The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

The current incarnation of Six the musical is actually the fifth or sixth version! I’m not certain how much the show has changed since its original premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but co-creator Lucy Moss described the Edinburgh version as having “the most unbelievably bad, clunky segues, and the exposition” in a recent New York Times interview, so I imagine there have been some significant updates since then. :)

One thing I CAN look at is how the costumes have changed over time. There are basically three distinct phases of costume development for Six. First, you’ve got the costumes from the casts Edinburgh and Cambridge, which appear to be made of existing ready-made clothing pieces. Next, you’ve got the costumes for the 2017 Arts Theatre cast off the West End in London, whose clothes appear to be a bit more costumey and made to the specific show. Finally, you’ve got the Gabriella Slade costume designs, which, for the most part, have only been tweaked a bit since they were originally made (the Cleves costume is the only costume that looks COMPLETELY different in its current form than it did in the original costume based off of Slade’s designs).

I’ve gone through a TON of old photos and information about the old casts and compiled them into the slideshows below. I hope y’all enjoy this. :)

Note: Obviously I don’t own any of these photos. I scoured the Six the Musical Wikipedia extensively to find these and unfortunately, they don’t generally share photo credits. I did the best I could to include photographers, but if I made any mistakes or missed any, please let me know and I will happily update them.

Front from left to right: Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Parr. Back from left to right: Anna of Cleves, Catherine of Aragon, and Katherine Howard. Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 2017. Toby Marlow — Front from left to right: Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Parr. Back from left to right: Anna of Cleves, Catherine of Aragon, and Katherine Howard. Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 2017. *Toby Marlow*

Left to right: Catherine of Aragon, Anna of Cleves, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Jane Seymour. Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 2017. Toby Marlow — Left to right: Catherine of Aragon, Anna of Cleves, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Jane Seymour. Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 2017. *Toby Marlow*

Edinburgh Festival Fringe - August 2017 performance of Six the Musical (performed by the Cambridge University Musical Theater Society)
& Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society - October 2017

The same cast of mostly students (and co-creator Toby Marlow’s sister) performed at both the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at the run at Cambridge University a few months later. It APPEARS from careful examination of photos that these costumes were all essentially the same EXCEPT for Katherine Howard’s costume. So based on lots of reading, I believe the photos of the cast above this text are from Edinburgh, and the photos of the cast BELOW this text are from Cambridge. If anyone knows differently, please correct me. :) I’m working with a certain dearth of information here.

It also appears that some of the cast took publicity photos in different clothes at some sort of historical building at some point; I’ve included those in the slideshows as well.

These costumes are really very unlike the current professional production costumes, although you can see a FEW elements that ended up in the final West End production. The Anne Boleyn dress silhouette and color has stayed the same. The original ruff neck of the Katherine Howard dress at Edinburgh resembles the ruffs now used in “Haus of Holbein.” Jane Seymour is dressed in the most conservative and monochromatic costume, and her hairstyle appears to be the same. Anna of Cleves also appears to be wearing a much sexier outfit underneath her costume, which is also an element used in the current show.

Jane Seymour’s glittery black boots, interestingly enough, are almost exactly like the current shoes seen in Six.

Catherine of Aragon - Megan Gilbert
Anne Boleyn - Ashleigh Weir
Jane Seymour- Holly Musgrave
Anna of Cleves - Tilda Wickham
Katherine Howard- Annabel Marlow
Catherine Parr- Shimali de Silva

The cast and crew of “Six” at Cambridge University in October 2017. Johannes Hjorth — The cast and crew of “Six” at Cambridge University in October 2017. *Johannes Hjorth*

From left to right: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour (top), Katherine Howard (bottom), and Anna of Cleves. Cambridge University in October 2017. Johannes Hjorth or Toby Marlow? — From left to right: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour (top), Katherine Howard (bottom), and Anna of Cleves. Cambridge University in October 2017. *Johannes Hjorth*

Front from left to right: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn. Back from left to right: Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, Catherine Parr. Cambridge University in October 2017. Johannes Hjorth or Toby Marlow? — Front from left to right: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn. Back from left to right: Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, Catherine Parr. Cambridge University in October 2017. *Johannes Hjorth*

Left to right: Anne Boleyn, lighting designer Rebecca Fry, Katherine Howard. Johannes Hjorth or Toby Marlow? — Left to right: Anne Boleyn, lighting designer Rebecca Fry, Katherine Howard. *Johannes Hjorth*

Catherine of Aragon - Megan Gilbert (Edinburgh Fringe and Cambridge University Casts)

Anne Boleyn - Ashleigh Weir (Edinburgh Fringe and Cambridge University Casts)

edinburgh seymour holly musgrave 5 castle.JPG

edinburgh publicity castle boleyn seymour parr.JPG

Jane Seymour - Holly Musgrave (Edinburgh Fringe and Cambridge University Casts)

Anna of Cleves - Tilda Wickham (Edinburgh Fringe and Cambridge University Casts)

When Wickham is sitting in one of the full cast and crew pics, you can see that they’re wearing some sort of sexy looking get-up under the main gray covered up suit thing. I SUSPECT that there probably was a “strip a bit to show how sexy i am” section in the original show just as there is in the current version.

(*Note, Tilda Wickham uses they/them pronouns, so don’t misgender them if you take info from this page and share it elsewhere).

