Advertisement

Broadway-bound show in Edmonton draws in repeat theatregoers from around the world

Click to play video: 'Broadway-bound musical attracts theatregoers to Edmonton'
Broadway-bound musical attracts theatregoers to Edmonton
WATCH ABOVE: There's a lot of buzz about "Six: The Musical" which is playing in Edmonton right now. As Morgan Black explains, the show is attracting people from out of town as well – Nov 21, 2019

An Edmonton theatre hosting a musical that’s soon to hit Broadway in New York is drawing an international crowd to Alberta’s capital.

Six: The Musical, tells the reimagined story of the wives of Henry VIII as if it were a pop concert.

The show was written by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 and quickly gained monumental popularity.

As Edmonton is the only Canadian stop on the musical production’s tour, the show has made the city a destination for Broadway fans.

As of Thursday, more than 100 patrons had come from out of town — including a few from the United Kingdom — a representative for the Citadel Theatre told Global News.

Jen Okulanis and Sara Barreto Worthing, who travelled from the San Francisco Bay area, said they were blown away the first time they saw the show.

Story continues below advertisement

They loved it even more the second time on Friday — and the third and fourth time on Saturday.

“The reason why we [see a show multiple times] is because it’s live theatre,” Barreto Worthing said. “If you are a fan of live theatre, you know that it changes every show.”

The pair run a YouTube channel called “The Broadway Broads of the Bay,” which reviews musicals. When they heard the show was heading to Edmonton, they quickly booked a flight.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Barreto Worthing admitted she was surprised Six was coming to Edmonton.

“But after going there and seeing the Citadel — wow. That theatre is amazing,” she said. “Then, after talking to some locals and hearing about the… [Edmonton International Fringe Festival], it makes a lot of sense that they would stop [in Edmonton] before going to Broadway.
Story continues below advertisement

“If you have a community that loves theatre, if they can support a Fringe festival the way that they do, why not get the show [to Edmonton]?”

Daryl Cloran, artistic director at the Citadel Theatre, said he knows how huge the arrival of the show is for Edmonton.

“In combination with Hadestown in Februrary on Broadway, there will be two shows on Broadway that happened at the Citadel first,” he said.

Cloran said it’s not easy to snag these shows before they hit the big time.

“The joke around [Anais Mitchell’s] Hadestown was that we got it because I called and talked to the producers and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I was able to talk to the U.K. producers of Six and asked them to come be a part of the work at the Citadel.”
Story continues below advertisement

Okulanis and Barreto Worthing agree Edmonton’s theatre scene can hold its own.

“It’s going to be hard when we go to New York to see it. I think given the option, if we could go back to see it at the Citadel, we would,” Okulanis said.

“We came to Edmonton to see Six, but after being there, we really fell in love with Edmonton. It’s quite charming and the people are wonderful. We found out there is an amazing Fringe Festival that happens there.”

“We’re sort of keeping it on the radar. It may be an annual thing for the broads,” Barreto Worthing said.

Six will be in Edmonton until Nov. 24 before it heads to St. Paul en route to Broadway.

Sponsored content

AdChoices