SIX on Broadway
Broadway’s most efficient night out — eighty minutes, six performers, no wasted time, and one of the season’s most purely enjoyable shows. Here’s what to know before you decide.
SIX is a Broadway musical about the six wives of Henry VIII — but describing it that way understates what it actually is. Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, SIX reimagines the six queens as modern pop stars competing to prove whose story is the worst, delivering their histories as original songs in the genres — R&B, Beyoncé-era pop, country, hip-hop — that match each personality. It runs eighty minutes with no intermission, features no traditional book scenes, and generates the kind of audience energy usually associated with a live concert rather than a conventional Broadway musical. It is playing at the Lena Horne Theatre on West 47th Street.
This guide is for visitors deciding whether SIX is the right Broadway night for their trip. It is smart, funny, and high-energy — and it is also genuinely different from most Broadway shows in ways that are worth understanding before you book. Here is an honest account of what it is, who gets the most out of it, and whether eighty minutes is enough.
Why SIX Stands Out
The premise of SIX — Henry VIII’s six wives recast as pop stars, competing for the title of whose marriage was worst — sounds like a gimmick. It is not. What Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss built around that concept is a show with genuine wit, sharply differentiated characters, and a score that does something most Broadway musicals do not: match the musical genre of each song to the personality of the queen singing it. Catherine of Aragon gets an Ariana Grande–inflected banger. Katherine Howard gets something closer to Ariana Grande meets a eulogy. Anna of Cleves gets the best joke in the show and delivers it with the energy of someone who has nothing to lose.
The show has been running on Broadway since 2021 and continues to sell because the concept is executed with enough precision and generosity that it works for a wide range of audiences — people who know nothing about Tudor history, people who know too much, teenagers who have already memorized the cast album, and adults who arrive skeptical and leave with the songs stuck in their heads. That breadth of appeal is earned rather than assumed.
The show opens with the six wives of Henry VIII taking the stage as pop stars. The format: each queen gets a song to argue that her story is the saddest, making her the rightful lead of their group. The queens are Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr — and each one is a fully distinct personality built from the historical record and then amplified into a modern pop idiom. The show eventually moves beyond the competition format to something more interesting, but the discovery of where it ends up is part of the experience.
The production design — the costumes in particular — is doing significant work. Each queen’s look is its own argument about who she is, and the collective visual effect of all six on stage together is one of the show’s most immediately striking achievements. For a show with minimal set design and no traditional theatrical scenery, SIX makes the stage feel full.
Concert or Musical? What SIX Actually Is
This is the question most visitors arrive with, and the honest answer is: closer to a concert than a traditional musical, and deliberately so. SIX does not have a book in the conventional sense — there are no scenes of dialogue between songs, no plot that develops across acts, no traditional dramatic arc with exposition, complication, and resolution. What it has is six songs, a connecting frame, an ensemble, and a finale that recontextualizes everything that came before.
That structure is not a limitation — it is the show’s formal intelligence. By removing the traditional book, Marlow and Moss create a show where every minute is performing at full intensity. There is no scene-setting prose to sit through, no subplot to track, no dramatic lull between the emotional peaks. The show is eighty minutes of exactly what it promises, from the first note to the last.
This is the most common doubt about SIX, and the answer is: yes, completely. The show is not short in the way that a performance that ended early would be short. It is precisely as long as it needs to be, and the eighty minutes moves at a pace that makes most two-and-a-half-hour musicals feel padded by comparison. The question is not whether you get enough for your ticket. The question is whether you want this particular thing — a tight, funny, music-first Broadway event — or whether you want a longer, more narratively expansive musical. Both are legitimate wants. SIX is the right answer to the first and not the right answer to the second.
For visitors who want a traditional Broadway musical with a full dramatic arc, complex character development, and the feeling of a long evening in the theater — SIX is genuinely not that, and the page does not pretend otherwise. For visitors who want a Broadway night that is all hit and no filler, delivered by six performers who are working at full commitment from the first minute to the last — SIX is exactly that, and it is difficult to find a better version of it on Broadway right now.
What the Experience Is Actually Like
Walking into the Lena Horne Theatre for SIX, the first thing you notice is that the stage looks like a concert setup rather than a theatrical one. The band is visible. The lighting rig is prominent. The design is communicating something about what kind of event this is before anyone opens their mouth. That communication is intentional and accurate.
The show moves quickly. Six distinct songs, a shared finale, and the transitions between them — the audience barely has time to process one queen before the next is already making her case. That pace is part of what makes the show energizing rather than exhausting: it does not ask you to sustain attention across a long dramatic arc. It gives you a new character, a new genre, and a new argument every ten minutes, and by the end you have strong opinions about all six of them without quite knowing how that happened.
