The Village School’s production of Six: The Musical came to a close on December 7th, 2024 after three shows across two days. This musical was a fresh, fun way to kick off the high school show season. Ms. DePree,The Village School’s choir teacher, directed the musical. The show was choreographed by Mr. Polley, The Village School’s dance and musical theatre teacher. This show was unique and nothing like The Village School had seen before.
Six: The Musical is centered around the six wives of Henry the Eight. It is a comedic concert-like reclamation of their stories. Each queen shakes it up and tells their story of how they saw it. This dynamic show was packed full of spectacles for the audience to view. Its unique story will be remembered for years to follow. Another thing that makes this show so unique is the ability to interpret the characters with little to no constraint. This allows for the unique individual to stand out.
The main cast consisted of six queens. Catherine of Aragon was played by sophomore Sophie Newman, Anne Boelyn was played by junior Sofia Pigurina, Jane Seymour was played by freshman Mia Zhou, Anna of Cleves was played by sophomore Kolade Feyisitan, Katherine Howard was played by freshman Agatha Sierra, and Catherine Parr was played by sophomore Lara Ponce.
“My favorite part of Six was getting to hang out with everyone after school and getting to meet new people,” said freshman Agatha Sierra. “It was very good and I had a lot of fun.” In addition to the main six there was one swing. A swing is someone who covers multiple roles. The swing functions like an understudy who covers multiple people. The swing role was filled by Val Gaynor. These girls all left their hearts out on the stage and brought these queens to life.
However, they weren’t the only ones responsible for telling this story. The crew worked many hours behind the scenes. Whether it was programming lights, fighting with sound cues, or rallying the cast to get their makeup done, each member of the crew played a pivotal role in the show’s outcome. The whole of tech crew consisted of the stage manager senior Cece Chunn, sophomore Annali Zhao controlling the lights, Luka Panzhinskaya working sound, and senior Ife Afolabi, sophomore Morgan Shaw, and senior Gabi Saiz in the main crew helping out with various tasks.
During this process, many students grew and had new experiences. For some, this was their very first time working on a show at The Village School, and for others, they have been in tech or performing here for many years. “This is the first time I’ve done tech for Village. I did the lighting design and ran the duelist for Six.” Said sophomore Annali Zhao. “My favorite part about doing tech for Six was working with the rest of the team to put on the show. We all helped each other with the costumes and props, and watching it all come together was very rewarding.”
Another thing to note is that Six is the department’s very first Tommy Tune Award submission. The Tommy Tune Awards are an award show for high school productions. During both of the Saturday productions, an adjudicator sat and judged everything from the production value to the performance itself. As the girls eagerly wait to hear the results, other students are preparing for our next musical, Hadestown.
Keep up with The Village School’s performing arts! Hadestown is coming up in the spring. Come and support student performers and watch them bring shows to life.
