The mantra that “theater is gay” has never been more true, thanks in large part to this year’s Tony Awards.
Among the LGBTQ highlights: the first nomination of an openly transgender actor, L Morgan Lee; out actor Jesse Tyle Ferguson winning Best Actor in a Featured Role for his work in “Take Me Out,” about a star baseball player’s coming out; and, the Best Musical award going to “A Strange Loop,” the story of a Black, queer man writing a musical about a Black, queer man writing a musical.
Oh, and the Tony Awards show itself not only featured performances by the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus and Billy Porter but it was hosted by Ariana DeBose, the Academy Awards’ first queer woman of color to receive an Oscar in an acting category. And that was thanks to her role as Anita in “West Side Story,” a musical.
Likely summarizing the awards’ LGBTQ representation the best was Toby Marlow, who, along with co-creator Lucy Moss, won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for “SIX.”
“It just feels really amazing to be part of a season where there’s so much queerness on stage explicitly,” Marlow said in the Tonys press room. “Representation is pretty fab.”
With the win, Marlow became the first openly nonbinary composer/lyricist to win a Tony Award.
What started, essentially, as a senior-year Cambridge University class project for Marlow and Moss, “SIX” has gone on to become a theatrical global sensation. The show cleverly revises – and remixes – the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII into a pop concert contest. The Queens compete to see who endured the worst with their former spouse with the winner earning the right to be the group’s lead singer. The characters – and their accompanying solos – emulate real-life pop stars such as Beyonce, Adele and Britney Spears, among others. Though written for the stage, any of the show’s songs would sound just as proper on your favorite Top-of-the-Pops radio station or playlist.
Still one of the hottest tickets on Broadway with two additional productions touring the country, “SIX” kicks off the 2022/23 season of Broadway at Tampa’s Straz Center for the Performing Arts from Nov. 1-6. The same “Aragon” troupe just played to sold-out audiences at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center in October and features Central Florida native Jasmine Forsberg as Jane Seymour.
In a Six-for-“SIX” email interview, Marlow shared his thoughts on a half-dozen questions posed by Watermark. Here, Marlow discusses what parts of the Queens’ “herstory” did – and didn’t – make it into the show, and hints at what’s next from the Marlow/Moss creative team.
Answers have been edited for style and clarity.
WATERMARK: Here in Central Florida we love that “SIX” had its origins at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Orlando’s International Fringe is one of America’s first fringe festivals and has grown to be the largest and longest running in the U.S. In your early discussions of bringing the show to the States was there any talk of opening the show at our, or another American fringe before ultimately deciding on Chicago? Could Orlando have ever been part of “SIX’s” herstory?!?
TOBY MARLOW: Oh my gosh, I didn’t know about Orlando’s Fringe festival; that’s so cool! To be honest, I don’t think there was any talk of taking it to a Fringe festival in the U.S. when the show was coming over … but you’d have to ask the producers! But the Orlando Fringe sounds amazing. Maybe it’ll be part of the journey for another show of ours one day.
My research about the show’s origins was that you were possibly looking to focus on themes of queerness and to feature queer narratives. Can you discuss that a bit? How did being gay and nonbinary affect the creation of the show? What does “SIX” offer LGBTQ+ audiences … other than a damn catchy singable score that perhaps one gay journalist may have adopted as his morning go-to get-ready-for-work soundtrack?!?
With “SIX,” we weren’t really looking to focus on themes of queerness; apologies if I’ve said that or have been misquoted saying that elsewhere!
Our main focus were themes of revisionist history, reclaiming narratives and examining how history has remembered and narrativized women’s stories through a patriarchal lens. It wasn’t really until I was watching “SIX” like a year after we’d first put it on when I thought, “Wow, as someone who is incredibly queer, it’s wild how incredibly un-queer this musical is!”
That said, there was one New Year’s Eve party where it’s reported Anna of Cleves and Katherine Howard danced together after Henry had gone to bed, but that potentially queer subplot didn’t make it into the show. However, I can confirm that there’s a whole load of queerness and queer narratives in everything we’re working on at the moment.
What concerns might you have had with bringing the show to the U.S.? Were you nervous introducing a show involving people who lived 500 years ago to a country that’s only been around less than half that time? Any concerns that some of the British in-jokes may not have translated as well across the pond?
Well, it’s funny, because when Lucy and I decided to write the show, we remembered, like, nothing about the six wives from school! When we were researching for it (by which I mean, I read a book) a few bits and bobs started coming back. Like, “Oh yeah, Anne Boleyn did that” and “Oh yeah, Anna of Cleves was that one.” But as a result, we decided to write it in a way where people didn’t have to know everything about the history in order to enjoy it … including ourselves, because of how little we remembered from school!
So that’s why in the show the queens are all like, “Oooh, so you remember me as this one? You assume ‘x’ about me?” And the audience is thinking, “Oh ok, I guess I do.” And then the queens are like, “Well, let me play with and defy those assumption of yours! Ha!” So everyone is kind of given the same equal footing to understand the subverting that we attempt to do. In that way, it’s for everyone, hopefully!
The one joke we did change for the U.S. was switching “Remember us from your GCSE’s?” to “Remember us from PBS?” I don’t really get it, but it gets a laugh!
As Florida has shown, the best of entertainment becomes memorialized in some type of theme park ride or attraction. And “SIX” has most certainly reached the zeitgeist of pop culture. If you haven’t given this thought already, could you now: How would you convert/translate/make “SIX” into a theme park ride, roller coaster or other attraction?
Hahahahaha! Oh my gosh, I can safely say that I have never once thought about this! I don’t know, maybe a Haunted Haus of Holbein? Honestly, if anyone has any ideas, please send them our way, that would be so (amazing)!
It’s a near gay rite of passage for a hit musical to have one of its songs remixed for dance clubs. (See: “And I Am Telling You…,” “Seasons of Love,” “Defying Gravity,” “Waving Through A Window,” among others.) Can you talk about the France Joli & Joel Dickinson dance remix of “Heart of Stone”? How did that come about, what were your thoughts when (I’m hoping) you were approached about the project, and on the final product?
Okay, so I had actually never heard of this remix when these questions came through, but I have since found it, and have listened, and yes, I am obsessed! I played it for Lucy and we died and had a dance party! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
You’ve certainly seen many iterations of the show’s cast. What are a few things that stand out with the “Aragon” cast touring Florida; aspects that make them unique from other companies? And, since we’ve interviewed Orlando native Jasmine Forsberg, what about her made her your Jane Seymour?
Oh my gosh, the Aragon cast are ABSOLUTELY SENSATIONAL. I got the privilege of seeing them rehearse in New York, and then in Chicago, and oh my gosh, I love them. They are all so unique and hilarious, and they’ve all found such individual and original takes with their roles, including all of the fabulous alternates.
And oh my gosh, you interviewed Jasmine!! She is so wonderful, so ridiculously talented, and truly my face melts every time I hear her final chorus of “Heart of Stone.” Florida, you’re gonna love ‘em!!!
“SIX” will be at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa Nov. 1-6. Tickets start at $99 and are available at StrazCenter.org.
Read Watermark’s interview with Orlando native Jasmine Forsberg here.
