S Marchiony Thesis
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Our Crowning Glory: SIX And The Path Of The Modern Progressive Musical by Samantha Eve Marchiony A thesis submitted to the School of Theatre and Dance, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Theatre Studies Chair of Committee: Robert Shimko Committee Member: María C. González Committee Member: Alison Christy University of Houston August 2020 Copyright 2020, Samantha Eve Marchiony EPIGRAPH “I’ll write it all: everything we were and are and are trying to become. I’ll write for the girls who came before, and the girls who come next. For you and for me, for all of us dangerous girls.” —Kai Cheng Thom, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoirs iii DEDICATION Dedicated to the queens I have known in my life and the ones I have yet to meet, femme, butch, trans, nonbinary, and everything in between, who wear no crowns, but reign through their kindness, passion, bravery, and resilience, and inspire others to reclaim their power. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would not exist without countless people from both my academic and personal lives, who provided me with the support and resources to transcend odds far greater than initially anticipated. I would like to thank my friends, especially those in the online SIX fan groups for their support in the writing process, and my family, especially my parents, John and Deborah Marchiony, for financially supporting my various expeditions to see many of the works discussed in this text. Thanks to the research teams who bolstered my research: the staff at both the MD Anderson Library and the Music Library at the University of Houston for providing access, even in the face of a pandemic, and the Original Broadway Recording Cast of the Frock Flicks website, Kendra Van Cleave, Sarah Lorraine, and Trystan L. Bass, for providing entertaining insight into films and television depicting the lives of the six Queens, and for pointing me towards further resources. I am endlessly grateful to Dr. Matthieu Chapman, for guiding me through the earliest stages of development for this text, and for all the knowledge, both inside and out of the classroom, he has provided that has shaped my research and evolution as a scholar, a theatre artists, and a citizen of the world. Finally, I would like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Robert Shimko, Alison Christy, and Dr. María C. González, for their support in seeing this work finished, and their encouragement for the future of the scholarship contained within. v ABSTRACT The 2015 Broadway debut of the historical hip-hop musical Hamilton stands as the first in a new genre of theatre, the ‘modern progressive musical,’ which seeks to tell narratives from the past while resonating with modern audiences through the use of modern music, non-traditional casting, and socially progressive subtext. These ambitions have been best realized in SIX, the feminist pop musical based on the lives of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. This thesis will serve first as a historiography of the ‘modern progressive musical,’ exploring the applications of the genre’s key tenets in the musicals which precede SIX. It will then examine SIX on its individual merits, using a critical feminist lens to explore the nuances of Marlow and Moss’ approach to critiquing the patriarchal biases of both the past and present, and the means by which women can seek empowerment in spite of those biases. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS EPIGRAPH ....................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ vi The Evolution of the Modern Progressive Musical ........................................................ 1 Hamilton ........................................................................................................................... 11 Values of “An American Musical” ................................................................................... 12 Women in the Sequel ........................................................................................................ 14 A Civics Lesson from a Slaver .......................................................................................... 22 By America Now ............................................................................................................... 24 Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 ................................................................ 31 In Nineteenth Century Russia ............................................................................................ 33 With Curiosity to the Stage ............................................................................................... 40 The End of the World ........................................................................................................ 43 Head Over Heels .............................................................................................................. 47 No True Paradise ............................................................................................................... 50 Turn to You ....................................................................................................................... 53 A Vision of Now ............................................................................................................... 58 vii What May Endure, We Now Create .................................................................................. 62 Hadestown ........................................................................................................................ 65 Working on a Song ............................................................................................................ 67 The World We Live In Now .............................................................................................. 70 Time to Rise Above: The Apotheosis of the Modern Progressive Musical ................. 76 The Haunting of SIX ....................................................................................................... 80 Catherine of Aragon ........................................................................................................ 89 Queenspirations ................................................................................................................. 99 Onstage ............................................................................................................................ 103 Anne Boleyn ................................................................................................................... 107 Queenspirations ............................................................................................................... 114 Onstage ............................................................................................................................ 119 Jane Seymour ................................................................................................................. 124 Queenspirations ............................................................................................................... 128 Onstage ............................................................................................................................ 131 Anna of Cleves ............................................................................................................... 135 Queenspirations ............................................................................................................... 139 Onstage ............................................................................................................................ 143 Katherine Howard ......................................................................................................... 146 Queenspirations ............................................................................................................... 151 viii Onstage ............................................................................................................................ 156 Catherine Parr ............................................................................................................... 161 Queenspirations ............................................................................................................... 165 Onstage ............................................................................................................................ 168 Before We Drop The Curtain ....................................................................................... 172 The Future of the Modern Progressive Musical .............................................................. 174 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 179 ix The Evolution of the Modern Progressive Musical Renaissance versions of popular songs by female artists like “Bad Romance” and “Toxic” play over the sound system as the patrons file their way into the theatre and find their seats. The standard pre-show reminder to turn off electronic devices and not disrupt