west end queens 💜

(📷: @/peachyraith on insta!)

Crying and throwing up at the announcement of Baylie, Dionne, Koko, and Roxanne leaving, they were some of my favorite queens (especially Rox). 😭

Living for these crossovers (x)

The six west end queens being chaotic part. 3

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Performance Stats: 2022 (mainland edition)

Alright, it’s (no longer) that time of year again! Summary of all 2022 calendar year performances stats!! - This was a CRAZY year full of cross-production covers + emergency cover chaos so very fun to write up. It also made it a bit of a challenge with organization. If an actor was primarily with one production but served as an emergency cover for another, I listed them with their primary or initial production. - Yearly disclaimer that some errors and/or disparities could exist. - And as always, if you repost/use these stats anywhere, please credit me @sixcostumerefs (or six.costume.refs on Insta) And as always....a shoutout to Dionne Ward-Anderson, who featured in the largest number of performances this year, at a whopping 353 shows! Runner up is Andrea Macasaet at 327 shows, with Brittney Mack a very close third with 322! Most performing Aragon was Phoenix Jackson Mendoza (270), Seymour was Claudia Kariuki (293), Howard was Samantha Pauly (314.5), and Parr was Meesha Turner (267.5, but Alana Robinson was at 267). 2021-22 West End Amy di Bartolomeo: 242 performances Amanda Lindgren 255 performances Tsemaye Bob-Egbe: 233 performances Meesha Turner: 267.5 performances Paisley Billings: 114.5 performances (55 A, 44.5 C, 14 P) 2022-23 West End Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky: 81 performances Baylie Carson: 78 performances Koko Basigara: 65 performances Monique Ashe-Palmer: 14 performances (7 A, 1 B, 6 C) Leah Vassell: 40 performances (20 S, 1 C, 19 P) 2021-22 UK Tour Lauren Drew: 71 performances Maddison Bulleyment: 62 performances Caitlin Tipping: 68 performances Shekinah McFarlane: 60 performances Vicki Manser: 63 performances Elena Gyasi: 66 performances (61 regular prior to cast change + 5 emergency cover post-CC) Cassy Lee: 22 performances (8 A, 14 C) Cherelle Jay: 7 performances (1 B, 1 S, 2 C, 3 P) 2022-23 UK Tour Chloe Hart: 269 performances Casey Al-Shaqsy: 252 performances total (249 on UKT + 3 as E/C for WE) Aiesha Pease: 7 performances Jessica Niles: 237-245 performances total (19-27 performances with Breakaway 2.0, 218 performances with UKT) Jaina Brock-Patel: 110 performances Rebecca Wickes: 72 performances Alana M Robinson: 267 performances Harriet Caplan-Dean: 72 performances (10 A, 9 B, 13 S, 7 C, 18 H, 15 P) Grace Melville: 153 performances total w/ 151 performances on UKT (55 A, 4 B, 91 C with 60 of those performances as T/R, 1 P) + 2 as E/C for WE (2 C) Leesa Tulley: 186 performances (1 A, 35 B, 11 S, 137 H with 57 of those performances as T/R, 2 P) 2021-22 Broadway (+ Aug replacements) Adrianna Hicks: 202 performances Bre Jackson: 123 performances (two of these were half shows) Andrea Macasaet: 327 performances Abby Mueller: 117 performances Keri Rene Fuller: 183 performances (59 as T/R, 1 as early debut, the rest as principal) Brittney Mack: 322 performances Samantha Pauly: 314.5 performances Anna Uzele: 97 performances Joy Woods: 146 performances Brennyn Lark: 85 performances Mallory Maedke: 67.5 performances (16.5 A, 47 S, 4 H) Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert: 95 performances (39 A, 26 B, 30 C; two A were half-shows) Courtney Mack: 99.5 performances (25 B, 57.5 H, 17 P) Keirsten Hodgens: 107 performances total. 104 on Bway + 3 as emergency cover for Aragon Tour (Bway was 33 S, 25 C, 46 P; Tour was 3 C). Ayla Ciccone-Burton: 20 performances total. 