Description
This recent retelling of English history imagines the six wives of Henry VIII competing to be the lead singer in a modern popular music concert. Like Hamilton, it presents history using contemporary language and music, while being well-grounded in its source material. The musical began as a relatively small production in 2017 and then developed into a highly popular musical that went on to win a Tony Award for Best Score on Broadway in 2022. The class will describe the development of the show, assess its historical accuracy from written and visual sources (e.g., Holbein’s paintings), and link its songs to contemporary pop singers.
