SIX The Musical: Tiny Desk Concert

As soon as the Queens saw the Tiny Desk, their excitement was palpable. After the initial flurry of selfies were snapped, the actors and band completely owned the room — enrapturing the audience of NPR staffers assembled.

SIX The Musical imagines the six wives of Henry VIII reuniting on stage as real-life popstars. Their "queenspirations" include Beyoncé (for Catherine of Aragon, as played by Khaila Wilcoxon), Miley Cyrus (Anne Boleyn played by Storm Lever), Adele (Jane Seymour played by Jasmine Forsberg), Lizzo (Anna of Cleves played by Olivia Donalson), Britney Spears (Katherine Howard played by Didi Romero) and Celine Dion (Catherine Parr played by Gabriela Carrillo).

SIX premiered in 2017 at the famed Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss while students at the University of Cambridge. Since then, the show has become a global sensation — with six productions running concurrently. It won this year's Tony Awards for best original score and best costume design of a musical.

Opening night on Broadway was set for March 12, 2020. Just 90 minutes before curtain, New York theaters were ordered to close due to the pandemic. As the resident theater geek on the team, I pitched SIX for a Tiny Desk (home) concert once the show finally opened in the fall of 2021. Then it was announced that the musical would be at The National Theatre just a few miles from NPR HQ. Luckily, we were all finally back at Bob's diminutive desk recording bands, ready to welcome them. The rest, as they say, is herstory.

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