12 pre-CC + 8 post-CC (pre-CC was 2 B, 3 C, 7 P; post-CC was 2 B, 3 C, 3 P) Holli’ Conway: 18 performances total. 9 pre-CC + 9 post-CC (pre-CC 3 C, 6 H; post-CC 5 A, 4 H) Hana Stewart: 2 performances (1 A, 1 P) 2022-23 Broadway Hailee Kaleem Wright: 27 performances Leandra Ellis-Gaston: 30 performances Bella Coppola: 30 performances Nasia Thomas: 29 performances Zoe Jensen: 19 performances Taylor Iman Jones: 29 performances Kristina Leopold: 2 performances (all as S) Aubrey Matalon: 9 performances (all as H) Aragon Tour Khaila Wilcoxon: 258 performances Storm Lever: 267 performances Jasmine Forsberg: 267 performances Olivia Donalson: 263 performances Didi Romero: 261 performances Gabriela Francesca Carrillo: 257 performances Cassie Silva: 41 performances total. 4 with Broadway + 37 with Aragon Tour (Broadway 3 B, 1 H; Aragon Tour 10 B, 13 C, 14 H) Kelly Denice Taylor: 29 performances total. 3 with Boy + 26 with Aragon Tour (Bway 3 S; Aragon Tour was 12 A, 7 S, 7 C) Kelsey Kimmel: 43 performances (16 A, 12 S, 15 P) Erin Ramirez: 34 performances (9 B, 11 H, 14 P) Boleyn Tour Gerianne Perez: 95 performances Zan Berube: 96 performances Amina Faye: 89 performances Terica Marie: 93 performances Aline Mayagoitia: 91 performances Sydney Parra: 96 performances Cecilia Snow: 18 performances (4 A, 11 S, 3 C) Tay Pearlstein: 13 performances (5 B, 7 H, 1 P) Jana Larell Glover: 20 performances (5 A, 8 C, 7 P) Aryn Bohannon: 13 performances (3 B, 4 S, 6 H) Australia Tour Phoenix Jackson Mendoza: 270 performances Kala Gare: 283 performances Loren Hunter: 291 performances Kiana Daniele: 269 performances Chelsea Dawson: 267 performances Video Makan: 254.5 performances Karis Oka: 137 performances (13 A, 28 B, 1 S, 26 C, 38 H, 31 P) Shannen Alyce Quan: 86 performances (9 A, 14 B, 30 S, 2 C, 6 H, 25 P) Chiara Assetta: 93 performances (29.5 A, 3 B, 3 S, 32 C, 18 H, 6.5 P) Cristina D’Agostino: 7 performances (all as P) Madeline Fansler: performances (with Breakaway 3.0: . 16 with Aus Tour: 7 A, 4 S, 5 P) Actors who primarily continued with their initial productions: Claudia Kariuki: 293 performances - 231 pre-CC - 62 post-CC Dionne Ward-Anderson: 353 performances - 269 pre-CC - 84 post-CC Roxanne Couch: 178 performances - Totalling 1 A, 5 B, 61 S, 13 H, 98 P - 122 pre-CC (1 A, 5 B, 61 S, 13 H, 42 P; two of the P were half performances) - 56 post-CC as principal Parr Rachel Rawlinson: 166 performances - Totalling 44 A, 13 B, 51 S, 29 C, 16 H, 13 P - 142 pre-CC (40 A, 12 B, 37 S, 29 C, 13 H, 11 P; 1 C + 1 S were mid-show swing-ons) - 24 post-CC (4 A, 1 B, 14 S, 3 H, 2 P) Esme Rothero: 153 performances - Totalling 19 A, 32 B, 19 S, 16 C, 27 H, 40 P - 129 pre-CC (17 A, 31 B, 19 S, 16 C, 19 H, 27 P) - 24 post-CC (2 A, 1 B, 8 H, 13 P) Danielle Rose: 192 performances - 152 pre-CC (6 A, 51 B, 4 S, 3 C, 87 H, 1 P) - 40 post-CC (15 B, 21 H, 4 P) Jennifer Caldwell: 289 performances total - Totalling 296 as B, 11 H, 3 P - 21 pre-CC as alt (7 B, 11 H, 3 P) - 287 post-CC as principal Boleyn - 2 as E/C Boleyn for West End Natalie Pilkington: 142 performances total - Totalling 8 A, 3 B, 65 S, 12 C, 2 H, 52 P - 130 performances with 22-23 UKT (2 A, 3 B, 64 S, 12 C, 1 H, 48 P) - 3 performances w 21-22 UKT (1 A, 1 H, 1 P) - 9 performances as E/C for WE (5 A, 1 S, 3 P) Standby swings: Harriet Watson: 78 performances total - Totalling 2 A, 19 B, 21 S, 14 C, 6 H, 14 P - 42 performances as alt for the 21-22 UKT (10 B, 11 S, 4 C, 5 H, 12 P) - 3 performances as E/C on the UKT (3 C) - 17 performances as E/C for the WE (6 B, 6 S, 2 C, 1 P) - 6 performances as standby swing for 21-22 WE (2 B, 3 S, 1 H) - 10 performances as standby swing for 22-23 WE (2 A, 1 B, 1 S, 5 C, 1 P) Marilyn Caserta: 5-7 performances total - all as Aragon - 2-4 Bliss 3.0 (all as A) - 3 Bway (all E/C as A) Emergency Covers Courtney Bowman: 1 performance (WE)

