Warner Chappell Music signs the creators of 'SiX'

09 August 2019 - Press release

 

Warner Chappell Music, the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, is to work with the writers and producers of the smash hit musical SiX, which sets the lives of the wives of English monarch Henry VIII to music.  

The publisher will undertake a joint venture with Paul Lisberg of Loudmouth Music, and the producers of SiX, Kenny Wax, Global Musicals and George Stiles, for all the songs included in the show, and it has also signed a separate futures deal with Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, who wrote the musical.

The news comes after it was announced that SiX will open on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theater in February 2020, following on from the successful productions currently running across the US and Canada. 

 

SiX features an all-female cast and an all-female band and in a show that sees Henry VIII's wives take part in a singing competition, with contemporary songs, outbidding each other to tell the tales of their ill-fated marriages. 

Marlow and Moss wrote the show while still undergraduates at the University of Cambridge as a student project to take to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017.  Later that year the musical moved to the Arts Theatre in London, before touring the UK and then returning to its home in the capital in 2018.

Songs from the studio album are currently being streamed at the rate of 350,000 per day, making SiX currently the second highest streamed soundtrack in the world.  SiX has also proved a phenomenon on TikTok, with 'Don't Lose Ur Head' and 'Get Down' generating almost three million user-generated lip sync videos, which have been shared more than half a billion times. 

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss say: "We wrote SiX to bring a fresh perspective to story of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr, bringing them out of the shadow of Henry VIII.  The show connects with audiences everywhere and our partnership with Warner Chappell Music will help us take it to even more fans worldwide.  And we're also fizzing with ideas for future shows – we can't wait to get to work!"

Mike Smith, Managing Director of Warner Chappell Music UK, adds: "We first became aware of Toby and Lucy as the first reviews came in for their Arts Theatre run of SiX.   On meeting them it was clear that they were exceptional individuals.  Musical theatre's undergoing a global renaissance right now and it's self-evident that Toby and Lucy can be at the heart of the new creative explosion.  As well as writing and directing SiX, what really excites me about working with them is developing them as songwriters for contemporary artists.  We're already bringing them into writing camps and see a terrific future for them in this area, as well as musical theatre."

Kurt Deutsch, SVP, Theatre and Catalog Development, Warner Chappell Music, concludes: "SiX is an infectious musical that gives these women a powerful voice through a series of upbeat songs that introduce their stories to a whole new audience.  It's already doing for the Tudors what Hamilton has done for the Founding Fathers.  I'm delighted that Toby and Lucy have signed a deal with us and look forward to working with them on driving even more success for SiX and on a whole range of exciting future projects."