Since 2018, I've been doing a series on this website titled 'And the Tony Almost Went to...', where I take a deep dive into a show that (likely) came in second for Best Musical in any previous Tony Awards year. While there are some years where the runner-up seems obvious, there are others where they don't appear to be as much. So in this series, I focus on a musical that might've finished in third place at best, but some people argue could've been in second. For the 2022 edition of 'And the Tony Almost Went to...', I settled on MJ as the runner-up to A Strange Loop. Today, we're going to look into whether or not it could've actually been Six.
Six reimagines the stories of the six wives of King Henry VIII in the style of a pop concert. Each ex-wife gets to sing and tell her story to determine who suffered the most from marrying Henry and should therefore become the group’s lead singer. All six of them had several real-life pop stars who were used as musical inspiration. Catherine of Aragon was inspired by Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Jennifer Hudson. Anne Boleyn includes elements of Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, and Lily Allen. Jane Seymour is reminiscent of of Adele, Sia, and Celine Dion. Anna of Cleves includes elements of Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. Katherine Howard includes elements of Britney Spears and Ariana Grande. Catherine Parr was inspired by Alicia Keys and Emeli Sandé.
This musical originally began as a submission to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland by two Cambridge University students, Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss. Since then, the show made its way to London’s West End, where it earned five 2019 Laurence Olivier Award nominations (including Best New Musical). Six began previews on February 13th, 2020 at the Brooks Atkinson (now Lena Horne) Theatre on Broadway. On March 12th of that year, it was literally hours away from opening when performances all over the New York theatre district got suspended due to COVID-19.
On October 3rd, 2021, Six became the first new musical production to have officially opened on Broadway following the year and a half long shutdown. The original cast included Adrianna Hicks as Catherine of Aragon, Andrea Macasaet as Anne Boleyn, Brittney Mack as Anna of Cleves, Abby Mueller as Jane Seymour, Samantha Pauley as Katherine Howard, and Anna Uzele as Catherine Parr.
The production received 8 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage), Best Original Score (Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss)*, Best Choreography (Carrie-Anne Ingrouille), Best Orchestrations (Tom Curran), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Paul Gatehouse), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Tim Deiling), and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Gabriella Slade)*.
*denotes an award it won.
So where do I think Six finished in the final rankings of the 2022 Best Musical nominees?
On the One Hand...Prior to the Broadway shutdown, many expected the Tony race for Best Musical to come down to Girl From the North Country and Six. Some were thinking the latter would benefit from having a completely original score unlike a few of the jukebox musicals that would've been in contention such as the former, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!, and Tina. Although others were thinking Girl From the North Country would follow a similar trajectory to the then previous 5 Best Musical champs (Fun Home, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Band's Visit, and Hadestown) as the scrappy little show that successfully moved from Off-Broadway to Broadway. Plus, it was completely different from your average jukebox musical. Rather than using Dylan's songs to help tell the story (like how Mamma Mia! used the ABBA catalogue to help tell its story), they're used to help compliment the mood of certain scenes.
Following the Broadway shutdown, many early on thought Girl From the North Country and Six were still going to be the two to go head-to-head for Best Musical. Although the former proved to be divisive (at least among general audiences). Meanwhile, the latter proved to a big hit among critics and audiences. Since it was just 80 minutes long with no intermission presented in the style of a concert, things looked easy for voters to enjoy it more than other contenders they might've felt ran into problems with their books. Six pretty much held on to its frontrunner status throughout the first half of the 2021-22 Broadway season until more shows opened in the second half. Not to mention that it did end up beating A Strange Loop for Best Original Score. Then again, the catchy pop tunes in the former were clearly more front and center.
On the Other Hand...Of the 6 nominees for Best Musical, Six was the only one that didn't get a corresponding nom for its book. Although given that the show is structured in the style of a concert, it shouldn't have been that surprising. Nominators likely found the book to be too simple compared to the other contenders. According to the New York Times' survey, which interviewed about 181 out of 650 voters that year, about one-fifth of them supported MJ. Meanwhile, Six appeared to have lost some heat because they no longer thought of it as a new show due to its run beginning prior to the pandemic. So it appears to me that by the time Tony season rolled around, MJ took over as the crowd pleasing alternative to A Strange Loop.
In the End...I think I was right to go with MJ was the runner-up in the first place. The show itself likely also came in second for Best Book of a Musical. Lynn Nottage's script was of the most buzzed about aspects of it. She also had quite a prolific season with not only that, but also her Tony nominated play, Clyde's, as well as Intimate Apparel at Lincoln Center Theater Off-Broadway. As Clyde's didn't have a strong shot of taking down The Lehman Trilogy in Best Play, Book was probably the best place for voters to acknowledge the overall year she had. Meanwhile, Six probably only came in second in Best Sound Design of a Musical and Best Lighting Design of a Musical, respectively, both of which went to MJ.
Prior to covering the 2022 Tony race for Best Musical, a fan of 'And the Tony Almost Went to...' messaged me three times saying that he was looking forward to me digging into Six for that year. Yet I told him all three times that MJ was actually going to be the subject. But he was still convinced Six came in second to A Strange Loop because it has arguably had more staying power than MJ. While the latter may be true, that still doesn't mean it was the runner-up. After all, of the 1981 Oscar nominees for Best Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark has had the most staying power of every other movie in contention. But that doesn't mean it came in second to the winner that year, Chariots of Fire. On Golden Pond (which won both lead acting prizes and adapted screenplay) and Reds (which won directing, supporting actress, and cinematography) were both more ahead of the former in terms of wins they received. Therefore, Raiders, which only took home 4 below-the-line awards, likely finished in fourth place at best ahead of Atlantic City, which went home empty handed.
