seeing this show from the 5th row was absolutely worth the 6 month wait. the costumes (OMG THE COSTUMES!!!!), the ladies in waiting, the queens, the energy in the room. i loved being a part of it all. my sister and i got acknowledged by aragon, howard, and seymour throughout the show which was pretty cool. this show was everything i could’ve hoped for - female empowerment, hilarious, filled with bop after bop, incredible vocals/dancing etc. i couldn’t ask for a better birthday weekend and first show back to broadway.
So considering everyone is at least a little dissapointed by six not getting any acting tony nominations lets do a poll. Who were you expecting to get nominated and who did you want to get nominated (different things). Throw it in responses or tags because I am really curious.
Personally I thought they would get at least one nomination for either Adrianna or Brittney but mostly hoped for Adrianna.
Adrianna Hicks was both who I wanted to get a nomination and who I expected to be most likely (although generally knowing who is a likely contender for noms also really affects who I want to get one so there’s that)
I thought Brittney Mack could have a shot because prior nom and she really gets a chance to show off her stage presence as Cleves (I do think a nom could have been in the cards in the featured category). I didn’t think Sam Pauly was the most likely of the cast but she’s always possible to throw in the ring just because Howard.
Six is a hard show as far as major award show set ups and categories, and this is a weird year for the Tonys all around. Super curious what it would have been like with a few alterations and would have LOVED to see Adrianna get a nom, but it is what it is.
Six for the third time tonight; so far doing great on my “see every alternate in every role at least once each” goal. (Previous shows were Keirsten and Mallory as Seymour.)
Tonight was Courtney as Howard and…you guys. YOU GUYS. I just…I knew she would be good. I wasn’t prepared, though.
As always, I could be projecting things that aren’t intentional on her end, but the thing is, does that really matter as long as it works?
First of all, before I totally forget to mention it, she is flawless in every single dance number. She somehow seems made for every single style of dance. Not just her skills, although they are impressive, but her energy as well. Her body language is gorgeously expressive.
But also, her FACE? She has the best reactions to literally everything. My only regret for my seat choice was not being able to see her react to the “Royaling Stones” line because I’m gonna assume it was pure gold. She gave Parr a little pat after the “most Protestant” joke and it got a laugh out of me.
Not just the comedic beats though. During the run-up to Heart of Stone, she’d smirk and nod along with Boleyn’s barbs, but in the spaces of time where it was just Seymour talking about her love for Henry, she looked positively wistful. Which makes sense…she was hearing about the one time it was, in fact, different. She looked sincerely impressed, perhaps downright inspired, during I Don’t Need Your Love, and when it was time for the other queens to join in, her face was triumphant. This felt like the reclamation of power she’d hoped All You Wanna Do would be for her (and I’ll talk about that at great length, don’t you fret.) She made me understand the general fanon consensus that Howard admires the other queens. I’d only seen (the absolutely brilliant and flawless) Samantha Pauly up until this point, and she has a much more bitter edge, so I never really understood that perspective until now.
All You Wanna Do broke me. Just fully fucking broke me. Again, I’m used to Samantha Pauly - and I’m not bringing this up to compare them, to say one is better, just that the differences in their interpretations make for very different, equally affecting emotional experiences - who guts me every time, don’t get me wrong, but her portrayal of Howard has always felt like an adult woman who’s above all seething with anger. And I love that, and I had become used to that.
Courtney Mack’s Howard seems like she’s still a sixteen-year-old child desperately trying to play at being an adult. The first verses felt less ironically detached and more like a teenager trying to feel adult and impress her friends by telling you everything she’s done, and yet at the same time…she’s trying to be nonchalant but she looks like she feels absolutely sick about it, and she KNOWS this isn’t how it’s supposed to feel. Courtney makes me feel less like I’m hearing someone talk about a 500-years-distant past and more like I’m hearing it from her in real time.
And by the time she starts to lose control, she seems so absolutely powerless against all those hands grabbing at her and holding her down, even while she’s fighting them for all she’s worth. I don’t even know how to describe her face. But it’s the powerlessness, again, it’s not resignation, she’s on the edge of tears, but she just knows…whatever they want to do to her, they will. And she just looks so…small.
I also loved that she doesn’t instantly pull herself together after her song; she looks like she’s completely forgotten where she is until she snaps back into herself and puts on the “everything’s fine, all part of the show” mask.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a dozen other things I wanted to mention, but…oh my word. I really hope I do catch Mallory Maedke as Howard someday, but no regrets that Courtney was my first Howard alt.
Also some dude yelled YEAH YOU ARE when Howard comments on how hot she is, and I’m hoping to god that he didn’t know the story he was about to hear, because otherwise…ew. (I mean still kinda ew, but still.)
I wish Abby the absolute best of health and hope she returns in May as planned but I’m grateful for the chance to see Keri Fuller as Seymour; initially I didn’t think I would.
I’ve seen a few people dreamcast her as Elphaba, and I get it, I think she’d be a great fit for that role. Terrific vocals.
Love how hard she leaned into the dorky mom vibe for the character, definitely got the most laughs out of me with her reactions to things. But also the mom vibe in general - after the screaming match where Aragon brings up her miscarriages, when she’s stomping across the stage, Keri reached out to try and pull her aside, looking genuinely concerned and sad, and it was a nice touch for the character. She’s the first principal Seymour I’ve ever seen, so no idea if that’s a usual thing, but she’s the first I’ve seen do it.
Unfortunately, I picked a crap seat for seeing Joy Woods - she wasn’t terribly visible to me a lot of the time/had her back angled towards me. So not a ton of details for her, but her voice is absolutely phenomenal and her energy is perfect. I wish I had more to say about her because she’s clearly a wonderful Parr. Hopefully next time I go I’ll have a better view.
The others were their usual stellar selves. Adrianna Hicks as Aragon remains that perfect fusion of actress and role that, if you’re lucky enough to see one in your lifetime, it stays with you forever.
Andrea Macasaet remains a ton of fun to watch. I know fans are divided on her Boleyn, but I love her. Her energy is so contagious. And I will die on the hill that her take is not “Boleyn was a dumb bitch” but “Boleyn knew how to act to get her way.” She’s an absolute Killer Queen and I love it.
Brittney Mack was on absolute fire tonight (the audience was…not the most receptive group I’ve seen but they really loved her). The woman sitting behind me had a full-on sexual awakening during Get Down. That’s literally the only explanation I can think of for the noises she was making.
