win this competition. Maria, give me a beat. 

So, since the day I arrived in England, let’s just say my faith had been tested on more than one occasion.

This refers to Catherine’s famed religious faith. Catherine was the youngest daughter of Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon, the joint rulers of Spain, who famously pushed out the Muslim Nasrid dynasty from the Emirate of Granada in Spain. Although they promised that the Muslims and Jews of Granada would be allowed to live in peace in the Treaty of Granada, this was broken later after an uprising in 1499, and Muslims were forced to either become Christians or leave Spain. So with that public background, Catherine’s intense religious faith is pretty understandable.

Isabella was also known privately for living an austere, temperate lifestyle, which must have affected her daughter as well.

First things first, I was shipped off from Spain on the night of my sweet sixteen to marry some prince called Arthur and I’m like “okay”.

Catherine was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales (the son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York), when she was three years old and married him in November 1501, when they were both 16. Apparently the couple had written letters to each other in Latin, but found out when they met that they couldn’t talk, as they had learned different Latin pronunciations.

After their marriage, the couple moved out to Ludlow Castle on the border of Wales for Arthur to rule as Prince of Wales and preside over the Council of Wales nad the Marches. However, after only a few months, both of them became ill and Arthur died in April 1502.

Portrait of either Mary Tudor or Catherine of Aragon by Michael Sittow (usually attributed as Catherine of Aragon)

Arthur, prince of Wales, painted during Arthur's marriage negotiations, c.1500

Henry VIII, c 1509, unknown artist

But then Arthur died, so naturally I’m imprisoned for seven years. Really helped with the grieving process, you know, but I’m still like, “okay.”

After Arthur’s death, Catherine faced a lot of trouble. By the terms of her marriage contract, if she returned home to Spain, King Henry VII had to return her 200,000 ducat dowry (half of which he hadn’t even received yet).

King Henry was broke and totally couldn’t afford this, so he would not allow Catherine to leave England. He briefly considered marrying her himself (after his wife Elizabeth of York died in 1503 after trying to give him another son to replace Arthur), but eventually it was decided that she would marry Arthur’s younger brother, Henry, Duke of York. However, he was five years younger than her, so they had to wait for him to grow up. His father also continually delayed their marriage.

For the next seven years, Catherine lived in near-poverty in London. She had to sell many of her goods to survive and was not often seen at court due to the shabbiness of her clothes. So although she wasn’t literally imprisoned, her father and father-in-law’s squabbles basically led to her living in really terrible conditions for many years.

A 1509 woodcut of the coronation of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s heraldic badge, the Tudor Rose, is shown above him, while Catherine’s, the pomegranate, sits above her. (Joyfull Medytacvon to All Englande, Stephen Hawes)

But thank God they rescued me just in time to marry Prince Henry… my dead husband’s brother. Okay, so I’m thinking “bit weird”, but if you’d seen him back in the summer of ‘09. Let me tell you he was okay.

She finally married Henry after his father’s death and his ascension to the throne in 1509. They were married for the next 24 years and for many years, they appeared to be quite in love.

So seven years later, we’re still trying for an heir. He’s trying really hard and I’m like “okay”, and he starts coming home late. “I was just out with my ministers!” But there’s lipstick on his ruff. And I’m like “okay”.

Records indicate that Catherine of Aragon was pregnant at least six times and possibly up to nine times between 1509-1518, but most of her children either were miscarried or stillborn (so they were DEFINITELY still trying for that heir); only three survived the birth, and only one, Princess Mary, survived past two months of life. Catherine was always known as a highly intelligent and religious woman, but as more and more of her children died, she became increasingly devout and more interested in academic matters, particularly in ensuring the education of her daughter.

Although Henry VIII is notorious today for having six wives and sleeping with lots of women, for the time period, he really wasn’t too terrible. His grandfather Edward IV, for example, had many documented mistresses and at least five illegitimate children. Henry, in contrast, only had three confirmed mistresses and one acknowledged illegitimate child, and was fairly discreet about his extramarital affairs. He did indeed have a romantic relationship of some sort with three of his wives before marrying them (Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Katherine Howard), but it’s unclear whether sex was involved with these relationships before marriage.

The timeline of the show “seven years later” points to Catherine becoming aware of Henry cheating on her in 1516. We DO know that Bessie Blount’s relationship with Henry lasted many years and may have actually started in 1514, when she was 16 years old, Henry was 23, and Catherine was 29. It’s unclear what Catherine knew about Henry’s affairs historically, but she definitely was aware of them by 1519, when Henry Fitzroy, Henry’s son with his mistress Bessie Blount (yes, Bessie on the bass), was born and formally acknowledged by Henry.

Suddenly, he wants to annul our marriage, move some side chick into my palace and move me into a convent! Now, now, now, now, I just don’t think I’d look that good in a wimple, so I’m like “No way.”

The timeline here is of course being very shortened. Catherine’s last pregnancy was 1518, Henry only began to pursue Anne Boleyn seriously around 1525, and he didn’t start trying to annul his marriage until probably around 1527. He did not succeed in getting an annulment until 1533, after he’d established his own church of England.

Henry’s request for an annulment wasn’t really that unusual, and such requests were often granted. In fact, Louis XII of France had had his marriage to his first wife Joan annulled by the Pope in 1498 just so he could marry the widow of the FORMER king of France, even though the grounds for his annulment were apparently very weak. Joan then joined a convent, just as Henry suggested for Catherine. Honestly, the Pope would likely have granted Henry his annulment if Catherine’s nephew were not the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, who during all this literally sacked Rome and captured the Pope. So the Pope was obviously under serious pressure to not annul the marriage.

The Pope did send a legate, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio to England to hear the case for the annulment, and Campeggio actually advised Catherine to join a convent. However, Catherine refused, partly because of her own belief that she was Henry’s true wife and queen and also likely for fear that her daughter Mary would be illegitimized. Her actions were also motivated by her religion, as she truly believed that it would be a sin to deny that she was Henry’s wife. Even in her very last letter to Henry before her death, after he abandoned her and had put her in increasingly terrible housing for years and kept her from seeing her daughter, referred to him as her husband and herself as his wife and queen.

“move some side chick into my palace” - There are a few things to dissect here. First, Anne Boleyn was already living in the same palace as Henry and Catherine even before Henry noticed her. Anne was Catherine’s maid of honor, and thus, lived at court along with many many other nobles and aristocrats. Second, “my palace” - the court actually was constantly on the move and usually spent a few months at one palace or house before moving on to another. This was pretty practical, as modern plumbing didn’t exist and after the large court had been in one place for a while, the palace would get rather, ah, smelly, and need lots of cleaning.

What Catherine likely is referring to here is the fact that in December 1528, Henry set Anne up with her own “very fine lodging…close to his own,” as reported by a French diplomat of the time.

Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon before Papal Legates at Blackfriars, 1529, by Frank O. Salisbury (~1910)

You must agree that, baby, In all the time I’ve been by your side,
I’ve never lost control, No matter how many times I knew you lied.

This is one of many references in the song to Catherine’s famous speech before the Legatine court in June 1529. The purpose of this court was to listen to testimonies and rule on the validity of Henry and Catherine’s marriage. Catherine literally got down on her knees in front of Henry and gave an amazing speech straight to him about her innocence. Afterward, she got up, curtsied to Henry, and walked out of the court. She would not return no matter how many times she was called back.

In the speech, she specifically said:

“I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure, that never said or did any thing to the contrary thereof, being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or dalliance, whether it were in little or much. I never grudged in word or countenance, or showed a visage or spark of discontent.…”

Have my golden rule, Got to keep my cool. Yeah, baby.

“The Golden Rule” usually refers to the maxim that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. This actually makes a lot of sense in this context, as Catherine clearly wanted Henry to treat her with the love and humility she showed him. In fact, the Spanish ambassador Eustace Chapuys described Catherine as “the most virtuous woman I have ever known and the highest hearted, but too quick to trust that others were like herself, and too slow to do a little ill that much good might come of it.”

Here, it’s also a reference to the wealth of Spain and her royal credentials. There’s also gold throughout Aragon’s Six costume and her historical portraits.

And even though you’ve had your fun, Running around with some Pretty, young thing.

This refers to Anne Boleyn, who was 16 years younger than Catherine of Aragon and 10 years younger than Henry. This is also a possible reference to the Michael Jackson Song “Pretty Young Thing,” although the phrase has shown up many times before and since that song.

And even though you’ve had one son With someone who don’t own a Wedding ring.
No matter what I heard, I didn’t say a word. No, baby. (You know she never said a word.)

As I noted earlier, Henry’s only acknowledged illegitimate offspring was Henry Fitzroy, with Bessie Blount. FitzRoy was a common surname of the illegitimate offspring of royalty, as it literally means “son of the king.”

I’ve put up with your Sh... Like every single day. But now it’s time to Shh, and listen when I say...

I like that Catherine never actually curses in her song, although she gets close to it. It seems to be a nice touch for a character known to be so pious.

Joanna of Castille, by Master of the Legen of the Magdalen, ~1495-1496

You must think that I’m crazy, You wanna replace me, baby there’s N-n-n-n-n-n-no way.

This may be a reference to Catherine’s tragic older sister, Joanna, who is known historically as “Juana la Loca,” or Joanna the Mad. Joanna was the heir presumptive to the crowns of Castille and Aragon after her brother, elder sister, and nephew all died young. She technically became Queen of Castille in 1504 upon the death of her mother Isabella. However, her father Ferdinand had her declared insane and imprisoned; poor Joanna was imprisoned from 1506-1516 by her father (who ruled as regent in her place). Her son Charles I, who ascended to the throne, kept her in prison for the rest of her life. She was in prison from 1506 to 155, when she died at 1575, even though there was no sign that she was insane before her confinement (she later did get a bit paranoid and insane, as anyone would if you’d been confined unjustly for many decades).

If you think for a moment, I’d grant you annulment, just hold up there’s N-n-n-n-n-n-no way.
No way. No way. There’s N-n-n-n-n-n-no way.