SIX generates an audience response that is unusual for a Broadway musical. The energy in the room during the final number is close to what you get at the end of a stadium pop concert — people on their feet, singing along if they know the words, genuinely moved by something that just arrived at its conclusion faster than they expected. The show creates that energy not through spectacle or emotional manipulation but through the cumulative effect of six very good performers delivering very good songs with full commitment. For audiences who are open to that kind of collective experience, it is memorable.
The humor in SIX is dry and specific rather than broad. The jokes about Tudor history are funnier if you know a little about Tudor history, but the emotional logic of each character is legible even without the historical context. Catherine of Aragon’s pride does not require knowledge of the Spanish court. Anne Boleyn’s chaotic energy does not require familiarity with the charges against her. The show is written to work at both levels simultaneously.
Who SIX Is Best For
SIX has broader genuine appeal than its specific premise suggests — but it is not for every visitor, and being clear about that is more useful than claiming universal appeal.
One of the clearest yes answers for anyone seeing their first Broadway show. Accessible, immediately enjoyable, and genuinely modern in a way that makes it feel like something that exists now rather than something preserved from another era.
The current season’s strongest Broadway choice for the 10–16 age range. The pop format, the humor, the energy, and the short runtime all work strongly for this audience. Recommended for ages 10 and up officially, and genuinely appropriate at that age.
SIX creates a shared experience that works well in groups — the songs generate opinions, the personalities generate favorites, and the finale generates the kind of collective energy that makes a night out feel like a real event.
The eighty-minute no-intermission format makes SIX the easiest Broadway show to fit into a full NYC day. You can see a 7pm show and still have a full evening — which is a real logistical advantage that no other current Broadway production offers at this quality level.
If you come to Broadway specifically for dramatic storytelling — a full arc, complex character development, scenes and subplots — SIX is not optimized for that.
Many adults arrive skeptical — the premise sounds like a novelty, the runtime sounds insufficient — and leave converted. The show earns the conversion rather than demanding it. If you are on the fence, the risk is low and the upside is high.
For families deciding between SIX and other options, our first-time visitor guide compares the current season’s strongest choices across different age ranges and energy levels — it can help you work out whether SIX or another show is the better fit for your specific group.
The Current Cast and Why the Show Still Works
SIX is a show where the casting is the production in a more direct sense than most Broadway musicals. There is no scenery to fall back on, no elaborate staging to carry a moment. Six performers, six songs, and the audience’s complete attention — that is the entire proposition. The show works when the cast is fully committed and individually distinct. It has sustained that standard across multiple cast changes since opening in 2021.
The current company began performances February 16, 2026. Each new cast brings its own interpretation of the queens’ personalities within the framework the show provides, which is part of what keeps repeat visits interesting for audiences who have seen the show before. Verify current casting on the official Lena Horne Theatre site before booking, as the Broadway company can change.
Dylan Mulvaney’s casting as Anne Boleyn is notable — the show now has an additional layer of cultural conversation around it that the production’s creators appear to have embraced. The Anne Boleyn role rewards a performer who can be simultaneously chaotic and precise, and casting choices in that role have consistently shaped audience response to the show as a whole.
Know Before You Go
No intermission means no dinner break — plan accordingly
Eighty minutes straight through with no intermission means you are committing the full show window without a food or drink break. For most visitors this is a feature — the show does not need one — but it is worth noting for families with younger children or anyone who needs flexibility mid-show. Pre-show dinner is the cleanest approach. See the pre-show dining guide for timing strategy and the restaurants near Broadway guide for options near the Lena Horne Theatre on 47th Street.
The short runtime frees up the whole evening
A 7pm show at the Lena Horne puts you out by 8:30. That gives you a full evening in the Theater District — drinks, dinner, a walk through Hell’s Kitchen, whatever makes sense. SIX is one of the few Broadway shows where the performance genuinely does not consume the entire night, and that flexibility is worth building into your plans deliberately rather than discovering afterward.
The Lena Horne is a mid-sized Broadway house — most seats are good
The theater seats around 900 with a traditional proscenium layout. The show uses the full stage width effectively, and there are no seats that feel particularly disadvantaged. The orchestra puts you closest to the energy of the performance; the mezzanine gives you a wider view of the full stage picture. For SIX specifically, where the six performers are frequently spread across the stage simultaneously, a wider view has some advantages — you can see the whole group rather than focusing on one at a time.
Plan the Night Around the Lena Horne Theatre
The Lena Horne Theatre sits on West 47th Street in the Theater District, close to Hell’s Kitchen to the west and Times Square to the east. The neighborhood has strong pre- and post-show dining in every direction, and the short runtime of SIX makes the evening planning considerably more flexible than most Broadway nights.
