SIX The Musical Arrives in Sydney – Purple Carpet

The Sydney opening night of worldwide smash hit play SIX The Musical opened on Wednesday, October 30.

Sydney saw a star-studded red purple carpet with the likes of Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Matty Mills, Mitch and Mark from The Block, Brendan De La Hay, Mynx Moscato, Marc Fennell, Tanya Hennessy, Kevin in the City, Matt Hey, Lou P Scarlett, Tara Brown and more.

Divorced, Beheaded, Thrived! The story of SIX The Musical

Written in 2016 by English musical duo Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, ‘Six’ was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, where it garnered the attention of the media and a larger audience. 

The pop musical follows an empowering imaginary retelling of Henry VIII’s six ex-wives’ stories. The musical brings the former queens out from behind the shadow of the historically infamous King of England and gives them all pop star makeovers. 

The audience gets to hear the dynamic girl group consisting of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr rewriting their own narratives and putting a positive, female-led spin on history.

Marlow, who is non-binary, and Moss, who is the youngest-ever female director of a Broadway musical, both disliked the fact that there was so little gender diversity in theatre, so they emphasised the production of a musical with all-female or non-binary cast with very diverse backgrounds, despite the historical wives being Anglo-Saxon women. 

The Sydney cast 

Sydney’s cast consists of Kimberley Hodgson as Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s spunky first wife. Deirdre Khoo plays the famed second wife, Anne Boleyn. Loren Hunter returns to play the loyal and unfaltering Jane Seymour, the third wife. Zelia Rose Kitoko plays Anna of Cleves, the steadfast and independent fourth wife. Chelsea Dawson also returns to play Katherine Howard, the energetic fifth wife. And finally, Giorgia Kennedy joins the cast to play the sixth wife, the empowered Catherine Parr. 

‘Six’ will be playing in Theatre Royal Sydney until December, before making its way to Brisbane’s Playhouse Theatre QPAC from January 2, 2025, The Civic in Auckland from February 27 2025 and then to Newcastle’s Civic Theatre from April 10 2025.

SIX The Musical Sydney Premiere – Purple Carpet

Wednesday October 30
Theatre Royal, King St, Sydney
Photographer: David Hooley