Catherine steadfastly refused to agree to the annulment of her marriage despite intense pressure from Henry and various priests and nobles.

So you read a bible verse that I’m cursed ‘cause I was your brother’s wife,
You say it’s a pity ‘cause quoting Leviticus, I’ll end up kiddy-less all my life.

Well, daddy, weren’t you there When I gave birth to Mary? Oh, you don’t remember? (Daughters are so easy to forget.)

Henry based the case for his annulment on Leviticus 20:21: “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it [is] an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.” A Cambridge university lecturer in Hebrew, Robert Wakefield, wrote a letter in favor of the divorce in which he interpreted that the original Hebrew of the Leviticus verse stated that the marriage would specifically without “sons” rather than being childless. Wakefield also argued that the pope had no authority for the dispensation for Henry and Catherine’s marriage, since it violated scriptural law rather than church laws. Henry clung to this interpretation rather fiercely.

You’re just so full of Sh... Must think I’m naive. I won’t back down, Won’t Shh, And no, I’ll never leave

You must think that I’m crazy, You wanna replace me, baby there’s N-n-n-n-n-n-no way.
If you thought it’d be funny To send me to a nunnery, honey, there’s No way.

It’s quoted all over the place that when a convent was suggested to Catherine, she said “God never called me to a nunnery. I am the King’s true and legitimate wife.” However, I can’t find any primary sources supporting this, so it’s possible this is just a myth. However, it’s a great and memorable line that clearly illustrates Catherine’s viewpoint that she was actually Henry’s wife and that lying about that would be a sin.

As I mentioned earlier though, the sources seem to indicate that Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio actually advised Catherine to join a convent - it might not have been Henry who said it first.

18th-century copy of a lost original portrait of Catherine of Aragon

You’ve got me down on my knees, 

As I noted earlier, Catherine really did get down on her knees in front of Henry VIII at the Legatine Court to plead her innocence.

There’s a double meaning to this though, as there was a long tradition of English queens consort begging for the king to be lenient toward one person or another on their knees. This was usually a planned charade, which allowed the king to look strong while also merciful. In 1331, Philippa of Hainault famously begged her husband Edward II to forgive the builders of a scaffold that had broken under her feet and sent her and numerous other noble women tumbling. Edward was furious, but his wife’s plea struck him, and the builders were not punished. In 1347, Philippa successfully begged for leniency for the six burghers of Calais after the city finally surrendered to Edward II. Edward had planned to behead the men, but released them into her custody instead; she fed and clothed them and returned them to Calais.

Catherine of Aragon herself had performed this function years earlier, in 1517. For a lot of reasons which I won’t dwell on here, over 1,000 citizens in London rioted and attacked a ton of foreigners and shops throughout the city. 14 of the main instigators were hung, drawn, and quartered. However, when 278 men, women, and children were charged with high treason for their actions in the riots, Catherine of Aragon went on to her knees before Henry to beg for lenience. Afterward, nearly of all of these people were pardoned.

Therefore, by going down on her knees before Henry, Catherine was not just pleading to him as a woman and a wife but as a queen to her king. Both of them would have recognized the importance of this gesture.

Please tell me what you think I’ve done wrong.
Been humble, been loyal, I’ve tried to swallow my pride all along.
If you could just explain a single thing I’ve done to ‘cause you pain, I’ll go…No?

You’ve got nothing to say? I’m not going away, There’s no way.

Here are several more references to Catherine’s speech at the Legatine court:

Alas! Sir, wherein have I offended you, or what occasion of displeasure have I deserved?… I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure, that never said or did any thing to the contrary thereof, being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or dalliance, whether it were in little or much. I never grudged in word or countenance, or showed a visage or spark of discontent. I loved all those whom ye loved, only for your sake, whether I had cause or no, and whether they were my friends or enemies.

If there be any just cause by the law that ye can allege against me either of dishonesty or any other impediment to banish and put me from you, I am well content to depart to my great shame and dishonour. And if there be none, then here, I most lowly beseech you, let me remain in my former estate…

You must think that I’m crazy, You wanna replace me, baby there’s N-n-n-n-n-n-no way.
You made me your wife, So I’ll be queen till the end of my life!

Catherine was true to her word and referred to herself as queen and to Henry as her husband to the very end of her life. She wrote a letter to him before she died which reportedly said (there are some authenticity questions around the letter, but everyone seems to agree that this tracks with Catherine’s general beliefs and attitude at the time of her death):

Catherine’s grave at Peterborough Cathedral

My most dear lord, king and husband,

The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being such, to commend myself to you, and to put you in remembrance with a few words of the health and safeguard of your soul which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and pampering of your body, for the which you have cast me into many calamities and yourself into many troubles. For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also. For the rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired.

….Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.

Katharine the Quene.

So clearly, I had the most to deal with from the king. And I hit that top C so you know, donde está my crown?

24 Things I Learned From Six Actress Lauren Byrne's Dance Workshop and Q&A

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

This has taken me a while to get up because frankly my depression is MUCH worse than usual right now because of all the self-isolation and the continued COVID-19 pandemic, which I …was really hoping would be over by July 4 but clearly won’t be. I’m working on it. Anyway, here you go.

I did a dance workshop and Q&A with Six actress Lauren Byrne last Saturday through Theatre Fan Workshops. Byrne plays Jane Seymour on the Six UK Tour, which interestingly enough, will be back soon in the form of a drive-in tour! I hope to get a post about that up soon too.

Byrne taught us the ending Dance of “Six” (from the end of Catherine parr to the end, but put in the dance break from ex-wives at the end) and the dance break from “No Way.” She had some wonderful commentary throughout on the dancing and choreography, which I’ve included throughout this post as picture captions.

In response to someone saying they’re too uncool for the dance warmup with the cabbage patch, bismark, and wu tan, Byrne said “The first thing we did at rehearsals was we did grooves like that to get used to things like and get our bodies used to the dancing – and I definitely kept being like “I am way too uncool for this” – they used to call me cardboard lady.”

While demonstrating the “crown hands” which are brought to the forehead, Byrne commented “In the show, it’s horrible because you’re sweating buckets and you don’t want to touch anything to your face – but then the choreographer comes and is like ‘NONE OF YOU WERE TOUCHING YOUR FINGERS ON YOUR CROWN HANDS’ –so she’s really picky about it.”

1.     Duck or giraffe? Giraffe. They’re just so cute – they’re like dogs but with long necks.

2.     What was your favorite UK tour show? Guilford. That was full circle for me. I trained at Guilford. The venue we opened at was where I did a show in drama school. My family was first row.

Also the sing a long in Manchester will forever stand out in my mind. It was absolutely insane, I’ve never felt so much like Beyonce in my life and I very rarely feel like Beyonce actually.

3.     Funniest moment while performing - There was one where i forgot my line – it was horrendous at the moment but hilarious to look back.
Also, the moment that Maddie [Maddie Bulleyment, who plays Anne Boleyn in Six] fell down the stairs in her song. I think it was right after “I think he’s really going to chop my head off. I guess he likes her head” – and she fell onto her hands and knees from the top step down at the bottom – once we knew she was okay, she fell apart.

4.     Most challenging part of the show to perform – all you wanna do – it’s a marathon – all the choruses are really similar and just slightly different every time – learning it was a nightmare because of that reason – just slightly different – and performing every night – if you even slightly switch off in that number you forget what chorus you’re on, there are so many times where I’ve accidentally done the moves to chorus 2 in chorus 3

5.     What queen she wanted to play when she auditioned? – I’d never listened to it before I auditioned, I thought it wouldn’t be my cup of tea, which is hilarious All my friends when I auditionered were like OMG lauren you’re going to get Jane Seymour so I assume I ended up in the right place.

6.     What’s it like being in musical theater but also a band? [Lauren Byrne is in the country band Remember Monday with her friends Holly, who played Christine in the UK tour of The Phantom of the Opera, and Charlotte]
While I’m out of work, it gives me something else to focus on that’s creative and a use of that creative energy that isn’t like acting. I still have something that can be using that creativeness so I’m not just dying in a waitress job waiting to commit, I’m giving myself a creative outlet outside of the acting world – and being in a band with your best friends is like a childhood dream, isn’t it?

7.     Favorite musical she’s participated in – Definitely Six but before Six came along, my first job was Sunny Afternoon. It isn’t a very well known show actually, but it’s such a cool show, I love it. And we all did music too; I played guitar as well. It’s about a band called The Kinks and it’s like a proper rock show – it was that kind of poppy rocky genre. It’s more like 60s rock rather than pop rock. I was a swing so I covered like all of the girl parts.

8.     Favorite musical she’s seen – gypsy with Imelda Staunton- that’s my example when anyone says musical theatre actors can’t also be on screen

9.     If you can be any kind of potato which one would you be? – Chips.

10.  How she gets emotional in her song and still sing? It’s about being aware of where your larynx is – because your larynx rises when you cry. They give me a second before I do the high note thankfully. I say this with all my students as well: everything with singing on stage should be with how it feels rather than how it sounds – you want to base things on where it feels like placement wise.

During the Six improv dance break, “We’re basically just having a massive party on stage -0 = after five minutes in six – we’re six “woo party, do whatever you like for 3 counts of 8." She mentioned that she usually another actress throws a lasso at her on stage and she hops toward her like a fish ona line.

Lauren emphasized that your wrists have to really be straight and strong in this position in “Six.”

11.  Favorite Harry Potter characer – Hermione- I am Hermione.

12. What tattoos does she have? I have a Lightning bolt on a wrist from me being a massive nerd. Little shamrock on foot for grandad – he has one on his arm – we went to Dublin with SunnyAfternoon and I got it there. I also have one on back – a sun and a star and a moon – that’s for the band – we all have the same one.

13.  Favorite joke in Six – one of bobo’s (Anne Boleyn’s) – all of her lines are just great – she’s got some really great one liners- she shuts everyone down with her sarcasm – and I can’t think of one right now, but all of her one liners are great.

