Japanese-language SIX to play one-week West End takeover at the Vaudeville

A Japanese cast of Tudor queens will make West End history next month, as the Japanese-language production of SIX The Musical takes over the Vaudeville Theatre in London for a strictly one-week residency. Performances begin on Tuesday 4 November, with the English-language production pausing during the run.

Producers say this is believed to be the first time a foreign-language musical has played a West End residency in the same venue that houses its English counterpart. To support non-Japanese speakers, ten on-stage screens will provide live translations of the lyrics and dialogue.

The London engagement follows a sold-out Japanese season presented by Umeda Arts Theatre, with packed houses in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya earlier this year. Producer Hiroko Murata notes that Japanese audiences first discovered the show through the original cast recording, then embraced its remix of Tudor history and its message of female empowerment. The Vaudeville run reunites Murata’s Japanese companies, including two casts covering the six roles, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr.

Original West End producer Kenny Wax describes the Japanese staging as a vigorous and creatively distinct interpretation. Creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss have collaborated to preserve the spirit of the English text while tailoring lines for Japanese performance rhythm and humour. Early London previews have already seen audiences arriving in queen-inspired costumes.

The visit caps a wider UK moment for Japanese culture on major stages. It arrives after the sell-out sumo events at the Royal Albert Hall, and alongside the continued West End success of the RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro, now extended until August. Wax also frames the timing as resonant with current headlines in Japan, pointing to the rise of women’s voices and leadership, and describing the SIX exchange as part of that cultural conversation.

SIX’s international footprint continues to grow. A Korean-language production is commissioned, and a Spanish-language version is due next year. English-language companies have toured or played seasons in China, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond, with schools worldwide adopting the show as a pop-powered way to reframe history in the classroom.

For the Japanese queens, many of whom are performing outside their home country for the first time, the Vaudeville run is both a milestone and a homecoming of sorts. It is the first foreign-language production of a musical to play in the very theatre where its English-language sibling reigns, a once-of-a-kind coronation for SIX’s global sisterhood.