Do you think they're going to give Esme a skirt for Seymour and Rachel a Bobo skirt now?

( @madrigalsandmaximoffs answering here. I swear I got another ask or two about this but for the life of me can’t find them in my inbox so hopefully y’all see this.)

It’s possible. There are two considerations: whether it’s logistically feasibly and whether they want to do it from a design perspective.

Let’s start with logistics and exactly why Esme likely got a new Boleyn. Costume makers are booked MONTHS in advance. West End recast was booked back in the spring. So they’re not always available to make a costume immediately if it’s not planned for quite a while in advance (which I talked about as being a likely factor in why Jessica Niles got her UKT costume so late and why Rebecca Wickes might have joined later too). That’s why I usually don’t expect we’ll get random variations significantly into the timeline of a show running. But in this scenario, those logistics actually might provide an argument for actors to get a new costume.

UK costume makers typically function like most other freelance contract-based jobs, where you’re booked in advance to spend a certain amount of time working on a project before a certain deadline. For instance, Six might contact the usual Boleyn maker and say “hey, we would like to book you to make two Boleyn costumes, ideally starting in August and finishing by October 1st,” and then would work out the details from there. But because costume makers can fill up quickly, you sometimes need to book significantly in advance. From what we know about the timeline, Six usually books the costume makers for the next cast change before the current actors are finalized as staying or leaving. But because it’s better to have costume slots booked with each of the needed makers than not and they might not know who all needs a costume, it’s easier to err on the side of caution and book costume makers for a full cast change (or very close to it). Depending on how many of the actors stay, that might mean there are unused costume slots that were booked but Six now doesn’t need. With this West End cast change, Claudia Kariuki stuck around as Seymour, Dionne Ward Anderson as Cleves, Roxanne Couch as Parr, Rachel Rawlinson as black alt, Esme Rothero as silver alt, Danielle Rose as B/H/orange alt. That means they had likely booked slots for a:

- Boleyn (alt)

- Seymour

- Cleves

- Howard (alt)

- Parr (principal)

- black alt

- silver alt

- potentially an orange alt or vague alt costume

that they now didn’t need for new West End actors. But those slots could also be used to replace any existing costumes that needed to be replaced, and that’s not necessarily constrained to purely West End. In fact, it seems like they used those slots to replace costumes for several actors in the UK Tour who needed new ones:

The Boleyn slot could have been used to make a new costume for Jennifer Caldwell, the Howard for Rebecca Wickes, and the Parr for Alana Robinson.

