Musical theater writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss conceived their global hit musical “SIX” within the structure of a pop concert. Centering the six ex-wives of England’s King Henry VIII, “SIX” imagines the Tudor sextet as a world-renowned girl group. In Marlow and Moss’ world, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr are “pop stars who are telling you they’re pop stars,” Moss explained. And what do pop stars do to promote their concerts? They make an album.
So after the show premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Marlow and Moss produced a 2018 studio album of “SIX,” so that all subsequent productions of the musical would be the album’s “live version,” as Moss put it. “With all of the creative decisions — from how they’re dressed to what the writing is, to the marketing, to how we record the albums [for each production], to how [the queens] sound — it’s always been driven by a really close read with this [pop] conceit.”
Which is why it makes sense that after the live musical became an international sensation — having played 16 countries, including its current Broadway production — “SIX” would continue its pop lineage by filming and releasing a live capture, in the way that global icons Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have of their concerts. “SIX: The Musical Live!” has already played movie theaters in the U.K. and Australia and hit U.S. cinemas beginning Aug. 14 for a one-week run. And while the capture isn’t a substitute for seeing the queens live, Moss said the film “felt, conceptually, completely in line with the world of the show.” Marlow added, “In essence, ‘SIX’ is a musical pretending to be a pop concert. This is a musical-theater pro shot pretending to be a pro shot of a big, huge pop concert.”
Given the high-octane concert feel the duo was aiming for, they teamed up with film director Liz Clare, whose credits include multiple iterations of the MTV Video Music Awards, “An Evening with Elton John and Brandi Carlile” and the 2026 Tony Awards.
