Six The Musical to perform at free event this week at the National Portrait Gallery [Updated]

West End smash-hit musical SIX has partnered with London’s National Portrait Gallery this summer for a series of events around new exhibition Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens.

And this Friday 26 July, the NPG is staging a huge Gallery-wide takeover – a Tudor extravaganza! – for one night only.

The event will open with a special performance from SIX the Musical cast members from the West End hit, and anyone coming along to the free event is invited to dress in your own SIX-inspired costume for a night of fun.

There will also be a range of free activities inspired by the exhibition and musical, and celebrations of the lives and legacies of the six queens of Henry VIII through performance, costume, music, dance, talks and workshops.

The event is this Friday, from 6pm to 8.30pm, doors open at 5.30pm.

The first event ran on Wednesday 3 July 2024, and saw Six creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss take part in a panel discussion with educator and historian Caroline Marcus as part of a schools history study day at the gallery.

Another event will run on 2 September 2024 – see details, below.

Producer of Six Kenny Wax said in a statement: “No offence to history teachers or university lecturers up and down the country, but one could argue that Marlow and Moss’s brilliant retelling of the stories of the wives of Henry VIII has done more for popularising Tudor History, and specifically the Ex Wives, than anything else in the past 50 years. Re telling ‘theirstory’ in a modern vernacular has made this slice of history more relevant than ever, and will hopefully enable the aforementioned educators to lean on a door which is rather more open than it used to be. Permanently sold-out theatres in the West End and all over the UK attest to this, together with the 1 billion streams that the shows music has now racked up. We couldn’t be more delighted that the National Portrait Gallery has partnered with SIX on the series of events in tandem with the live exhibition. We are sure that it will be a great success and special thanks to my dear friend Caroline Marcus who has championed various collaboration across the Royal Palaces and Museums since the show first opened six years ago.”

The current cast of Six features Nikki Bentley as Catherine of Aragon, Thao Therese Nguyen as Anne Boleyn, Reca Oakley as Anna of Cleves, Inez Budd as Katherine Howard and Janiq Charles as Catherine Parr.

Kayleigh McKnight, who was playing Jane Seymour in the show, had to drop out of the production last month due to a knee injury. The role is currently being played by members of the company, which is completed by Gabriella Stylianou as Alternate Aragon/Seymour and Dance Captain, Naomi Alade as Alternate Boleyn/Cleves, Hannah Lowther as Alternate Howard/Parr, Meg Dixon-Brasil as Super Swing and Natalie Pilkington as UK Super Swing.

Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens is running at the National Portrait Gallery until 8 September.

Six The Musical is currently booking at the Vaudeville Theatre in London to 4 May 2025.

A national tour of Six The Musical is also currently playing in theatres across the UK.

Book tickets to SIX THE MUSICAL at the Vaudeville Theatre London

Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens – Events

Saturday 6 July, there will be an opportunity to combine attendance at an interpreted performance of SIX at the Vaudeville Theatre at 4pm, followed by a Deaf-led BSL tour of Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens at the National Portrait Gallery at 6pm. . The BSL tour for D/deaf and hard of hearing visitors led by Alan Murray will explore spotlighted works in the exhibition and will be a social, informal experience where group dialogue is encouraged.

On Tuesday 9 July, secondary school pupils will get the chance to attend a unique history-focussed careers day, including a panel discussion with the team at SIX the Musical. Including current cast member Hannah Lowther will also have the opportunity to work with the Gallery’s conservation specialists to use a range of tools and techniques to make discoveries about the portraits of the queens.

On Friday 12 July, SIX the Musical’s costume designer, Gabriella Slade, will take part in a panel discussion Page, Stage and Screen: Dramatising Six Lives, alongside varied creative voices who have all taken inspiration from the queens’ lives for storytelling, chaired by historian Tracy Borman. This panel discussion will explore different perspectives on the experience of adapting the biographies of the queens for storytelling in musicals, operas and plays, novels, film and television.

On Friday 26 July, the National Portrait Gallery is hosting a special one-off Tudor-inspired SIX ‘One of A Kind’ late opening. The event will open with a 10-minute costumed performance from the current West End cast, ahead of an evening of singing, dancing and a top-to-bottom Tudor takeover. Visitors are encouraged to wear their best historical garb and glitter-covered attire. The evening will be filled with creative workshops including costume-handling sessions; costumed life drawing; a DJ set from Drag performer Timberlina and a dance workshop with Six’s resident director and choreographer.

Finally on Monday 2 September, there will be a free Youth Late from 7 – 9pm aimed at young people from 18 – 25, with live performances, music, workshops, herstory tours, talks, fashion and things in multiples of six (naturally). Dressing up encouraged, with prizes on the night for the best-dressed Queens. Everything on the evening is free, including refreshments, snacks as well as entrance to the exhibition.

UPDATES: First published 5 July 2024 with details of the partnership between Six and the National Portrait Gallery. Updated 24 July 2024 with info on the free Friday 26 July event

Six The Musical

Vaudeville Theatre, London

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