Royal tour: Six queens to visit Auckland in 2025

While the musical might be new to many New Zealanders, in just seven years it’s become one of the world’s most popular with multiple casts performing in productions from Europe to Australia and many places in between.

Australian producer Louise Withers says talks about bringing Six to Aotearoa began in 2018-19 – and a season was planned for 2020.

“We all know what happened then and it all got stopped, but one way or another, we will come, on carrier pigeons if we have to, this time,” says Withers, who describes Six as exhilarating, empowering, inspirational and fun.

“But the bit that’s hard is putting that all together in a sentence. It’s concert-style, but it’s a theatre piece. It’s largely sung through with small amounts of dialogue. What I always say to people is that it’s a bloody good night at the theatre and there’s nothing that stops or impedes any age or demographic from enjoying it and leaving feeling fabulous.”

So, here are six things you need to know about the history-making show.

The concept: It’s a high-octane history lesson like none you would have had in school

Six tells the story of Henry VIII’s six wives - Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves (called Anna in the musical), Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr - but it’s no fuddy-duddy history lesson.

An English nursery rhyme ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived’ has been handed down to remember the order the wives came in and how they met their fates is about all many know about them. But Six reimagines these queens as “fierce and influential” pop stars who introduce themselves with songs that tell their life stories from their points of view. Ultimately, it’s uplifting and fiercely feminist, and will make most audience members happy they weren’t born female in Tudor Britain.

The Music: It’s inspired by modern-day divas from Beyoncé to Ariana Grande