Getting there
Times Square is a short walk east, connecting to virtually every subway line in the system. The N, Q, R, W trains stop at 49th Street, a block away. If you are driving in, Theater District garages are available on surrounding blocks — book in advance for weekend performances. Our guide to getting to a Broadway show covers subway routing, timing from different neighborhoods, and parking near the Lena Horne specifically.
Dinner before the show
Pre-show dinner is the natural choice when there is no intermission. For a 7pm curtain, a 5:30 or 6pm reservation gives you comfortable timing. Hell’s Kitchen has the strongest concentration of pre-theater options within walking distance of this part of 47th Street, with a full range of styles and price points all used to theater-crowd timing. See the restaurants near Broadway guide for specific picks and the pre-show dining guide for advice on timing and reservations.
After the show — you have the whole evening
Leaving the Lena Horne by 8:30pm on a 7pm show night gives you options that a longer Broadway production simply does not. Drinks in Hell’s Kitchen, dinner if you opted for a lighter pre-show meal, a walk through the Theater District — the neighborhood stays lively well into the night and SIX gives you time to enjoy it. Our hotels near Broadway guide covers the best-positioned options if you are staying overnight. For a full picture of the neighborhood, the Theater District neighborhood guide is the right starting point.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — one of the strongest choices for a first Broadway musical right now. It is immediately accessible, genuinely funny, and modern-feeling in a way that does not require any prior theater knowledge or historical context. The eighty-minute no-intermission format also makes it one of the easiest first Broadway experiences logistically. If you are comparing it to other current options, the first-time visitor guide puts SIX alongside the season’s other strong first-timer choices.
Structurally, yes. SIX does not have a traditional book — there are no scenes of dialogue between songs in the conventional sense, and the show does not follow a traditional dramatic arc with exposition and resolution. It is built as a pop showcase with a framing device, six original songs, and a finale that gives the concept somewhere meaningful to land. Whether you call it a concert or a musical, what it is in practice is eighty minutes of six performers delivering six very good songs at full intensity, with no padding and no slow sections.
The current runtime is 80 minutes with no intermission. The show runs straight through from start to finish.
The show is recommended for ages 10 and up, and children under 5 are not permitted. It is one of the season’s strongest choices for older kids and teenagers — the pop format, the humor, the energy, and the subject matter (though recontextualized) are all genuinely accessible and interesting to that age group. The content is not adult in any problematic sense — it is smart and occasionally dark about Tudor history, but it is not sexual or violent. Verify current age policy on the official site before booking.
Yes. The runtime is a feature, not a deficit. SIX is eighty minutes of exactly what it promises, delivered at full intensity with no filler. Whether that is worth the ticket price is a question of what you want from Broadway — if you want a long dramatic evening, SIX is not that, and you should see something else. If you want a tight, funny, music-first Broadway event that leaves you out of the theater with time to enjoy the rest of the evening in New York, SIX is one of the best answers to that in the current season.
The current queens are Adrianna Hicks as Catherine of Aragon, Dylan Mulvaney as Anne Boleyn, Jasmine Forsberg as Jane Seymour, Olivia Donalson as Anna of Cleves, Abigail Barlow as Katherine Howard, and Anna Uzele as Catherine Parr. This company began performances February 16, 2026. Verify current casting on the official Lena Horne Theatre site before booking, as Broadway casts can change.
SIX is playing at the Lena Horne Theatre, 256 West 47th Street in Manhattan, in the Theater District.
No. The show is designed to work whether you can name all six wives or have never thought about the Tudor court. Knowing the history adds a layer of recognition to the jokes, but the emotional logic of each character and the humor of the format are fully accessible without it. Most first-time viewers who arrive knowing nothing leave with strong opinions about all six queens, which is exactly what the show is designed to produce.
The Bottom Line on SIX
SIX is Broadway’s most efficient night out — eighty minutes, no intermission, six fully realized performers, and a score that delivers what it promises without apology or padding. For first-time Broadway visitors, for teenagers, for groups who want to share a Broadway experience rather than sit quietly through one, and for visitors who want to see a show and still have the evening — it is one of the clearest yes answers in the current season.
It is not the right show for visitors who want a traditional dramatic arc, a long evening of character development, or the sense of a sprawling theatrical event. Both are legitimate things to want from Broadway. SIX is the right answer to one of them and not the other — and the page above is designed to help you figure out which you are before you buy the ticket.
For help planning the rest of the evening around the show’s early end time, the pre-show dining guide and the Theater District neighborhood guide are the right places to start.