The silver alt slot was likely used to provide any needed updates to Esme’s costume. That obviously means they had the chance to make a new Boleyn skirt. It also could mean replacements for existing pieces or even another new variation.

That of course leaves Seymour, Cleves, black alt, and orange alt/vague alt unaccounted for. Those slots may have been cancelled, rescheduled for a different time,* and/or there could be costumes in progress that we just haven’t seen. With black alt specifically that would mean something like Esme’s silver, where Rachel might get any updates or replacements that is needed and maybe, just maybe, we could see a new variation.

And that brings me to a design perspective. Honestly, I’m not sure if they’d do either. Rachel has always had the full set of variations that Collette Guitart had before her - an open skirt for Aragon/Howard, a Seymour skirt, full Cleves with shorts used for Boleyn with the primary top, and Parr pants. This also means that Rachel and Esme now both have nearly a full set for one of their primary covers: an Aragon/Howard skirt, a Boleyn or Seymour (Boleyn for Esme likely as it’s her first cover, Seymour for Rachel as it’s hers), full Cleves, and Parr pants.

So….. though she doesn’t have a Boleyn skirt, black alt has used shorts for Boleyn long enough now that they might count that as a full set. But shorts for Boleyn doesn’t work for silver alt, so that may be why Esme got one but Rachel still might not.

With that in mind, I do think that Esme will only get a Seymour skirt if Rachel gets a Boleyn (and vise versa). I’m just not convinced that they’ll decide it’s definitely needed.

TL;DR: possible logistically, but they might not feel it’s necessary from a design perspective.

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*Claudia Kariuki and Jessica Niles both get some new costume pieces over this past summer. There’s a chance those were those slots but moved up.

Rachel’s Aragon skirt photo is by Pamela Raith. The rest are from the queens’ own Instagrams.

A visual of the cast for Six on the West End today

Chlöe Hart as Catherine of Aragon (emergency cover [e/c])

Danielle Rose as Anne Boleyn (Alt)

Claudia Kariuki as Jane Seymour

Monique Ashe-Palmer as Anna of Cleves (Alt)

Leesa Tulley as Katherine Howard (E/C)

Harriet Caplan-Dean as Catherine Parr (E/C)

can you imagine sometime this week something goes wrong, they send shakira to london, west end has its first show with 3 swalts with the same costume with esme, harriet, and shakira

bonus if we get harriet watson and leesa tulley in orange

something like:

aragon: shakira simpson

boleyn: leesa tulley (in orange for some reason)

seymour: claudia kariuki (shes basically always there for every 5 swalt massive)

cleves: harriet watson

howard: esme rothero

parr: harriet caplan-dean

Stand and Burn (Claudia Boleyn, 2014)

I once told a joke about a straight person.

They came after me in droves.

Each one singing the same:

Don’t fight fire with fire.

*

What they mean is: Don’t fight fire with anything.

Do not fight fire with water.

Do not fight fire with foam.

Do not evacuate the people.

Do not sound the alarms.

Do not crawl coughing and choking and spluttering to safety.

Do not barricade the door with damp towels.

Do not wave a white flag out of the window.

Do not take the plunge from several storeys up.

Do not shed a tear for your lover trapped behind a wall of flame.

Do not curse the combination of fuel, heat, and oxygen.

Do not ask why the fire fighters are not coming.

*

When they say: Don’t fight fire with fire.

What they mean is: Stand and burn.

Six West End 2022 costume changes and updates

This is not an in depth look, but every cast change in the UK has some small differences (some already seen in the UKT cast change or in the HCP costumes). So a quick list of things that were made or changed is in order.

All principals and alts with principal costume are now wearing the number earrings.

Aragon has a wider center front panel and a flatter peplum (simmilar to the HCP one). Chains now have the weaved black trim introduced for the UKT cast change but went back to the usual shape with a raised choker while UKT does only the chains draped over the shoulders and chest.