14.  Dream role – miss honey in matilda – everyone alsways asks me this and I feel like I’ll jinx it but I’ll tell you one –

15.  What’s your best positive affirmation/mantra? – everything happens for a reason – last year when I was auditioning for miss honey – I was in for the third year in a row, and every time I go for it =- I’ll be like – oh this’ll be the year I get it – and I got to finals every year previously and – then third time – I had my final and it had gone well – then found out a few weeks later that my friends’ friend had gotten the part – so I found out through someone else that id idn’t get the part – iwas gutted, sobbing all day – then my agent calling me – and here’s the “I’m sorry you didn’t get the job call” – and she’s like “oh hi lauren I’m just calling you with an offer from six” – and I was like “what?” – if I had gotten Matilda, I would never have gotten this opportunity –  

All the rejections you get could be over stupid little reasons – like oh we’d rather not remake the costumes so let’s get someone who fits the costume from last year, or based on height – it’s all just about timing and you’ve got to try to believe that it’s nothing to do with you personally – I know it’s harder to do than to say – but

16.  About her yodeling: Why did she yodel? –[ lauren’s friend said she’s really good at yodeling at a stage door in bath]– and I yodeled. And it’s quite a country thing and people really like it. There was a show I did in GSA – there was one line and it literally sounded like I was yodeling and it wasn’t intentional that’s just how it came out - = she’s tall enough to be a mother. [she sang it for us to demonstrate]

17.  Glinda or elphaba? [in Wicked]– Elphaba – I can’t sing soprano at all to save my life – because holly is one of those annoying people who can do everything – she’s over there singing Christine and pops uver to the band and sing a country song?

18.  Which heather would you be? I don’t know heather very well, I’m sorry. [sees people’s shocked faces] I see your faces are so shocked – [people in the chat said heather mac.]

19.  What do you think of the Six fandom? it’s so cool, honestly – I’ve never been part of anything like this show before – ti’s really amazing the social media presence it has – it allows you to interact with the people who love the how – never had that before [older shows have older fanbases that aren’t on social media as well] – you get to see how that the work you do can impact other people – I’ve never experienced anything like it – it’s unlike anything else, it’s so so cool.

20.  What’s your favorite type of dog? – Labradors – I’ve got two – they’re very goob – I love them so much.

21.  Funniest backstage moment – I actually can’t pinpoint one because there are so many – we’re all mental – when we were in the small space we were all in the same dressing room, and that doesn’t happen in any other venue –….it was so much fun, I mean it was hectic and manic and we were all like sardines but it was so so funny.
and any time there’s a show stop because everyone’s insane backstage – because we’re relieved that we get a breather – except if you have a show stop mid song and you have to go back – all you want to do and go do it again throughout.

22.  Favorite cast album – Waitress – I love soft place to land and I love – Bangers.

[Follow up question - Who would you play in waitress? Someone has photoshopped my face onto Jenna, holly’s onto Dawn, and Charlotte’s face onto Becky’s – and I feel like that would work quite well – and I’ll be like I’ll take that,  

23.  Challenges performing in different venues – Every Tuesday or Monday when we load in, because that’s when you have to run the show a few times in sound check and then do it that night – it’s like a three show day, it’s tiring – soundwise – obviously we wear in-ears [mics] – the sound is so different in every venue depending on where the monitors are and the desk – that can be a massive struggle – it can take 2-3 shows to get the sound in your in-ears the way you like it.

24.  What’s your favorite place you’ve been to because of tour? – I loved going to Ireland  and I’m so sad we missed Dublin because of stupid corona – and I absolutely love going to Dublin and Belfast – I’ve been to Belfast as well on another tour – maybe it’s just because my family’s Irish and I just love to be there!

Over-Analyzing All the References in Six: "Ex-Wives"

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

I’ve been meaning for a while now to write out analyses of all the songs in Six, looking at all the historical and pop culture references in them, but i’ve had a lot of trouble finding the focus and motivation to do so during all this self isolation. I started this blog post in like….April? But here we finally are. Hope you enjoy it. I plan on putting up one for each song, hopefully at least one a week for a while. I need a purpose!

We’re starting off today with the opening song of the show, Ex-wives. Lyrics in the show are in bolded font and my commentary is in italics. :)

Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves) and Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) in the Broadway production of Six - Joan Marcus from WhatsonStage

Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived, And tonight, we are...Live!

So I’ve actually been trying to find the origin of this rhyme for a while and haven’t had any luck. At some point I want to do an in-depth search of a lot of old texts to try to see when it was actually stated first. It appears that there are actually at least two other mnemonics for remembering the wives. I’m still researching the history on these as well, but here they are.

King Henry VIII, To six wives he was wedded.
One died, one survived,
Two divorced, two beheaded

Boleyn and Howard lost their heads,
Anne of Cleves he would not bed,
Jane Seymour gave him a son – but died before the week was done,
Aragon he did Divorce,
Which just left Catherine Parr, of course!

All of these rhymes are slightly inaccurate, in that technically, both Aragon’s and Cleves’ marriages to Henry were annulled. The word “divorce” WAS used in renaissance times, but it really just referred to annulment. The distinction? An annulment basically says that the marriage is null and void and was NEVER valid. A divorce recognizes that the couple was validly married at one time. Divorce in the modern sense simply did not exist in England in the 1500s; if you married someone, you were stuck until one or either of you died, unless there was some reason that the marriage was invalid from the beginning.

Grounds for annulment included:

• one member of the couple was pre-contracted to someone else. A pre-contract was basically a formal engagement that was, in the eyes of the church and the law, as legally binding as an actual marriage. You could enter into a pre-contract just by promising to marry each other before witnesses. Fun fact: This is probably why, even though lots of Shakespeare’s plays feature weddings, none of them actually SHOW a wedding.
  Example: This was one of the grounds for annulling Henry’s marriages to both Anne Boleyn (before her death) and Anne of Cleves.

• a blood or spiritual relationship between the individuals. Basically, if the husband and wife were related or had some sort of prior spiritual relationship - like as a godfather and goddaughter, that could be a justification for an annulment. “Blood relationship” referred to both consanguinity (an actual blood/genetic relationship) and affinity, which is the kinship relationship created between two people as a result of someone’s marriage. Dispensations could be and were secured for familial relationships all the time though, as the nobles in England and Europe at large were VERY interbred. You see a LOT of first cousin marriages at the time. So frankly, marrying your cousin wasn’t a great idea at the time, as even if a dispensation was secured, the marriage could possibly be annulled later (although of course, it was easier for the king to get his marriage annulled than many other nobles).
  Example: Although Catherine of Aragon and Henry were both descended from Edward III and John of Gaunt, the familial distance was enough that she didn’t need a dispensation to marry Henry’s older brother Arthur (if you’re curious, John of Gaunt was Catherine’s great-great-grandfather on one side and her great-great-great-grandfather on another side and Henry’s great-great-great grandfather on both his maternal and paternal sides. As you can see from this being on both sides, marriage between cousins was actually pretty damn common at the time.). She DID need a dispensation to marry her brother-in-law Henry after Arthur died, due to the rules of affinity. Henry’s argument

• Other grounds that are less important to this current story: Impotence, the use of force/fear to obtain consent, the carrying out of a crime (usually adultery), marrying a minor, clandestine marriages, marriages entered under false pretenses.

Listen up let me tell you a story - A story that you think you've heard before
We know you know our names and our fame and our faces - Know all about the glories and the disgraces
I'm done 'cause all this time I've been just one word in a stupid rhyme

This refers back to the “divorced beheaded died” rhyme and speaks to the queens’ frustration at being reduced to just one word describing what Henry did to them.

So I picked up a pen and a microphone - History's about to get overthrown

Pun Watch: Overthrown - Overthroned**

Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived, And tonight, we are...Live!

Welcome to the show, to the historemix - Switching up the flow as we add the prefix
Everybody knows that we used to be six wives

Pun watch: History- mix, remix - they’re literally telling the story from their own POV instead of the historical male-centric, Henry-centric view.

“The prefix” here refers to “ex.” Although the queens are collectively known as the six wives of Henry VIII, this line points out that they’re actually ex wives now.

Raising up the roof till we hit the ceiling - Get ready for the truth that will be revealing
Everybody knows that we used to be six wives - But now we're Ex-Wives

All you ever hear and read about Is our ex and the way it ended - But a pair doesn't beat a royal flush You're gonna find out how we got, unfriended

Innuendo and Pun watch: It took me way too long to realize that in this case, although the obvious reference of “pair” and “royal flush” is to poker, a “pair” also refers to the wives having breasts.
“A royal flush” refers to Henry being royal, and also puns on the fact that this hand in poker literally contains an Ace, King, Queen, Joker and 10, all of the same suit. It’s very rare and hard to achieve and is the strongest hand in poker. Similarly, as king, Henry VIII had all the power in his relationships with his wives.
”unfriended” is an obvious Facebook reference.

Tonight we're gonna do ourselves justice 'Cause we're taking you to court
And every Tudor rose has its thorns
And you're gonna hear 'em live In consort

Pun watch: “taking you to court” - this refers to both a court of law and the royal court.

Pun watch: “live in consort” refers to the fact that all of these queens were queens consort, which means they were married to the sovereign. A queen regnant would rule as sovereign in her own right, e.g., the Queens Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II.

“Every Tudor Rose has its thorns” - This one line has like three important references in it.

1. The Tudor Rose was an emblem that Henry VIII’s father, Henry Tudor, created when he married Elizabeth of York, effectively joining the houses of Lancaster and York and ending the long-running War of the Roses (which was referred to as the Cousins’ War at the time). Every noble used lots of different heraldic emblems at the time, and one of the York family’s was a white rose. The Lancasters DID have a red rose badge among their many emblems, but Henry Tudor himself probably used a red dragon (which signified his Welsh heritage) prior to his marriage. However, the Tudors were MASTERS of propaganda, and Henry VII revived the red rose as an emblem and combined it with the white rose of his wife to create “the Tudor Rose,” to signify the combining of the houses and the ending of the war. It bolstered his claim to the throne, which was actually fairly tenuous.