The lesson to be learned here for all awards experts is that you shouldn't assume something came in second in a particular race just because of all the staying power it's had in the years since. After all, awards are only meant to be reflective of attitudes that were going on in any specific year.
This musical originally began as a submission to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland by two Cambridge University students, Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss. Since then, the show made its way to London’s West End, where it earned five 2019 Laurence Olivier Award nominations (including Best New Musical). Six began previews on February 13th, 2020 at the Brooks Atkinson (now Lena Horne) Theatre on Broadway. On March 12th of that year, it was literally hours away from opening when performances all over the New York theatre district got suspended due to COVID-19.
On October 3rd, 2021, Six became the first new musical production to have officially opened on Broadway following the year and a half long shutdown. The original cast included Adrianna Hicks as Catherine of Aragon, Andrea Macasaet as Anne Boleyn, Brittney Mack as Anna of Cleves, Abby Mueller as Jane Seymour, Samantha Pauley as Katherine Howard, and Anna Uzele as Catherine Parr.
The production received 8 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage), Best Original Score (Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss)*, Best Choreography (Carrie-Anne Ingrouille), Best Orchestrations (Tom Curran), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Paul Gatehouse), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Tim Deiling), and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Gabriella Slade)*.
*denotes an award it won.
So where do I think Six finished in the final rankings of the 2022 Best Musical nominees?
On the One Hand...Prior to the Broadway shutdown, many expected the Tony race for Best Musical to come down to Girl From the North Country and Six. Some were thinking the latter would benefit from having a completely original score unlike a few of the jukebox musicals that would've been in contention such as the former, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!, and Tina. Although others were thinking Girl From the North Country would follow a similar trajectory to the then previous 5 Best Musical champs (Fun Home, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Band's Visit, and Hadestown) as the scrappy little show that successfully moved from Off-Broadway to Broadway. Plus, it was completely different from your average jukebox musical. Rather than using Dylan's songs to help tell the story (like how Mamma Mia! used the ABBA catalogue to help tell its story), they're used to help compliment the mood of certain scenes.
Following the Broadway shutdown, many early on thought Girl From the North Country and Six were still going to be the two to go head-to-head for Best Musical. Although the former proved to be divisive (at least among general audiences). Meanwhile, the latter proved to a big hit among critics and audiences. Since it was just 80 minutes long with no intermission presented in the style of a concert, things looked easy for voters to enjoy it more than other contenders they might've felt ran into problems with their books. Six pretty much held on to its frontrunner status throughout the first half of the 2021-22 Broadway season until more shows opened in the second half. Not to mention that it did end up beating A Strange Loop for Best Original Score. Then again, the catchy pop tunes in the former were clearly more front and center.
On the Other Hand...Of the 6 nominees for Best Musical, Six was the only one that didn't get a corresponding nom for its book. Although given that the show is structured in the style of a concert, it shouldn't have been that surprising. Nominators likely found the book to be too simple compared to the other contenders. According to the New York Times' survey, which interviewed about 181 out of 650 voters that year, about one-fifth of them supported MJ. Meanwhile, Six appeared to have lost some heat because they no longer thought of it as a new show due to its run beginning prior to the pandemic. So it appears to me that by the time Tony season rolled around, MJ took over as the crowd pleasing alternative to A Strange Loop.
In the End...I think I was right to go with MJ was the runner-up in the first place. The show itself likely also came in second for Best Book of a Musical. Lynn Nottage's script was of the most buzzed about aspects of it. She also had quite a prolific season with not only that, but also her Tony nominated play, Clyde's, as well as Intimate Apparel at Lincoln Center Theater Off-Broadway. As Clyde's didn't have a strong shot of taking down The Lehman Trilogy in Best Play, Book was probably the best place for voters to acknowledge the overall year she had. Meanwhile, Six probably only came in second in Best Sound Design of a Musical and Best Lighting Design of a Musical, respectively, both of which went to MJ.
Prior to covering the 2022 Tony race for Best Musical, a fan of 'And the Tony Almost Went to...' messaged me three times saying that he was looking forward to me digging into Six for that year. Yet I told him all three times that MJ was actually going to be the subject. But he was still convinced Six came in second to A Strange Loop because it has arguably had more staying power than MJ. While the latter may be true, that still doesn't mean it was the runner-up. After all, of the 1981 Oscar nominees for Best Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark has had the most staying power of every other movie in contention. But that doesn't mean it came in second to the winner that year, Chariots of Fire. On Golden Pond (which won both lead acting prizes and adapted screenplay) and Reds (which won directing, supporting actress, and cinematography) were both more ahead of the former in terms of wins they received. Therefore, Raiders, which only took home 4 below-the-line awards, likely finished in fourth place at best ahead of Atlantic City, which went home empty handed.
The lesson to be learned here for all awards experts is that you shouldn't assume something came in second in a particular race just because of all the staying power it's had in the years since. After all, awards are only meant to be reflective of attitudes that were going on in any specific year.