Katherine Howard - Annabel Marlow (Edinburgh Fringe and Cambridge University Casts)

This is the only costume that appeared to significantly change between the Edinburgh and Cambridge performances.

edinburgh publicity castle boleyn seymour parr 2.JPG

Catherine Parr - Shimali de Silva (Edinburgh Fringe and Cambridge University Casts)

Front from left to right: Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard. Back from left to right: Catherine Parr, Anna of Cleves, Catherine of Aragon, and Jane Seymour.

Recording cast! From left to right: Jane Seymour (Natalie Seymour), Catherine of Aragon (Renee Lamb), Catherine Parr (Izuka Hoyle), Anna of Cleves (Genesis Lynea), and Katherine Howard (Aimee Atkinson)

2017 Arts Theatre Production (Off-West End) - December 2017 (6 performances)
and Cast Recording –released September 2018

L to R: Anne Boleyn, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, Jane Seymour, Catherine of Aragon, and Catherine Parr.

The first professional, non-student performances of Six went up in December 2017, only a few months after it premiered in Edinburgh (which is kind of an insane jump!). As described in the New York Times article, professional musical theater people began to attend the Edinburgh run and asked the co-creators Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow about securing rights for the show. A family friend of Toby Marlow’s, composer George Stiles, encouraged West End producer Kenny Wax to come see the show in Cambridge. Wax ended up securing the rights for the show with Stiles and partnered with producers Wendy and Andy Barnes (who had seen the show in Edinburgh), and produced a short run of the show in London off-the West End at the Arts Theatre.

The Arts Theatre cast also recorded the musical score and released it in September 2018. The Six album went viral, streaming millions of times on various musical platforms, and became a huge hit on the social media app TikTok.

The Arts Theatre costumes have a lot of Tudor fashion elements that weren’t present in the original student cast costumes. You can start to see some of the hairstyles and lacing elements that would become part of the final Gabriella Slade designed costumes.

It looks like they also took publicity photos at the Tower of London and against the backdrop of the Tower Bridge; I’ve included those in all the slideshows as well.

Catherine of Aragon - Renee Lamb
Anne Boleyn - Christina Modestou
Jane Seymour- Natalie Paris
Anna of Cleves- Genesis Lynea
Katherine Howard- Aimee Atkinson
Catherine Parr- Izuka Hoyle

L to R: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. (Credit: Josh Bird)

L to R: Renee Lamb, Christina Modestou, Natalie Paris, Random Beefeater, Genesis Lynea, Aimee Atkinson, Izuka Hoyle

Catherine of Aragon - Renee Lamb (2017 Arts Theatre and Cast Recording Casts)

The last pic in this gallery shows Renee when she came back as an emergency stand in for Aragon during the West End run!

Anne Boleyn - Christina Modestou (2017 Arts Theatre and Cast Recording Casts)

Jane Seymour- Natalie Paris (2017 Arts Theatre and Cast Recording Casts)

Anna of Cleves- Genesis Lynea (2017 Arts Theatre and Cast Recording Casts)

The last pic in this gallery shows Genesis when she came back as an emergency stand in for Cleves during the West End run!

Katherine Howard- Aimee Atkinson (2017 Arts Theatre and Cast Recording Casts)

Catherine Parr- Izuka Hoyle (2017 Arts Theatre and Cast Recording Casts)

L to R: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. The original UK Tour costumes, designed by Gabriella Slade. (Credit: Archant)

2018 UK tour – July – December 2018
and Original West End Production – January 2019 opening for initial 16-week run. Initial run has been extended until January 2021.

L to R: Catherine of Aragon, Katherine Howard, Anna of Cleves, Jane Seymour, Catherine Parr and Anne Boleyn. The original UK Tour costumes, designed by Gabriella Slade. (Credit: Archant)

The show gained its awesome current costumes designed by Gabriella Slade sometime during the 2018 UK tour. During her recent Instagram takeover, Slade said that Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow asked her to come in and do the costumes about two years ago. She looked at Tudor portraits, paintings, and architecture, and looked at modern fashion designers for inspiration. Each costume took a few weeks to make, with at least three fittings per costume.

An in-between step in the costume evolution. You can see that Aragon’s wig and hair accessories have decreased in size, and Jane Seymour’s hair accessory has changed, but Anna of Cleves is still in her black costume, and Anne Boleyn still has green … — An in-between step in the costume evolution. You can see that Aragon’s wig and hair accessories have decreased in size, and Jane Seymour’s hair accessory has changed, but Anna of Cleves is still in her black costume, and Anne Boleyn still has green hair accessories instead of black studs. (Credit: Idil Sukan)

As you can see in the slideshows below, once the actual Gabby Slade costumes were made, most of the costumes were only tweaked. Catherine of Aragon’s wig and crown decreased in size, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour’s hair accessories changed up a bit, etc. Catherine Parr’s costume design has changed up a bit as well; various elements moved around and the sleeves are totally different now.

However, the Anna of Cleves costume has changed a LOT, as it started out as a black and silver costume with a vest and changed to a red and black costume with a jacket.

Catherine of Aragon - Jarneia Richard-Noel
Anne Boleyn - Millie O’Connell
Jane Seymour - Natalie Paris
Anna of Cleves - Alexia McIntosh
Katherine Howard- Aimee Atkinson
Catherine Parr- Maiya Quansah-Breed
Understudy - Grace Mouat

The first photo in each of the slideshows below is the original costume by Gabriella Slade, and the second photo is the current costume for that character. The last picture in each slideshow is the original historical painting.