(I’m not going to get into it at length now, but basically, Henry Tudor was a descendant of Edward III and got his claim to the throne through Edward’s son John of Gaunt. However, he was a descendant of Gaunt’s long time mistress and eventual third wife Catherine Swynford; at the time, Gaunt’s children with Swynford WERE legitimized, but a clause was inserted by their half brother Henry IV at the time stating that these children were barred from the line of succession to the throne of England. If you want more info, I have a whole family tree of the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors here).

2. There’s a long history of historians claiming that Henry VIII called Catherine Howard, his fifth wife, his “rose without a thorn.” However, Claire Ridgeway of the Anne Boleyn Files did a deep dive on this topic and found that in fact, although there WAS a gold crown coin from Henry’s reign that included the Latin legend “HENRIC VIII RUTILANS ROSA SINE SPINA,” which translates as “Henry VIII - a dazzling rose without a thorn,” this crown was produced long before Henry ever met Catherine Howard and referred to him, not his wife. It appears that a victorian historian started this misattribution. However, the myth that Henry called Howard this is so well known that this line HAS to be a reference to that.

3. This also obviously refers to the 1988 song “Every Rose has its Thorns” by Poison.

Welcome to the show, to the historemix
Switching up the flow as we add the prefix
Everybody knows that we used to be six wives
Dancing to the beat till the break of day, once we're done we'll start again like it's the Renaissance

“Renaissance” - This is a French word meaning “rebirth” that refers to a cultural and artistic movement throughout Europe. The English Renaissance is sometimes said to have started in 1485 (when Henry VIII’s father Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and became king), but is more often thought to have begun more in the 1520s, during Henry VIII’s reign. So by saying they’re literally going to start again after they’re done, they really are referencing the actual meaning behind the word “renaissance.” It’s also a probable reference to “party like it’s 1999,” from 1999 by Prince.
Although Six is always performed in the actor’s normal accents, this specific line is always pronounced in the British - Reh-nay-zance - to make the rhyme work.

My name's Catherine of Aragon, was married twenty-four years
I'm a paragon of royalty, my loyalty is to the Vatican,
So if you try to dump me, You won't try that again

Catherine of Aragon was a Spanish princess and the daughter of the famed and rich Ferdinand and Isabella (of “Columbus sailed the ocean blue”), so she really was a paragon of royalty.

Securing her marriage to Henry VII’s son Arthur was a huge achievement for his reign, as it garnered legitimacy to the fledgling Tudor dynasty. Catherine came to England in 1501 at age 15 and married Arthur, but alas, he died less than a year into their marriage. Catherine stayed in England in increasing poverty and instability over the next 8 years, the victim of a fierce disagreement between her father-in-law and her father (who wanted Henry VII to return Catherine’s dowry). However, when Henry VII died, the 18-year-old Henry VIII immediately married the now 23 year old Catherine, getting a dispensation from the pope to marry his former sister-in-law. Their marriage lasted until Henry VIII had it annulled in 1533.

Catherine was very religious throughout her life and was a steadfast roman catholic. The seat of Roman Catholicism was then, as it is now, in Vatican City.
I’ll get into all this more in depth when I talk about “No Way.”

I'm that Boleyn girl and I'm up next, See I broke England from the church
Yeah I'm that sexy, Why did I lose my head?
Well my sleeves may be green but my lipstick's red

Elizabeth I’s red lips.

“That Boleyn girl” likely refers to Philippa Gregory’s novel “The Other Boleyn Girl,” which told the story of Anne and her sister Mary and was later turned into a film starring Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johannson. Both the book and the film were incredibly successful.

Henry VIII notoriously broke away from the Roman Catholic church and founded the Church of England, with himself as its Supreme Head, in order to get his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Henry was likely motivated at least a bit by several things - his love/lust for Anne, his frustration with not getting his dispensation from the Pope (who actually usually issued such dispensations to European kings pretty easily, but in this case, was under pressure NOT to issue such a dispensation from Catherine’s nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor, who literally held the Pope prisoner during a lot of this time), his lack of a son from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and perhaps even his own sincere religious belief that his marriage to Catherine was invalid.

The lyric “why did I lose my head?” obviously refers to Anne’s ultimate demise and her song in the show, but it also refers to Anne Boleyn’s infamous temper. Anne was brilliant, but it’s well documented that when angry, she often said spiteful, threatening things. I’ll get into this more when I talk about her song “Don’t Lose Your Head.”

Six makes GREAT use of the long standing myth that Henry VIII wrote “Greensleeves” for Anne Boleyn, both in this line and in its use of the Greensleeves melody throughout the show (in fact, I recently discovered while playing through Ex-wives on the piano that the entire damn song is built around the greensleeves chordal structure). However, Henry VIII did NOT write Greensleeves, which was partly based off of a romanesca, an Italian style of musical composition that did not reach England until after Henry VIII's death. 

“My lipstick’s red” refers to the very long history of red lipstick as a symbol of a sexy, powerful, rebellious woman. There’s a whole article on the history here, but I particularly love that suffragettes specifically wore red lipstick for its ability to shock men, and prior to the 20th century, red lips were strongly associated with morally dubious women.
Makeup was not terribly fashionable during the reign of Henry VIII, however lipstick DID exist in a form during renaissance times, as crusaders to the middle east had brought back cosmetic products, including a type of rouge made from red ochre which was used to stain the lips. Henry’s daughter with Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, actually popularized makeup in her reign by famously wearing white makeup to cover her smallpox scars and yes, red stained lips. You can see that Elizabeth’s lips are stained red in this portrait.

Jane Seymour the only one he truly loved (Rude)
When my son was newly born, I died
But I'm not what I seem or am I?
Stick around and you'll suddenly see more

The concept that Jane Seymour was Henry’s favorite wife and “the only one he truly loved” was forwarded by Henry himself, but doesn’t actually track with his actions at the time. Jane DID give Henry his only surviving son, the one he had wanted for so many years, which is probably why he viewed her with such fondness in later years. She WAS the only one of his wives who was given a queen’s funeral. There are all sorts of stories about how Henry wore black and mourned for Jane for years, but in reality, the search for his new queen began shortly after Jane’s death.

Henry looked at Jane with a lot of fondness in later years. She was painted into several family portraits after her death, even when Henry was married to other women, and Henry was indeed buried next to her when he died. This was almost certainly because she gave birth to his longed-for heir, which is something she addresses in her song “Heart of Stone” later.

Jane Seymour did die shortly after giving birth to her son Edward, later Edward VI. She had a very difficult labor that lasted two days and three nights. Edward was born on October 12, 1537, and Jane lasted until October 24. Modern historians believe she probably died of either an infection from a retained placenta, puerperal fever following a bacterial infection, or a pulmonary embolism, but it’s hard to know.
If anyone ever tells you that she had a c-section and died of it, you should ignore then because they’re very very wrong. In renaissance England, c-sections were really only performed when someone had already died or was about to die and the baby had to be removed immediately. People just didn’t survive c-sections. An example of an actual c-section from that time period is the character of MacDuff from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped" (Act 5 Scene 10).

The mysterious ending line to Jane’s bit here refers to the fact that we don’t actually have a ton of information about Jane. We don’t know her birth date, she wasn’t particularly notable or well known before her marriage to Henry, and most of the descriptions of her during her time as Queen focus on her meekness and gentleness rather than giving us much indication of her personality or thoughts.

UPDATE: It’s been pointed out to me by commentor Blin4 that “suddenly see more” is also a reference to a song from Little Shop of Horrors! Brilliant.

Ich bin Anne of Cleves (Ja)
When he saw my portrait he was like (Ja!)
But I didn't look as good as good as I did in my pic
Funny how we all discuss that but never Henry's little-

Henry’s armor with his ah, little…codpiece.
(Credit: Gary Ombler / Royal Armouries)

Parts of this segment are in German because Anne of Cleves was in fact, German.

As described hyperbolically in Haus of Holbein, Henry VIII did really send Hans Holbein around Europe to paint pictures of eligible women so he could decide which one he wanted to marry, and this is indeed how Henry chose Anna. The “Anne of Cleves didn’t look like her portrait” story started very early on, but there are several facts that don’t support this story. 1. Holbein was specifically instructed not to flatter the women he was painted, but only to paint what he actually saw, and 2. Holbein kept his job and worked for Henry for years after his marriage to Anna was annulled. This indicates that the painting was a good likeness, but Henry didn’t like her for other reasons. I’ll get into this more later, but it’s likely that a VERY bad first meeting, in which Henry tried to surprise Anna without revealing his own identity and she didn’t react well, hurt Henry’s pride terribly.

”Henry’s little- …prick“ As far as I know, there’s no historical evidence about the size of Henry’s penis to support the joke at the end of this line. However, this may refer to two different related facts. One of the grounds for the annulment of their marriage was that Henry claimed he could not consummate the marriage with Anna, which of course, implicates his penis and his masculinity. In addition, codpieces were a HUGE trend during Henry’s reign and were also literally huge, so all of Henry’s portraits and armor from the time has a very large, uhm, groin area. It’s uh, very obvious.

Prick up your ears I'm the Catherine who lost her head (Beheaded)
For my promiscuity outside of wed - Lock up your husbands
Lock up your sons - K Howard is here and the fun's begun

“The Catherine who lost her head” - refers to the fact that Henry had three wives named Catherine/Katherine (spelling wasn’t standardized at that time).

”my promiscuity outside of wed - lock” - wedlock is of course, an old fashioned way of referring to marriage. I actually always thought that Catherine Howard’s adultery was pretty well supported by evidence (i mean, it’s certainly more supported than the allegations against Anne Boleyn), but it’s apparently more nebulous than I realized. Her relationship with Thomas Culpeper was supported by a “love letter” she wrote him found in his chambers; however, the phrasing in the “love letter” was actually pretty standard for letters between friends in that time, so it’s definitely possible that their relationship wasn’t a torrid love affair at all. The show alludes to this more in her song “All you Wanna Do,” which addresses the sexual abuse she faced throughout her life.

