Long Live the Queen: an educated guess into who is being replaced in Six West End and UK Tour
As we all know, there’s open calls for multiple queens for both West End and UK Tour. This means that some of the current casts for both will be replaced.
Doing some research, I noticed that Pearson’s announcement on their website has a lot of information.
They’re looking for both queens and alternates for the West End and Tour according to the website, but what is a bit more interesting are the songs they’ve got listed for the singing callbacks. They’ve linked the back tracks to a DropBox folder for anyone to view, which gives us an insight into what specifically they’re looking for.
As we all know, each queen’s singing style is inspired by a real life modern artist. In that Dropbox link there are a few songs that directly tie to a queen and others that are clearly inspired by one or two.
Bang Bang - Arianna Grande
Best Thing I Never Had - Beyoncé
If I Ain’t Got You - Alicia Keys
For those counting at home, that’s three Beyonce (usually linked to Catherine of Aragon), two Alicia Keys (Catherine Parr), one Ariana Grande (Katherine Howard), one Katy Perry (also Katherine Howard?) and one Little Mix (honestly don’t know).
So, the song list immediately suggests a Howard, an Aragon and a Parr to be leaving. But which ones? West End, Tour, or both? And are other queens hidden amongst the song list?
Here are my educated guesses. I do not know anything for sure, this is all just theory, so don’t take it as fact.
The multiple Beyonce songs suggest that both West End and Tour Aragon’s will be replaced. Jaye’J Richard-Noel has been on since the initial West End run and it just wouldn’t surprise me to see Tour’s Lauren Drew move on as well, especially with who else is suggested. (Drew’s leave was previously rumored.)
Considering that West End just got a new Howard in Sophie Issacs, it would make sense if those Ariana Grande songs are only for the Tour’s Howard, Jodie Steele. (This was previously rumored.)
The theory also points to the UK Tour Parr (Athena Collins) leaving and not the West End Parr leaving, as West End’s Danielle Steers only recently picked up the role. Though considering how toxic people were to her coming on, there is a small chance this also applies to West End Parr. Still, judging by social media presence, I think it’s very, very unlikely.
What’s interesting is that there really isn’t any specific songs connected to Seymour when her actresses from West End and Tour are either the longest running queen (Natalie May Paris, West End) in Six the Musical history or has been rumored to be leaving (Lauren Byrne, Tour); the song list doesn’t initially suggest that any Seymour is leaving.
Though I will say Halo is a ballad, so maybe that Beyonce song is covering multiple queens at once, so don’t count a Seymour out just yet. Byrne was also previously rumored to have been leaving, though there have been no leaks about Paris’ status. (Thanks to @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts for the insight on the song and it’s connection to Seymour). Also, Halo has whistle tones, just saying.
No immediate suggestion of Boleyn or Cleves either, though not as surprising about Boleyn due to West End recently picking up that role (Courtney Bowman, long may she reign) and Tour’s Boleyn, Maddie Bulleyment, confirmed she wasn’t leaving just yet via social media, though did mention her contract ends in the summer (from what I remember) but gave no indication if she was going to be re-contracted. The start dates listed on Pearson’s website seems to confirm that everyone is on a similar contract as Maddie.
TGIF in particular, however, is a bit of a Boleyn-y song, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Maddie leaves. (Thanks again @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts for pointing it out tyvm)
Cleves could be hidden amongst the songs somewhere, mostly due to both Cleves having been on for a long time - Cleves in West End, Lexi McIntosh, is from the original West End run, and Shaka McFarlane is the longest running Tour queen thanks to her time as an alternate on the West End. Still, there’s no direct indication from the song list that either will be moving out.
The Little Mix song is a bit weird considering it’s not immediately tied to any queen, but that might be an alternate audition song, since it covers a few of the genres. From the songs above, it suggests they’re looking for some combination of a Howard, Aragon, Parr alternate. I’m pretty sure that hits the majority of the alternates’ first covers in both productions, so honestly can’t say who it is for sure, especially when you bring into account all the other song’s that are a bit more heavily weighed towards specific queens. It’s anybody’s guess for the alternates.
Also, as @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts pointed out to me, the songs are tied to queens but that doesn’t mean they actually are directed towards one queen or another; Aimie Atkinson (OG Studio Cast, OG West End) sang an Adele song for her audition (and Adele is mainly associated with Seymour) and got Katherine Howard, so anything is open.
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