And truly. SIX is a pop concert about six women who lived hundreds of years ago and were all, in one way or another, victims of the patriarchy. They’ve been reimagined as chart-topping pop stars who sing about sexting, DJing at famous artists’ houses, and reclaiming their short, brutal lives with glitter, power and belted high notes.

Also, one of the co-creators of SIX, Toby Marlow, is non-binary and gay. They wrote the literal musical.

So what, exactly, is the problem here?

Inclusivity in the theatre

I don’t want to diminish the impact of SIX — it’s one of my favourite musicals and delivers a genuinely powerful message about girlhood, reclaiming history, and giving women the final word. But even outside of pop-concert camp, I would have no issue with a trans actor in any theatrical role. Because theatre, at its best, has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to inclusivity — something that’s become increasingly clear in recent years.

Back in 1998, Toni Braxton made history as the first Black woman to play Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Yet in 2023, the internet lost its collective mind at the idea of Halle Bailey — a Black woman — playing Ariel. Apparently, it wasn’t “accurate” for a mermaid to be Black. A mermaid. Be serious.

More recently, Hadestown opened on Broadway in 2019 and the West End in 2024, embracing blind casting across race and gender. I’ve seen the show twice: once with a male Hermes, once with an actor who identifies as a woman. The Fates shift constantly, too — including, most recently, a trans woman who was nothing short of extraordinary. It wasn’t “unrealistic,” because it’s theatre. Nothing about theatre is realistic. People burst into song, time bends, space collapses, and yet somehow, it all feels profoundly true.

That’s the magic. Everything is unrealistic, and everything is possible.

Courtesy of Boneau/Bryan-Brown