“Lock up your husbands, lock up your sons” was in the 2001 Martina McBride song “When God-Fearin’ Women Get the Blues.” This lyric itself referenced the more common “Lock up your daughters, lock up your wives,” which was featured previously in the AC/DC song “TNT.” From what I can tell, THIS actually originated from the phrase “Lock up your daughters,” which is a pretty old one and is referenced several times in other pop culture works, including a 1959 musical.

Five down I'm the final wife I saw him to the end of his life
I'm the survivor, Catherine Parr
I bet you wanna know how I got this far

Catherine Parr was Henry’s last queen and she was indeed Henry’s wife when he died in 1547.

Beyonce Watch: ”I’m the survivor” is written in a similar pattern and tone as the melody from Destiny’s Child’s 2002 hit Survivor. This is the first of several Beyonce references in this show.

Get your hands up, get this party buzzing
You want a queen bee, well there's half a dozen

Pun watch: “buzzing” “queen bee”

DIALOGUE:

We are… Six. We’ve got riffs to ruffle your ruffs!

Pun watch: Riffs are vocal embelishments by a singer. Catherine of Aragon does an actual cool riff right after this line.
”Ruffs” refers to Elizabethan ruffs, which actually weren’t worn at all until at least 13 years after Henry VII’s death, but show up in the show both in the Ladies in Waiting’s costumes and in Haus of Holbein.

Shimmys to shake up your Chemise.

Pun watch: A shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, xcept for the shoulders, which are quickly alternated back and forth. A chemise was a simple long undergarment worn during the English renaissance to protect clothing from sweat and body oils.

And a whole lot of history. Or as we like to call it… her-story. So obviously, you know who we are. Please, no portraits.

Pun watch: His-tory vs. Her-story. The word herstory was first used by feminists in the 1970s and was recently popularized by various nonprofit and youth campaigns to get the stories of women out in the news more often.
“No portraits” is a cheeky reference to modern day celebrities saying “no pictures” to their fans.

But give it up for our ladies in waiting! We got Maggie on the guitar! Bessie on the bass. And killing it on the keys, we’ve got Joan! And with drums so sick they’ll give you gout, It’s Maria in the drums!

I’ve written a lengthy blog post on the Ladies in Waiting of Six that you can read here, but in short, the Ladies in Waiting are all named after real life women who waited on the six wives. Maggie refers to Margaret Wyatt/Lee, who served Anne Boleyn, Bessie was Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount, who served Catherine of Aragon and Anna of Cleves (and also gave birth to Henry VIII’s only acknowledged illegitimate son), Joan was Joan Astley, who served Jane Seymour, and Maria de Salinas served Catherine of Aragon.

The gout reference is pretty funny, as gout was referred to as a disease of the lords, as it was strongly associated with intemperance in the form of over-eating and over-drinking that was really only possible to the very rich in 1500s England.

So you came here tonight to party with us old-school. Really, really old-school… But we’re not here to have fun! Uh-uh, we’ve got a serious score to settle. We’ve been in the shadow of one man for too long. And we came here tonight to step back into the spotlight! The problem is there’s Six of us, and we know you’ve all got your favourite.

Fun fact. From Henry VIII’s point of view, he actually only had three wives, not six.
He believed his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was invalid from the get-go because she was married to his older brother Arthur first.
He had his marriage to Anne Boleyn annulled before her execution, on the grounds that Anne Boleyn had been pre-contracted to marry Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland (despite the fact that Percy had denied this pre-contract both in a letter to Thomas Cromwell in 1536 and by swearing on the Blessed Sacrament in 1532). Another reason possibly given for the annulment was Henry’s prior sexual relationship with Anne’s sister Mary Boleyn, although Henry had applied for a dispensation from the Pope in 1527 that would allow him to marry Anne even if there was an impediment of “affinity arising from illicit intercourse in whatever degree, even the first.”
He did believe his marriage to Jane Seymour was valid, so there’s one.
His marriage to Anna of Cleves was annulled on the basis of a pre-contract between Anna of Cleves and Francis of Lorraine (which was considered unofficial and cancelled five years before her marriage to Henry), Henry’s lack of consent to the marriage, and lack of consummation.
Interestingly enough, although Henry did order Katherine Howard’s execution, their marriage was not actually annulled before her death. This was likely because Howard didn’t have any children with Henry (so no one for Henry to care about rendering illegitimate) and Henry didn’t have an immediate next wife in mind yet.
Henry also believed his final marriage to Catherine Parr was valid, of course.

Everyone always wants to know who’s the most important wife. And they’ve been arguing about it for centuries. We’ve heard it all… “Who lasted the longest was the strongest.” “The biggest sinner is obvs the winner.” “Who had the son takes number one.” “Who was most chaste shall be first placed.” “Most inglourious is victorious.” “The winning contestant was the most protest-ant.”

Protestantism was really gaining ground in the early 1500s throughout Europe, and England itself became more protestant under Henry due to his founding of the Church of England, but Henry himself was Catholic in everything except the pope until the day he died. And of his wives, really only Catherine Parr would probably identify as a protestant. Anne Boleyn was a reformer and an evangelical, and was definitely painted as a Protestant Martyr by later authors serving their own purposes, but contemporary evidence indicates that although she was a reformer, she certainly wouldn’t have considered herself a protestant. And although Anne of Cleves makes all the protestant jokes in Six, and did indeed originate from a duchy that was protestant at the time of her marriage to Henry VIII, she herself didn’t appear to have very strong opinions on her religion. She was born and raised Catholic, became protestant later in life along wiht much of her family, and went back to Catholicism later in her life at the request of Mary Tudor when she became queen.

But we came here tonight to answer your questions once and for all! And tell ya whatcha want, whatcha really really want—...to know.

Spice Girls “Wannabe” reference!

That’s right, we’re gonna help you figure out which one of us is— The queen of the castle. The rose amongst the thorns. The Thomas Cromwell amongst the royal ministers between 1532 and 1540.

Queen of the castle - This references Anne of Cleves’ song later in the show and is taken from the classic children’s rhyme of “King of the Castle” (which goes back to at least 1850).

Rose amongst the thorns - previously explained above.

This royal ministers joke is so strange and hilarious to me. Henry VIII had four different chief royal ministers while he was king. Two of them (Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell) were executed for Treason, one died just after being arrested (Cardinal Thomas Wolsey) and one just managed to outlive Henry (Thomas Howard). The weird thing is - Thomas Cromwell was his ONLY chief minister from 1532-1540. There were other royal ministers of course, but that’s the only one we hear about during that time really. And he was EXTREMELY good at his job. So basically this is a fancy way of saying “who’s the best?”

But how the purgatory are they going to choose their leading lady?

This purgatory reference is very offhand (and replaces the modern phrasing of “how the hell”) but in fact, the existence or non-existence of purgatory was a pretty big religious issue during Henry VIII’s time. Catholics believed that after death, souls went to a place or state of suffering called Purgatory and are punished for their sins there before going to heaven. Protestants didn’t believe in Purgatory, as it wasn’t mentioned explicitly in the Bible. This is still a big difference among Catholicism and Protestantism today.

Hold up! If this is going to be a fair competition, they’re gonna have to judge us on the one thing we’ve all got in common. The one to take the crown should be the one who had the biggest, The firmest, The fullest Load of B.S. to deal with from the man who put a ring on it. So, (city name), we’re going to hold a little contest for you. And the rules are simple: The queen who was dealt the worst hand, The queen with the most hardships to withstand, The queen who everything didn’t really go as planned, shall be the one to lead the band!

Innuendo watch: “the biggest, The firmest, The fullest Load of B.S. “

Beyonce watch: “the man who put a ring on it” - There’s really nothing to analyze here except to note that this is the second Beyonce reference in the show and we haven’t even reached the second song yet, lol.

13 Things I Learned from Original Six Alternate/Dance Captain Grace Mouat's Workshop/Q&A

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

I did a dance workshop and Q&A with Grace Mouat last Sunday through Theatre Fan Workshops! Grace was the original swing/dance captain for Six the musical! She started on the first UK tour, which opened in July 2018, as the tour’s only swing (covering all six roles and debuting ALL of those roles in July and August 2018). She then moved to the West End and stayed there as a swing until August 2019. She now is an ensemble member and Juliet understudy in &Juliet.

Grace Mouat

Grace was utterly brilliant and taught us a dance from &Juliet that I was really honestly just very bad at, but it was fun! She makes the best faces and thankfully, I got screenshots of a lot of them!

Disclaimer as usual- I was typing as fast as I can and tried to mark which parts are direct quotes, but some of these may be slightly paraphrased.

Grace Mouat

1. What’s the story behind the shoes in &Juliet? (look at the costumes on my &Juliet posts 1 and 2 to see what i mean!)– “We got to choose what shoes we wanted. We got these amazing trainers to rehearse in and were like ‘they’re so new and shiny.’ And then they told us to bring them in to rehearsal because we’re going to ruin them. [New shiny trainers] wouldn’t go with the costumes and the tudor/modern mix up. Can you imagine me walking out in shiny white trainers? It’s totally deliberate. We’re also shakespeare’s players [so it goes with that sort of rough and tumble players look.]”

2. Advice for surviving in quarantine: Grace suggested doing lots of dance workshops, youtube live, barre classes, etc. to prepare. Theatre Fan Workshops host Taylor also chimed in to say that everywhere he auditioned, he had to do ballet and jazz, freestyle and jazz.

3. Hardest queen to sing – “Katherine Howard – she’s ridiculous. She was on all the low harmonies throughout the show – and then she sings all you wanna do and then with your voice –the set up is strange. Then with jane Seymour, it’s like why &Juliet is hard – low low low BELTY BELTY – etc – it’s not even about the range it’s about the up and down.” [She noted that this was the case in the West End version, apparently the harmony assignments for queens varies a lot between casts]

Grace Mouat

Grace Mouat

 4. What was the audition process for &Juliet like? – “There was a massive buzz around it in terms of performance. They didn’t even tell us what it was called before we got the job, it was just ‘the max martin musical.’ I’d worked with [director] Luke Sheppard before. My audition was the DAY after I got back from the Edinburgh fringe with Six. I did ‘hit me baby one more time,’ I did the first scene with Juliet and my own pop song, and the director sat down and talked to me. It was so much more chill than people think – both six and &Juliet have been the most chill audition experiences I’ve had. I found out I got the job when Six was in Manchester, when I was cathy P.”

