MAY 18 • 2023 | 95
THEATER
Divorced, Beheaded, Died:
History is about to get overthrown.
I
f you’re expecting to actually see Henry
VIII in the 23-time award-winning
musical romp known as SIX, think
again.
“We don’t need Henry in this show,”
SIX cast member Taylor Pearlstein boldly
exclaims about the “Historemix” of Henry
VIII’s six ex-wives.
The global Queendom comes to Detroit’s
Fisher Theatre May 23-June 11.
Penned by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss in
2017 when they were students at Cambridge
University, SIX the musical has racked up
the highest accolades, including the Tony
Award for Best Original Score, the Outer
Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and
No. 1 cast album debut on Billboard with
more than 6 million streams in the first
month.
“The show is centered on female
empowerment. It’s very rigorous and chal-
lenging, but it’s raucous and funny with
dazzling costumes, visuals and choreogra-
phy, and talent that will blow people away.
It’s really going to feel like a pop concert,”
says Pearlstein, who covers three of the six
wives’ roles of Henry VIII — Anne Boleyn
and Katherine Howard, who were both
beheaded — and Catherine Parr, the sur-
viving final wife.
To be cast on tour with one of the hottest
tickets in the country is quite an impressive
achievement given that Pearlstein didn’t
get into acting until freshman year of high
school when she joined the drama club.
“But it wasn’t until my junior year
when I thought, ‘I can do this. This is
what I would like to do with my life,’” says
Pearlstein, who grew up in North Bend,
Washington, a half-hour from Seattle.
“North Bend — where Twin Peaks was
filmed — was a relatively conservative,
Christian little mountain town. I didn’t
grow up in a robust Jewish community, so
I really didn’t get the opportunity to dive
into my identity until I got to college and
DETAILS
Performance times for SIX appearing May 23 – June 11 at the Fisher
Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit are:
• Tuesday through Saturday evening performances at 8 p.m.
• Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.
• Sunday evening performances at 7:30 p.m.
• Special Open Caption performance on Sunday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m.
For tickets, go to www.BroadwayinDetroit.com.
For more information about the show, visit SixonBroadway.com.
Follow SIX on: Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • @SIXUSTour.
JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Taylor Pearlstein as
Anne Boleyn in the
North American
Tour Company of
SIX.
SIX comes to Detroit’s Fisher
Theatre May 23-June 11.
PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS
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