I have a rule. I never to listen to musicals before I see them.
NEV. ER.
Well, ok, almost never. I cheated a little for Hamilton. I watched the first “Cabinet Meeting” on the news one morning. (And then about 20 times later that day.)
The night before I was “In the Room Where it Happened” I read all the lyrics. It might have been cheating a lot. But it was worth it! Getting to have the full experience of my emotions in that moment was breath-taking.
But, this causes a great deal of consternation among my co-workers. The songs would come on and I would go diving out of the room to preserve Future Cindy’s theatre-viewing pleasure.
Know what?
I almost cheated for Six. I could not help myself. I’m a sucker for a historical show that turns narrative on its head. I simply cannot help myself. Love it. Love everything about it!
Now, if you don’t know the show, you might be wondering what the heck I’m talking about. It’s basically a competition for “Most Important Queen” in concert form.
So they trot out, Aragon, Boleyn, Seymore, Of Cleves (sorry, couldn’t help myself), Howard, and Parr, give them medieval inspired pop diva gear and a sassy beat or three, and let them tell their stories.
But that’s just it. They tell the story.
It’s my one quibble with the beginning of Hamilton, too.
“Let’s go steal a cannon!”
“Yay! We stole a cannon!”
Gee. If only there were a way to, like, portray an action so, like, the audience could see it.
Sorry, I might be feeling a little snarky about it.
I’m not saying I didn’t thoroughly enjoy Six. I did. I enjoyed the stage show. And the show I did in my car as I sang with the soundtrack and car-danced all the way home. (That really is a sight to behold… ask anyone who’s run up next to me at a stop light!) And I’ll no doubt listen to it until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. (Everything except “All You Wanna Do” which is the best song in the show, but definitely not for little ears, of which I have 4 in the house and my youngest loves to sing anything with a pop beat at the top of his lungs. Normally, I’m good with that… but this particular song might be crossing a line.)
All that said, I think this show has the best Metafiction moment I’ve seen in a play recently. Meta works aren’t for everyone. There are some people who can’t deal with them. Done poorly, I’m one of them. I don’t want the actors to break the fourth wall and acknowledge the audience unless it makes sense. This show does throughout, and I’m good with it.
However, in the final song (shockingly titled “Six”) the ensemble rather brilliantly sings:
We’re one of a kind
— “Six”
No category.
Two many years
Lost in his story.
We’re free to take
Our crowning glory.
For five more minutes,
We’re six.
That feeling of being this character for five more minutes, of recognizing that this ethereal performance is about to end, captures a feeling that every performer has felt. That moment you realize your time to interact with the world from someone else’s shoes is about to end. You’re one performance closer to the end of the run; to having to put this character away and go back to yourself.
I often feel the same way when finishing a good book. Knowing there’s one chapter between me and “The End” generally feels immense in a life-changing, paradigm-shifting way. It can never be un-read, just as a performance can never be un-performed. It’s out there in the world and someone is different because of it.
But as brilliant as that all is, I still would have liked to see a little more showing, even though I liked the telling tremendously!
