SIX The Musical Returns to Melbourne as the Queens go on their third Australian run
SIX the Musical has opened at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre for its third season in the city in five years, with producers reporting sold-out performances. The staging runs in Melbourne until October 4 before moving to Theatre Royal Sydney from October 9 and the Playhouse Theatre at Brisbane’s QPAC from January 2027.
That a show can return to the same market three times in half a decade and still fill a house says a good deal about the appetite audiences have for it. SIX is a musical stage show that turns iconic historical women, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr into a pop girl group. The six women, all wives of King Henry VIII, were long defined by the man they married. This show retells their story in a pop ballad style with the energy of musical theatre. That appeal has been able to pull audiences in beyond the usual crowd.
The success of SIX the Musical is impressive. Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the show has won 38 international awards, including two Tony Awards, and its soundtrack has been certified platinum and streamed more than 5.5 billion times. Producers say it draws upward of 3.5 million fans a year and has now played in more than 15 countries.
Its rise to phenomenon was fast since its debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017. It was a student-era project that moved to the West End and then Broadway before spreading to Canada, the United States, Europe, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan and China. Along the way it built the kind of devoted online following, known to fans as the Queendom, that turns cast recordings into TikTok trends and keeps a touring production alive years after its debut. Most recently, the West End production was filmed and debuted in cinemas as a film in 2025.
For this run across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, the six roles go to an almost entirely Australian company.
Queensland Conservatorium graduate Sarah Murr, whose credits include Les Misérables, Hadestown and & Juliet, takes on Catherine of Aragon. Anne Boleyn is played by Victorian College of the Arts graduate Mia Paris Scalise, making her professional musical theatre debut. NIDA graduate Cara Bessey steps into Jane Seymour after Mary Poppins and the Australian tour of Sister Act.
Kadesa Honeyhill, whose credits take in Mamma Mia! and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, plays Anna of Cleves. Angela Brischetto, who made her professional debut in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, portrays Katherine Howard. Rounding out the line-up as Catherine Parr is Green Room Award nominee Lorinda May Merrypor, best known for starring as Juliet in the Australian production of & Juliet.
Backing them are swings Lauren Goetz and Geena Hutton alongside returning company members Thalia Smith and Cristina D’Agostino. The on-stage band, a signature of the show, is led by music director Claire Healy. Australian associate director Sharon Millerchip leads the creative team once more.
Nearly a decade on from its Fringe debut, SIX is still selling out rooms across the world, with this national run showing its reign isn’t over yet.
SIX the Musical plays Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre until October 4, Theatre Royal Sydney from October 9 and QPAC’s Playhouse Theatre in Brisbane from January 2027. Tickets are on sale at sixthemusical.com.au.