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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