On April 18 and 19, Miami Palmetto Senior High’s drama department put on the production of “SIX: Teen Edition,” a modern pop musical about the history of the six wives of King Henry VIII, for their annual spring musical. The plot focuses on the wives’ pop girl group and deciding which wife should be the leading lady of the group. They came to this choice by telling their stories and voting on who was the most traumatized by King Henry VIII. In the end, they realize that they should not be comparing their trauma, rather they should share their story so they can reclaim their own individual narratives.
The story is told entirely by the SIX wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr. Each queen has their own story of their relationship with King Henry VIII and how their relationship ended. All the singing and dancing is entirely done by the six wives with no ensemble or backing vocals.
Catherine of Aragon
Junior Olivia Greenwald played Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was King Henry VIII’s first wife. She was originally married to Henry’s older brother, Arthur, who died of sickness when she was 15. Catherine later married King Henry VIII, and they were married for 24 years. They had a daughter Mary, but because Catherine could not produce male offspring, King Henry VIII found a way to annul the marriage. He then fell in love with one of his ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boyeln.
“Catherine was smart and respected by many. She was heavily devoted to her marriage to King Henry VII, as well as her Catholic faith. The more I got to see about how Catherine was portrayed in SIX, the more similarities I realized we had. Her character was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had on stage,” Greenwald said.
Greenwald has been in drama since sixth grade. In hopes of doing more school activities relating to music, Greenwald joined drama and instantly fell in love. When she joined the drama department, many doors opened up for her, allowing her to follow something she has a strong passion for.
“The past three years in particular have allowed me to form a family of really talented people that I have so much love for. Drama is something I’m pretty passionate about, and every performance that I get to do is a gift in a way,” Greenwald said.
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn joined the court of King Henry VIII: he fell in love with her while he was still married to Catherine of Aragon. In January 1533, he married Anne; his marriage to Catherine of Aragon would not be annulled until five months later. Her failure to produce a male heir led King Henry VIII to execute Anne on May 19, 1536.
Sophomore Evelyn Echevarria plays the late queen, portrayed as an immature, childish and fun-loving character, but her intelligent side is also shown, demonstrating that she is not all that meets the eye.
Jane Seymour
King Henry VIII became attracted to Jane in 1535 when he visited her father at Wolf Hall, but, though willing to marry him, she refused to be his mistress. That determination helped bring about Anne Boleyn’s downfall and execution. Later, in 1536, Henry and Jane were married privately. Jane died 17 months after they had been married, 12 days after childbirth, while they were still married.
MPSH junior Rebecca Kalski played Seymour, portrayed to be maternal and caring, but also soft-spoken and gentle. She touches on the fact that she is the only queen Henry loves in her solo, “Heart of Stone,” which explains that even through struggles, she will always love Henry.
Anna of Cleves
Anna of Cleves is played by senior Sofia Sierra. Anna of Cleves was said to be the “ugly wife,” however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. King Henry VIII sent the best artist at the time, Hans Holbein, to draw portraits of women around the world in search of a wife. The King chose Anne of Cleves, a princess from Germany. Upon her arrival, King Henry VIII and some friends of his decided to surprise Anne as some sort of romantic gesture. That led to Anne not recognizing him due to his age and size so she sent for security, which was a great insult to the king’s pride and ego. King Henry VIII then proposed an annulment as they did not consummate the marriage.
“When I first watched SIX, my favorite piece was by far ‘Haus of Holbein’ because of the energy and the accents. It reminded me of a rave and truly was so fun to watch. The truth is that when we were auditioningfor SIX I actually had no idea I was going to be cast as Anne of Cleves in fact I didn’t know much about her until I was cast. Through her I was able to get in tune with my own fierceness. This sparked a personal development not only in my character but in my own personal development,” Sierra said.
Sierra has been performing for as long as she can remember. She began performing through dance. After dancing competitively with Dance Attack and Spotlight Dance Academy for 10 years, alongside hosting and performing in many productions, she decided to further her assets and began to take vocal lessons where she joined the drama department.
“The performing arts have become a quintessential part of my life and have allowed me to strive to help the wellbeing of others, giving me not only a voice but an incredible support system,” Sierra said.
Katherine Howard
Katherine Howard is played by senior Nicole Mancebo. Howard is the youngest of all of the wives, with a bubbly and sassy character. People viewed her as promiscuous once they discovered she had a rather scandalous past. When King Henry VIII found out about her adultery, he had her executed by beheading at the Tower of London.
“She has a tragic backstory involving men, specifically four different men. And it really catches up to her and it blows up in her face. She’s really young. She thinks she knows what she’s doing, but she doesn’t really understand why it’s happening to her. Got it and she thinks it’s love but it’s not, it’s abuse and trauma. I think that her story is so tragic and needs to be told, and when I got the part, I was excited that I was going to be able to tell her story,” Mancebo said.
Mancebo is on the Variations dance team. She got into theater in eighth grade but she did not do drama in school as she was in dance already. By her junior year, she asked drama teacher, Robin Barson, if she would be able to do both drama and dance. Barson said yes, and she has been in drama ever since.
“I’m not 100% a dancer before a theater kid at all. But I got into theater, in about like eighth grade. And that’s when I did my first show. It was really fun and yeah, I realized that I really loved theater. So I asked if there was any way I could do both, and last year, Barson was able to give me the opportunity to be in drama and in variations at the same time. And I’ve loved it so much since I have so much fun in it,” Mancebo said.
Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr is played by senior Trinity Taboada. Parr was the final queen, who outlived King Henry VIII by one year and eight months. She was married four separate times, making her the most married queen of England. She was forced to marry King Henry VIII, although she was in love with James Seymour. She was the first woman to publish her own work, under her own name in England. She was the last and final queen making her a “survivor.”
Taboada is a senior, but she transferred to MPSH this school year. She transferred in from New World School of the Arts, where she was in the drama department. She has been doing theater since fifth grade and has loved the arts ever since.
“I transferred at the end of my junior year from New World because I admired the way the drama department at Palmetto really took care of their students and the sense of family and community I felt while visiting,” Taboada said.
