“Six the Musical” TEEN Edition

***** When I heard that my alma Mater, Glenbrook North High School, was doing “Six The Musical” as their fall production, I was surprised. First of all, I heard about it as we were driving to see the Broadway In Chicago production in Chicago. We also found out that our granddaughter, Sarah was playing one of the queens, Anne Boleyn. Seeing this play for the 4th time, I tried to figure out how a high school would be able to put this on. Not just because of the subject matter, but that this production is ALL FEMALE!

I realize that there are never as many boys trying out for plays, at least when I was in high school, it seemed that there would be a revolt. FYI- they are also doing a comedy night for the guys in October.

The production that they are doing at GBN is amazing. They have added a chorus of 6 additional females’ and instead of having a live female band on stage, they are using taped music. The ensemble made up of Shiloh Gordon, Sarah Lebovitz, Ava Lehtman, Madi Mende, Hayley Papritz and Eva Weil are terrific. They dance, sing and help to fill the stage. While the six queens are double cast ( one cast tonight and Saturday afternoon; the other Friday and Saturday nights, these Royal Six do all four shows.

For those who do not know the show, it is more like a concert than a play. The six wives of Henry  VIII are in competition, hoping the audience will select the queen that should be  the most important. Each tells their story during this 70 minutes of a concert-like musical experience, and as they do so, we the audience learn a great deal about their lives and existence making them real instead of just another wife of Henry VIII.

They are Catherine of Aragon (Mia Willentzik does a superb job), Anne Boleyn ( I am probably a little prejudice on this one, but this was probably the best role for Sarah Shaw, who was as solid as any other actress I have seen in this role), Jane Seymour (deftly handled by Noa Levin, who I have watched on area stages for over a decade), Anna of Cleves ( a super job by Jane Luedtke), Katherine Howard ( played to perfection by Izzi Malkin) and Catherine Parr ( Emma Reid does a solid “I Don’t Need Your Love”).

Smoothly directed by Kelsey Nichols who also did the choreography, one must understand that this cast is onstage the entire performance and while each has a solo, they back each other up and move a lot. As I said earlier, there are two casts and I am sure, knowing GBN, they are as rock solid. The “other cast” members are: Erin Clarke (Catherine of Aragon), Sloan Berman (Anne Boleyn), Emma Noll (Jane Seymour), Abby Saffar (Anna of Cleves), Hannah Kelley (Katherine Howard) and Lexi Nortman (Catherine Parr).

General admission tickets  $10.00

Performances will be held at the Sheely Center for the Performing Arts at Glenbrook North on:

There are three additional performances. The above cast will be Saturday at 2:30

• Friday, September 13 at 7 p.m.
• Saturday, September 14 at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

PURCHASE TICKETS