5. Advice for getting into musical theater: “Do more of these [dance workshops] if you want to enter the industry some day. Training in your own space -I pick up choreo so much quicker when I’m in my lounge than when I’m in my class because there’s no one around to compare you too – so use that.  

I had a big fat notebook on my gap year when I hadn’t got into drama school. I used that as my musical theater dream life book. Every show I’d go to, I’d stick my ticket in the book. I’d put down who directed, who performed, performers that stuck out to me, performers I’d seen in shows before. I’d look for people that caught my eye and learned from that.

Learn from other people, go to as many shows as possible. There are so many shows that have been professionally filmed so you can see it up close. Watch films, watch acting, watch dancing. And connect with other people. Unfortunately the industry is so much about who you know, not to get a job even but to get into an audition. Be nice, be genuine, don’t be fake, because people will know.”

6. Fave choreography from any show I’ve been in – “First thing that came to my head is the ‘No Way’ dance break from Six. And in &Juliet – ‘Kissed a Girl’ is actually REALLY fun, and it’s on a revolve so it’s so hard, and I only come off the revolve once.”

7. What she misses most about being on stage – “Having fun with my friends! I miss those moments when you look across the stage and just [mugs for camera]. I miss reacting with people and being an ensemble, especially with the cast of &Juliet because they’re so much fun. And I really miss playing Juliet, it’s just the most special role.”

 8. Most Memorable celebrity visit to &Juliet – “Katy Perry without a doubt. I was Juliet in front of KP. And she looked at me and I went [happy shocked face]. I was getting dressed after and going like, ‘I can’t believe that just happened, I can’t believe that just happened, I can’t believe that just happened’ and the band could hear me and they were just laughing at me. I met her afterward and she was just lovely."

Press night was the most bizarre night of my life. We didn’t get to meet everyone. I was like [singing and dancing] ‘one less problem without you’ and I looked up and Ed Sheeran was up in the box dancing – and I was like [open mouth].”

Grace Mouat

Grace Mouat

9. Favorite part of &Juliet – “As ensemble - The beautiful moment at the end when she’s like ‘it’s just the first day.’ I’m like YES I love feminism.

As Juliet - I love doing Roar but it’s just so stressful, there’s so much going on. ‘One More Try’ is probably my favorite because Jordan [Luke Gage, who plays Romeo] is one of my best friends. We actually got a note being like – ‘We can tell you’re friends.’ And I had to work to flirt with Jordan, but it wasn’t that hard because he’s one of the most beautiful people in existence.”

10. What was it like after doing Six (with only six cast members and no costume changes) going back to a musical with a large cast and costumes? “Uh SO WEIRD. I was telling everyone like, ‘Girls I can’t do it. I hope you all know how lucky you are’ while talking to the cast in Manchester. The costume changes in &Juliet, like in Roar. Y’all don’t know what’s going on in the wings during ‘Hit Me Baby One Time, it’s MAYHEM, because we’re all changing for ‘Show Me the Meaning.’

All the costume changes in &Juliet – at the beginning it was stressful. But you got used to it, and you usually have the same dresser so they know everything about how you put on the costume and such.”

11. How much did Six change over the time (from summer 2018-August 2019) she was in it? “Six changed a ton! I had a different costume on tour. Alexia [McIntosh, who played Anna of Cleves] had a different costume for some of the tour, she used to be silver, and she used to have longer hair. And jayej [referring to Jarneia Richard-Noel, who played Catherine of Aragon and had much longer hair on tour]. Everything’s different. The choreo’s different, the scenes are different. There were SO many changes until we got to the London.

It was ridiculous as a swing. I was a big journey with Catherine Parr. She used to have a plug she’d pull and the whole thing would go [womp womp sound], and she’d go ‘STOP.’ I’m doing a queendom blog soon and there will be unseen footage there.”

Grace Mouat

Grace Mouat

12. Funniest onstage moments– “[The Six cast] actually had a massive chat about this the other day. Let me see if I screenshot that chat. There were just so many! My number one favorite was early on, when Millie [O’Connell, who played Anne Boleyn] had to say promo code and she couldn’t get it out and she said, ‘make sure to check out the slogan mogan frogan promo code.’ Something like that.

When I went on on as Jane Seymour, I accidentally said ‘Let’s all commiserate the loss of his mother, my son.’ It just was weird.

In ‘All You Wanna Do,’ I was thrown on as Cleves and I was facing the front and all the girls are facing the back. Everyone’s in the back laughing, and I’m directly behind Aimee. I just had to turn it into a sarcastic smile, which is what I would do whenever Millie would make me laugh.

There will be more stories in the [Queendom] blog/vlog – like when Jayej [Jarneia Richard-Noel, who played Catherine of Aragon] threw a shoe and natalie’s knee slide [Natalie Paris, who played Jane Seymour] in Haus of Holbein.”

13. Advice about going into the industry as a director/choreographer? – “I think that is one of those things you really have to work yourself up to. It does help if you have a bit of a performer’s background as well. Look at assisting jobs, if you can assist directors, taking people to work on scenes when they’re free, helping the ensemble find their things if the director’s focusing on the main action, running cover rehearsals, etc. It’s a very hard and fun job that will give you loads of experience with directors and knowledge of how directors work.

And social media is your friend. Start choreographing now and send it to choreographers you admire, like Drew McOnie , Tom Jackson Greaves. Send it to them and ask, ‘can you give me some feedback – what do you think of my style?’ You never know who’s going to come across the video saying ‘choregraphed by your name’ and say, ‘I want to get them on my next project.’”

24 Things I Learned from Six (Bliss) Alternate and Show Captain Nat Pilkington's Workshop/Q&A!

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

I did a dance workshop and Q&A with Natalie “Nat” Pilkington last Saturday through Theatre Fan Workshops! Nat was show captain and one of the alternates on the Bliss 1.0 production of Six from September 2019 to March 2020.

Nat taught us “Don’t Lose Your Head,” which I had learned already at Vicki Manser’s workshop, but frankly, I was bad enough at it that I was quite happy to learn it again. I feel like I’ve gotten quite a lot better at it! Particularly that weird foot thing in the beginning.

Nat has a wonderful sort of manic energy and brought that to her teaching style. When we were doing warmups, she asked her Alexa to play Dua Lipa’s “Physical” and when Alexa responded “I don’t know that one,” she just yelled “YES YOU DO.” It was hysterical.

During the dance teaching portion, she suggested that we try to act like gossiping flamingos talking about Anne Boleyn. As she said, “I’m sure some of y’all have done that before - Like ‘oh my god look at her skirt’ – like a Mean Girls vibe – but we shouldn’t do that.” She also definitely caught me dancing around with my cat at one point and laughed about it, lol.

At the end of the class, she actually went through and watched /everyone/ do the routine, specifically going from screen to screen and calling out everyone’s names. It was a little intimidating but fun to actually know she was looking at you!

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington - “I’m literally like Anne Boleyn, it’s chopping my head off”

1.      On working and living on a cruise ship- It’s hard to explain - It’s kind of like being in quarantine only you can move around a little and be social with a few people. You have to be very independent and okay with your own company. You spend a lot of time alone.

2.      Favorite Queen - I love them all but I really like Catherine Parr.

3.      The queens she covered - Alicia went home [Alicia Corrales-Connor, who played Katherine Howard as Bliss 1.0, but she left the show a month early and was the understudy Katherine Howard on the UK Tour] and then Byrony [Duncan, another alternate on the cruise] was Howard while we were waiting for her replacement. Then Lori came in for Howard [Lori McLare, who was originally a rehearsal swing but came in in February as an understudy for Katherine Howard]. I then had the choice to do either Seymour or Howard – I chose Seymour because she’s nice, although I’ve got the hair for howard - I only had a few days to learn Seymour – but I sang more for Seymour than anyone else at the audition.

[Sidenote: Pilkington’s hair is SO GLORIOUS AND SO LONG - Like IN a ponytail it looked like it was still down to her elbows, it was insane]

4.      Favorite part of the show – From a selfish ‘being on stage’ point of view – the remix. When we get out there and do “this is the remix”   and you go up and you’re like “henry this is how it is.” And the megasix, there’s no better feeling than doing the megasix.

5.      Origin of her accent - I am from a place called Chorley In Lancashire - Near Bolton and preston, not far from Blackpool.

6.      Most challenging thing about doing a production on cruise - The audience don’t necessarily come for the shows, which sounds really sad but obviously if you’re on the West End or Broadway, people have paid specifically to come out to watch six, while with the cruises, people come on holiday and the show is just a free bit at the end of the day. Especially with Americans, and it was mainly Americans on the ship, it was us telling people how good it is and getting them to come. And still people were like ‘was this real, did this guy actually have six wives?’ YES [claps hands on either side of face].

Also, the stage on the ship is humongous. We were so tired and out of breath trying to run from one of the place – it’s so much different from on the West End.

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington

7.  Pilkington’s parents were both involved in theater growing up - How did that influence her acting?

Mum’s a dance teacher and father does sets. She teaches tap and modern at like a proper dancing school and they do acro and street dances and all that (she doesn’t teach all of that, she’s a bit old). That’s a big influence because I didn’t really get a choice, I danced since I was 2-2.5, that’s a long time.

My dad built sets and stage managing and such, never professionally as such, but more like amateur dramatics and such. It definitely had an influence on me wanting to do this because we used to spend every weekend at various show rehearsals and things so I was just always surrounded by it honest,

8.      Hardest queen to play physically – Probably jane Seymour actually . Aragon and Boleyn and Cleves are so big and like ‘here I am!’ I play Cleves more like cooler. But Jane and Parr, you had to be a bit more together and  bit more – can’t think what to describe it - the physicality of it. Cleves and Aragon are a bit more like my personality.