Seymour got the black trim weaved into the chain on the collar also introduced for UKT cast change. Note: Claudia Kariuki is still wearing the same costume as before but might have gotten a new set of leotards (which include the collar and sleeves) or the trim could have been added to her old ones.

Parr. Not an update in itself, but Roxanne Couch is wearing a new hairstyle for Parr marking the first time in the UK a principal (or alternate with principal costume) Parr is not wearing a side ponytail or side curls.

Silver alternate. Esme got a Boleyn skirt rounding up variations for her priority covers B/H/P.

Teal alternate. Monique's pants have horizontal trim over the mesh panels matching the trim on her top; previously this panel was left blank.

Pink alternate. Leah's top has an extra black panel on the side between the cutouts and the sequins panels (creating a narrower front panel). All previous pink costumes have had only the pink cutouts front and back and the sequins/mesh side. (Also shoutout to @six-costume-refs for both catching this and accidentally predicting it last month) This extra panel makes pink look closer to Aragon and silver. She also has a different shaped peplum and waistband and studs over the center black band continuing the collar edge.

West End Cast Change is Sunday 15th October, and so far the queens leaving are:

Rhianne Louise McCaulsky (Aragon)

Baylie Carson (Boleyn)

Claudia Kariuki (Seymour)

Dionne Ward Anderson (Cleves)

Koko Basigara (Howard)

Roxanne Couch (Parr)

Esme Rothero (Swing)

Rachel Rawlinson (Swing)

Danielle Rose (Alternate)

Leah Vassell (Alternate)

Monique Ashe Palmer (Alternate)

A full cast change :(

the six west end queens being chaotic for 3 minutes✨

I don’t see enough content for these girls so I took matters into my own hands 😍

im obsessed w their Instagram takeovers if u cant already tell

anyways enjoy the vid lmao!

Happy (belated) Pride Month 2023!

Made this graphic back during pride month but since I was on hiatus I just never posted it. But better late than never, so here’s the belated 2023 pride post from me. As always, this list is certainly not comprehensive. There are likely other closeted actors and/or actors who are out but may not have explicitly stated their queerness. As identity is a sensitive topic I always err on the side of caution when creating these. And just like in past years, this only includes current actors.

Pictured:

Claudia Kariuki (West End)

Willow Dougherty (Bliss 6.0)

Leah Vassell (West End)

Aryn Bohannon (Boleyn Tour)

Caitlyn De Kuyper (Bliss 6.0)

Aubrey Matalon (Broadway)

Dionne Ward-Anderson (West End)

Haley Izurieta (Bliss 6.0)

Kelsee Kimmel (Aragon Tour)

Hailee Kaleem-Wright (Broadway)

Laura Dawn Pyatt (UK Tour)

Sunny Smith (Breakaway 5.0)

Baylie Carson (West End)

Taylor Pearlstein (Boleyn Tour)

Gabriela Francesca Carrillo (Aragon Tour)

Taylor Iman Jones (Broadway)

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Photos of Claudia, Dionne, Laura, and Baylie by Pamela Raith. Photos of Aryn, Aubrey, Hailee, Taylor P, Gabriela, and Taylor IJ by Joan Marcus. Others from personal accounts.

when i finally make my lestat - henry viii, louis - anne boleyn, claudia - elizabeth i post what then

all nonbinary six queens (so far) and what pronouns they use!

aja simone baitey (they/she) - bliss 4.0 parr

alicia corrales-connor (they/she) - bliss 1.0 howard/uk tour 2.0 understudy howard

baylie carson (they/them) - west end 4.0 boleyn

claudia kariuki (she/they) - west end 3.0/4.0 seymour

hazel karooma-brooker (they/she) - bliss 1.0 boleyn

maddison bulleyment (they/them) - uk tour 2.0/3.0 boleyn

oliver wickham (they/them) - student run cleves

shannen alyce quan (they/she) - australian tour 1.0/2.0 swing

toby marlow (he/him) - co-writer/composer/west end emergency cover parr (july 2019)

willow dougherty (she/they) - bliss 4.0 swing