Six aims to charm Chinese audiences

Theater-goers across China are in for eye-opening nights out this fall, as one of the world's most popular cult musicals comes to stages across the country.

Over the last decade, Six the Musical, an all-female pop musical telling the story of the lives of the six wives of King Henry VIII, who ruled England from 1509 to 1547, has played to sell-out crowds and won awards all over the world.

Following a run in Shanghai last year, this fall the play comes to Suzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Chengdu, and Beijing.

The tale of the six wives, and their fates — handily summarized as "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" — is deeply rooted in British history, but less well known in other territories.

However, this has not stopped audiences across Europe, North America, and Asia falling under the play's spell, and Kenny Wax, producer of the show's original London run, said he hoped it would have the same effect in China.

"In England, it's what we learn in school, it's part of our heritage, but to the rest of the world we're just a show," he explained. "Take (the cultural familiarity) away and what's left is a brand new musical for the Netflix generation, 80 minutes long with no breaks, strong on female empowerment, with great pop bangers."

The show has an all-female cast, the six ex-wives, and an on-stage band known as the Ladies in Waiting, whose musical director for the China tour will be Dalian-born Yutong Zhang.

It starts with the six arguing as to who was treated the most unfairly by their former husband, before realizing they are more than just the man who has historically defined them, and together as a group of six, they are more powerful than the sum of their individual parts.

In the tradition of boy bands and girl bands, each member has their own distinct look and musical style, giving audiences an access point, which has inspired a huge fan community, known as the Queendom, with many fans seeing the show numerous times, often dressed as their favorite character.

Tour shows will be performed in English, with Chinese subtitles. Local promoters are trusted to hire translators, who work with the show's writers, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, so the local version is as close to the spirit of the original as language differences allow, and for the upcoming China tour, the promoter is Shanghai Media Group, or SMG.

"SMG are experienced, they have reach, and they've proved commercial saleability previously on other shows," Wax explained. "We chose them because they had a three- or four-year plan for the show in China, with last year in Shanghai being year one, this tour being year two, then hopefully in years three and four we can have a Chinese company."

Zhang is the musical director of the show's British touring company, and played last year's dates in Shanghai, where she has worked extensively and has her own theater group.

She said audience interactivity is a huge part of Six's success, and a major motivator for her when taking it to the land of her birth.

"I've had so many messages from people saying 'it was great to see someone who looked like me', 'you've made me want to carry on playing or study musical theater, or to carry on doing what I do because one day I could do this'," she explained. "We do the show eight times a week, but it's so exciting that people who love it want to interact and get involved, and talk to us at the stage door. This is what makes a show not just about the 80 minutes of performance. It's a culture, for a lot of these people it's a part of their identity."

She also praised SMG for preparing the ground ahead of last year's dates, so Chinese audiences had at least some idea of what to expect.

"They did a great job putting out a lot of promotional information giving the background on the women and the historical era for the show, so it was understandable.

"The show doesn't give a big history lesson but it sprinkles in some facts, so you come away with a better knowledge of that era. Some people come because they think it's a pop concert, some because it's a different way of telling the story of his wives — but they come away with a lot more than that."

Kelly Dai, general manager of Shanghai Musical Art Center, was one of the people involved in taking Six to Shanghai last year, and across the country this year. She said finding shows in Europe to take to China was a partnership.

"We usually prepare a list in advance (of show-watching trips to Europe)," she explained. "We look at what's on where we're visiting, and then decide which ones we most want to see. At the same time, while we're discussing licensing with rights holders, they recommend productions to us, so it's very much a two-way process."

When she and her team saw Six, its potential was obvious.

"We noticed it was incredibly popular with younger audiences, the atmosphere inside the theater was fantastic," she said. "That made us realize that, in addition to introducing classic musicals, we also wanted to bring newer and more contemporary productions to Chinese audiences."

Any doubts about how it would be received by Shanghai audiences soon vanished as they were won over by the production's energy and participatory nature, and a national tour was soon being planned.

Many shows from Europe are now finding enthusiastic and rewarding audiences in China, but Dai said her job is as much about keeping the local theater scene healthy as it is about making a profit for touring companies.

"Developing audiences is just as important as presenting individual productions," she explained. "The more opportunities people have to experience musicals, the larger and healthier the overall market will become. That's something we believe benefits everyone involved in the industry."