9.      Audition process/how she got the part - It’s a tough tough business, let me tell you – but it’s great.

[Pearson Casting, the casting directors for Six] had never heard me sing or dance before, if they thought I was good enough –they could put me to the Six people –but they don’t want to just send you directly to the six auditions in case you can’t sing or dance. So I sang for James and Rosie [Pearson, who run Pearson Casting], than I got called down to London and sang for Lucy [Moss, one of the writers and co-director of the show] and one of the directors Jamie [Armitage]. I literally sang for one song, and they were like “thanks” and I was like “what does that mean?”

Oh there were so many rounds. I was called back to dance. We did ‘Get Down’ with Carrie-Ann Ingrouille [the choreographer] and loads of walking around and being queens. Some people got cut from that, then they gave you the specific queens they thought you’d be suitable for, and all the Aragons went in, then all the Anne Boleyns in. I was seen at first for Seymour and Howard actually, two that I wasn’t meant to cover [later after she’d been cast as an alternate]. Then after that day there was another round. I can’t even tell you how many rounds there were all together, but obviously they have to find the right people. The last week was very much a similar sort of day. We did more singing,some acting, putting different people together to see if they worked well together.

Lots of us were waiting for an awfully long time to see if we got it – That was the west end – I didn’t get that, but got called back for the cruise auditions a couple months later.

We did a dance round, then we sang. I did that whole process, than had to go back again and be like ‘it’s me, that you’ve seen loads’ – and then I sang a pop song, then a full week of singing in front of people, doing dance rounds, doing the ultimate chat of the musical – the whole bit at the beginning after ex-wives. Then I got a call like the next day, because the cruise was starting next month – and they were like, ‘Want to be a swing and a dance captain?’

10.  Advice for getting into Musical Theatre: You need to eat, live, and breathe it or you’re not going to survive. It’s such a cutthroat industry. I queued up once at 9 am and got to the front of the line at 5 pm and they were like’sorry that’s it for the day.’ After queuing up all day in the freezing cold! And afterward I called my agent and was like ‘are they seeing the people that didn’t get seen today because I want to be in this.’ And that’s what you need to succeed.

11.  Favorite Choreo – ‘Get Down.’ That was the first choreo I learned in my audition and I don’t think I’ll forget it til the day I die. And cleves is just so funky.

12.  Costume Variations – I had three, but some of it was wearing the same parts in a different sense.

Aragon – the black alternate costume with the silver and the spiky shoulder pads, and a leotard and the black skirt. I think my skirt was a bit different than now; they’ve made a new version haven’t they? Grace [Mouat, an alternate for the West End who wore a black costume as well] and the Broadway version [they’re not using alternate costumes on Broadway, but i think she’s referring to Mallory Maedke’s alternate costume she wore for the North American tour] have a full skirt. Now they’ve made a cut from it – they keep changing it all the time which is nice.

Cleves – [this costume is] pretty much like a replica of the normal Cleves outfit but in black and silver. The shorts, chains, crop top and the jacket they whip off you.

Parr – same top as Aragon but a different leotard with black sequins. That was really nice and leggings – similar to what Parr wears but in my costume.

I actually had a Howard skirt as well but I never got to wear it. They made Bryony some leggings, and then they made a Howard costume, but measured my leggings off Bryony’s leggings. Bryony is 5’2 and I’m like 5’5’, so my leggings had a very interesting fit. At least they had stirrups so they didn’t reveal my ankles.

Seymour – I basically wore my Parr outfit but I changed my hair.

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington demonstrating the foot move at the beginning of the “Don’t Lose Your Head” chorus.

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington

13. What’s your go to Holbein move? The hike from Fortnight or whatever [demonstrates]. I don’t know, I’m not cool like that. Or a crab like this [demonstrates].

14. Favorite place that she went on the cruise – Maybe Aruba in the Caribbean, the beach was amazing and we had lots of nice cocktails. And if anybody has a chance to go to Alaska, it’s beautiful. It’s very different to aruba because it’s freezing. We had those nice walks and trails and waterfalls.

15.   Would she ever teach the Haus of Holbein dance?– It’s not really choreographed is it? A lot of it’s improvised. Plus we’re not allowed to teach Holbein.

16.  What’s it like doing a show without an interval - You don’t really realize it until you’re at the end when you’re absolutely shattered and desperate for a drink and then you come off. But it’s not like a fifteen minute break, like a full hour and a half before you have to go again. I’ve worked for ships before though, so I’m used to performing without an interval.

17.  How long it takes her to get ready for the show – Some girls took like 2 hours. Cleves took me a bit of time to get ready, and I have so much hair so have to deal with that, but still probably just an hour.

18.  Did she audition with anyone else who’s in Six? I remember Maddie [probably Maddison Bulleymetn, UK tour Boleyn] at my West End auditions, she’s so sweet. V [**Viquichele Cross, who played Catherine Parr. Thank you to @musicalcoversUK on Instagram and L in the comments for the info!]- was in my west end and then all my cruise auditions. Bryony [Duncan, fellow Bliss 1.0 alternate] was in my west end and Caitlin [Tipping, Bliss 1.0 Seymour] and Hazel [Karooma-Brooker, Bliss 1.0 Boleyn] actually –and then they were all at the cruise auditions. Candy [probably Candace Furbert, Bliss 1.0 Aragon] I met for the cruise auditions and Sophie [Golden, Bliss 1.0 Cleves].

Sophie and I made friends straight away. And then she made me cry when she did Jane Seymour and then I had to get up after her and i was just bawling my eyes out.  Shaka – I remember Shaka being at one of my auditions [Shekinah McFarlane, who was originally an alternate on the West End and then became Cleves on the second UK tour]. I remember Lauren [Byrne], who is Seymour on the tour – and the other Lauren [Drew] who plays Aragon [also on tour] and Collette [Guitart, swing on the West End]. Literally the whole world was at my auditions. You don’t necessarily speak to all of them, but you see them.

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington

Natalie “Nat” Pilkington demonstrating one of her go-to Haus of Holbein moves.

19.  What’s the difference between a dance captain vs. show captain? Because I was like the first one to do it on a ship, I think show captain is just covering everything: making people are in the right spaces and making sure they’re not changing the words, etc, and being involved with the wardrobe as well, making sure they’re not changing the way they’re doing their hair or makeup or wearing their flat shoes when thy should be wearing their high heels. Dance captain is more choreograph-y. I never thought about that, I just did it all with Alex, the musical director. She left the dancing with me because she wasn’t a dancer

20.  What’s it like Dancing in the costume? The first time you do it, you’re like, ‘I can’t do  this I’m never going to be able to do this.’ It’s so heavy and restrictive. But after the first few times, you don’t even think about it. You jou have to get used to it.

21. Dance teaching restrictions? – From a choreographer point of view, if you’re part of the show and it’s so successful, it’s a respect sort of thing. As a choreographer, she’d love for everyone to know all the routines but you don’t want to ruin the magic for the regular bits. [someone mentioned Aimee Atkinson teaching all the songs at this point] Aimee does workshops but she makes up her own choreo, not the actual show choreo.

22. What did she think of the Queendom video? – It was fun! I knew what the idea was, but I didn’t know what it was going to be like. I made my boyfriend film me for like a full afternoon sitting on my couch drinking a cup of tea for it. It was a nice surprise when it came out. I had Byrony texting me like “it’s amazing!” “what’s amazing” “the video, have you not seen it” and then I had to go look at it and it was brilliant.

23. What’s it like being a dance captain – It’s nice! Everybody’s so friendly and just wants to get the job done. It’s a small cast and it’s really nice and chill. I felt really honored that I’d been given the trust by the creatives to oversee that. I’m still really proud of myself for that. I had never been a dance captain before. And I was like ‘oo I could change things.’ [wicked smile] I would never do that, but I COULD.

24. Future plans - I’d like to stay on land for a while – I’ve done a few ships and I think I’d prefer to be on land now.

22 Things I Learned from Sam Pauly from Six on Broadway

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

FYI: I will be attending dance workshops and Q&As with Natalie Pilkington and Grace Mouat this weekend, however, the blog posts covering these workshops will not be up until likely June 2nd or 3rd as I have a big writing application deadline on June 1 that I’ll be working on the majority of the weekend. Thank you for your patience!

On Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day here in the states), I took a virtual dance workshop and Q&A with Sam Pauly through Theatre Fan Workshops. Sam played Katherine Howard in Six on Broadway and also played her on the North American Tour, which went to Chicago, Illinois, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Edmonton, Canada, and St Paul, Minnesota. This was the first American and US based workshop I’ve taken, and it took place at 10 AM EST (where I’m based) instead of the 5 am or 7 am EST the other workshops I’ve done before. It was GLORIOUS. I got to sleep y’all! <3

Sam was really sweet and wonderful and encouraging. Her dog kept wandering in to show off one of his toys (lamb chop from lamb chop’s play-a-long, which was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid) and at one point, her husband also randomly came in and did the entire dance with her perfectly!

While she was teaching the dance, she advised everyone to “Channel your inner whatever you want – you’re the baddest b in the castle. I wish y’all could see our choreographer do it sometime, she’s a hip hop aficionado and she’s insane.” She also suggested that everyone do some little character show: “What queen are you? it doesn’t have to be Cleves – everyday for me it changes.”

Don’t forget, Sam’s been doing a “song a day” challenge on her Instagram throughout all this self-isolation - she’s on day 72 + now!

Sam Pauly

Sam Pauly AND HER SWEET DOG RIGHT THERE IN THE BACKGROUND

1. On how she keeps her dyed pink hair looking so good - I only wash it once a week or nine days. I have a deep conditioner that I use when I DO wash it, and that deep conditioner has the actual neon hair dye in it.

