Six Is Back in Rehearsals and Hoping to Get to Opening Night – The New York Times

The red velvet seats at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on West 47th Street were covered by tech tables of computers, cables and consoles operated by designers, directors and stage managers. An audience was not due until the first preview on Friday night.

But the anticipation was nevertheless high for a dress rehearsal of Six, the British musical dreamed up by two college students that imagines the wives of Henry VIII as pop stars.

In one of the more poignant examples of the pandemics toll on the theater, the musicals opening night turned out to be its closing night instead: The show had been scheduled to open March 12, 2020, the day Broadway shut down.

Now Six will find out if the loss of 18 months has cost the show any momentum; its original opening had been buoyed by advance sales, multiple productions, a hugely popular soundtrack and fans who had been following the show since its 2017 premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

So there were effusive whoops and cheers from the crew in attendance when the curtain came up on the shows six queens, fully decked out in their sparkly costumes, glittering boots and in some cases crowns.

Were finding ways of readjusting the show to who these performers are now who these queens are at this moment in time, who their 2021 selves are, where these songs are coming from, said Jamie Armitage, who directed the musical with Lucy Moss. Theres a depth and fire to some of the performances which I havent seen before.

I think its the time away, realizing what theater means and what it means to congregate, Armitage continued, adding that the shows theme was newly resonant: The group is more powerful than the individual.

The productions diverse, all female cast and band and its message of sisterhood and self-empowerment also resonates with the lessons of the lockdown period, specifically a heightened awareness about the importance of equal opportunities for women and people of color. The musical concludes by calling out patriarchal structures.

The dress rehearsal went smoothly, running its 85-minute, intermission-free duration without any apparent technical hitch. And after the confetti had fallen on the curtain call, the two directors rehearsed the bows again. Then they introduced a new idea: The cast took selfies from the stage.

Six will start previews on Friday, the same night David Byrnes American Utopia begins a return engagement, as Broadways reopening gathers momentum. Another 28 shows are scheduled to begin performances before the end of the year.

As the Six actors dispersed for a dinner break before returning to the theater for notes Moss, who co-wrote the show with Toby Marlow, said she was feeling cautiously optimistic.

Until its open and running Im not going to be like, Were back, because who knows whats going to happen? she said. It makes you very grateful for every moment in the room.

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Six Is Back in Rehearsals and Hoping to Get to Opening Night - The New York Times