2. Audition process for Six in the US - I would venture to guess that [the audition process for Six] is probably the same in the US as it is in the UK, but it was a lot different than auditions in the US nromally are. For final callbacks we wer ein Chicago, there were people from Chicago, New York, and Canada. It was a full 8 hour day.
   We danced at the beginning of the day - we did three different dance combinations, including Get Down and Freakum Dress by Beyonce.
   They went in queen order - every time they would start a new queen, they would bring everybody in at one point, everybody that was up for Boleyn, etc. We’d go through it and then we all would sit there and watch each other sing. I have Never done that in my life.
   Toby and Lucy [Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the writers of the show] do that becaus ethe whole show is about queens supporting queens. They wante dto see how people treated each other, who supported each other and who got along with who and who meshed well with each other.

   It wa sa very long day - 8 hours. and then after that I went on a plane to New York to audition for Evita.
   It was very chill. And [Toby and Lucy] are also very young, and they were very supportive. They were just having the best time watching everyone sing. In Chicago, I missed the first two round and then they went in for final callbacks in Chicago and FINAL final callbacks with everybody. I don’t know how many rounds they did.

3. Funniest onstage mishap - Happened during our second to last show in Minnesota. It didn’t happen to me, it happened to us collectively. One of Andrea’s buns started to come out of its little stud thing but she didn’t know it; it was kind of flopping around like a dog ear, so all of us were trying not to laugh at her. At one point when Anna was beginning to sing, I tried to silently ask her about - ‘ do you want some bobby pins’ and she handed me a water bottle. By the time we got to “Six,” everybody was quavering “for five more minutes” and everybody was laughing so hard none of us got it. I was still singing out, but I was crying so hard from laughing, just tears streaming down. Nobody was singing because everybody was laughing so hard. That was after we’d been going for so long though that even our stage manager was like [shoulder shrug].

4. Audition Tips - My two biggest ones are: Always walk into the room thinking that the people on the other side of the table need you far more than you need them. It’s great to have a job and it’s really great to book a show, but those people - the director and the choreographer and the producers - they all want you so badly to be what they’re looking for, because then their job is done. If you can walk in there with that confidence, it makes everything so much easier. Also - Dress for the part you want. It doesn’t mean come in a full costume, but if the character is a little sexy, go ahead and dress that way. If it’s a business type, cater to that. I feel like a lot of people go into an audition and dress in a very neutral way, but i’m like, ‘this is rock of ages, put on some jean shorts and fish nets.’

5. Dance Training Tips - Find a modern and jazz class. Between that and ballet, that would hit everything that would typically be in a dance class. Take a tap class if you like (I don’t like it), but I’d do like a beginner level of like anything you can find. You can get the core and the basics from a ballet class but Musical Theater is changing. There’s a lot of hip hop, a lot more modern stuff- there’s a lot more stff that never used to be in MT. Start with the basics in a ballet and a jazz class and then do a lot of other stuff that yo u might not try normally.

6. Best memory with the Six cast - Probably the first day we got to the Broadway theater. We have a lot of great memories, as we’ve done a lot of great things together. But that first day of being in the theater and being in our dressing rooms - that’s the first time we all collectively got to like cry and be totally mind blown that we’re there.

7. The Queen she initially aimed for in auditions: I honestly thought I had the best chance at Seymour because it’s kind of a park and bark where you can just stand and sing, but the more I started to work on the K Howard material, I realized - this is it, this is the one – so once I figured that out, I went for K Howard at callbacks.

8. Favorite moment in the show - Ex wives at the very top, when it starts ‘tonight we are’ – and we start singing and the lights come up. To see the look on everyone’s faces when that happens is usually a collective [MOUTH OPEN]. For me, that is what always motivates me, because my favorite thing is and always will, be the fans. I love meeting people at the stage door, having people send fan emails. If I’m not feeling well, those are the things I think about. Somebody has waited months or a year to see this show tonight, so I’m going to go out there and give them what they’re waiting for.

9. Healthy Voice recommendations - I don’t have any fancy tricks – some people swear by teas or lozenges or whatever. I am a classic ‘as much sleep as you can get and as much water as you can possibly drink.’ And even if you think you’e had enough water, you probably haven’t had enough water. That’s my two biggest tips – when I don’t get enough sleep, I can always tell. And you have to say no to a lot of things – parties, get togethers – because you have to get as much sleep - but it’s worth it.

Sam Pauly

Sam Pauly and OMG THERE’S THE DOG AGAIN

Sam Pauly’s imitation of the audience’s faces when the music starts and the lights come up at the beginning of the show.

11. On people criticizing Six for having the actors perform in their natural accents - My thought is the same as the though as toby and lucy – whether or not you have an accent, it does not affect how the story is told. If we were really being true to each character, cleves would be speaking and singing with a german accent, aragon with Spanish accent. It always is interesting to me when people get mad about not speaking with British accents. For me, I don’t really care – I get what people  say when they’re like – they sound so cool with the accents -  a year ago when we were preparing we were all like ‘do we think they’re going to maeke us do the british accents?’ …but honestly I think we would ha.ve butchered them so I think it’s honestly best that we don’t do them anyway.

12. Biggest Takeaway from being involved in Six - Just surprising myself with what I can do. We all sing in every song, no one has a break and still being able to do all that dancing – that’s probably been my biggest takeaway so far.

13. Broadway vs. West End (she performed on the West End with Evita)- Broadway might be a little bit more of an excitement to it just because that’s always been my dream. Last year if you had asked me, ‘Do you think you’d ever do anything on the west end'?’ – I would have been like – ‘no why would I, why would I ever go there, who would hire me to go to London?’ To say I’ve done both is wonderful!

14. How she almost performed last minute in the West End - I was in London for rehearsals for Evita. I had already gone to sleep – and Kenny [show producer Kenny Wax] texted me this big long thing, ‘We have a lot of injuries and illnesses right now – I’l talk to director at regents park – can you come in and do the 4 or 7 pm show tomorrow?’ I talked to my agent and the company manager – because I was hired to go over there to do Evita and nothing else and Jamie Lloyd our director was like, ‘as long as you can do rehearsal on Monday, sure.’ It was a lot of back and forth with Kenny and my agent. I had packed up all my things – they said ‘we’re going to find some costume for you to wear,’ I had literally walked up to the train station and about to get on train there, when I got the call and was told to go home. Because I was on there on a government visa – if I had gone to work somewhere else and made money doing it – I could have gotten in a lot of trouble and regents park and theatre arts [where six was ] could as well. So they said don’t come. They ended up cancelling one of those shows for the day. I was SO CLOSE and I was so excited. Now after seeing it there, I ‘m glad I didn’t go on, because the stage is a lot smaller than what we have, so I would have been flailing it all around. I would have stuck out like a sore thumb for sure.

15. How she found out Six was going to Broadway - I remember it, but it’s kind of like my wedding day. I remember it happening, but I don’t really remember a lot about it. We were at intermission of one of our previews , and I had had a text and a missed call from my agent, saying ‘give me a call when you can.’ He kept it very casual – and that’s what kind of took me by surprise. He’s like ‘I know you’re busy. Do you want to go to Broadway with six?” – and I was like – ‘whatttttt?’ My response was “they picked me??” and he was like “yeah, yeah, they picked you.’ My roommate figured out what was going on and they filmed it – my husband was there and I got to share that with him that night – it was so special.

16. How she found out about Broadway closing on the day Six was supposed to officially open- I had just had brunch with my family and my in-laws and some friends that I had scheduled. I was in a lyft on my way back to my apartment, I dropped my sister off at the mac store so she could get her makeup done, and the playbill article [announcing that broadway was closing] came out, but that said by 5 pm on the 13th and I though okay – we’ll have the party and one performance and then close. Our producers were still in a meeting with the league and that’s why it took us so long to figure out what happened. My agent called me before that; two of them had flown in to see it and he called me and told me they said the show was cancelled and wouldn’t let him pick up his tickets.

17. On Doing Evita - Working with Jamie Lloyd –don’t tell anyone but he might be my favorite director I’ve ever worked with. He is so capable of getting me to do things I didn’t think I could do. He is able to pull that out of you – and this particular production was different than any that had ever been done. It was very dirty and messy. I got the opportunity to be ugly and scream and cry – and with a lot of those things, I was able to come back to six and use that.

Sam Pauly and her husband, who after initially saying he didn’t want everyone to know who he was, agreeably popped out and did the entire Get Down dance with Sam perfectly.

Sam Pauly demonstrating some moves

Sam Pauly demonstrating some moves

18. Favorite song to perform in the show - ex wives for sure – it’s just the most exciting – the adrenaline rush we need to get into the rest of the show

19. how she heard about six – a friend from London called me and told me it was coming to Chicago

20. can people in the US audition for the west end and vice versa? - There’s a rule between the actors association in the US. At any time, an equal number of people have to be working in the opposite places. If there’s five people from the US working on the west end, there have to be five people from the UK on Broadway. It can’t be an uneven worker count. So when we went to UK for Evita – they were able to hire three people from London for Broadway – that solely depends in the unions

21. Favorite costume in the show - Aragon, it’s the heaviest, and I know it’s the hardest to put on, it takes like two people to put it on her, but it’s my favorite

22. Have you ever dropped a mic on stage? - I  have not – knock on wood. In the year I have been with the show – I have only seen it happen in performance one time – maybe it happened other times and i just missed it – but I only saw it once.

22. Thoughts on the rules banning of the megasix on Broadway - we all fought for it. It’s not up to the producer or the director or anybody, it’s up to the actor’s union. We were able to do it everywhere else, and we all wish it was allowed. It’s one of my favorite parts of six and we were all really disappointed when we got the no, but it was because there was some stuff going on with Moulin Rouge. They were in the middle of issues with people filming the end of their show, so Actor’s Equity was like, ‘We can’t say yes to you guys and then say no to another show.’ So I don’t know if anything will change, when we come back – but people still film it – because everybody is on their feet and it’s a lot harder for the ushers to run around to see who is even filming – so technically you’re not supposed to, people still do – I really wish it was allowed.