Leandra Ellis-Gaston From “Six” Paves The Way For More Black Broadway Stars

Gen Z glam, Broadway, and pop music don’t typically mix, but Six: The Musical proves just how well they blend together. The hit Broadway musical follows fictionalized versions of Henry VIII’s six wives competing to see who had it worse…through a singing competition.

I’ve seen plenty of Broadway shows, but I’ve never had a collective experience with an audience like I had at Six. There were cheers, there was clapping, and an audience member even stood up to dance!

Leandra Ellis-Gaston (who already has Broadway credits like Tina — The Tina Turner Musical and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical under her belt) plays a fun, feisty, and flirty version of Anne Boleyn. And in addition to Six’s empowering message and playful color palette, each queen’s unique vocal style emphasizes the overarching theme of finding your voice.

SIX Broadway welcomes new cast of Queens | First MegaSix

“My favorite number in the show would have to be ‘No Way,’ which is a song that [Hailee Kaleem Wright’s Catherine of] Aragon sings. But I get to dance in that number, which makes me really happy,” Ellis-Gaston says. “It also has a Latin feel to it so I get to kind of shake my hips and really move my body a lot, which is super exciting.”

With a unique structure that moves along with her, Ellis-Gaston’s costume is like its own piece of art. “My costume is the favorite, it's the best one. Period, end quote,” she jokes. “It's a two-piece and the way the skirt lays, it has its own life. Anytime I move on the stage, the skirt is also moving. Anytime I talk, the skirt is also talking.”

And while Ellis-Gaston’s costume is a focal point for her character, her makeup is just as important. When she joined the cast of Six on Broadway, the pre-approved shade range didn’t include what she needed for her darker complexion. Ellis-Gaston used her voice (much like the queens in the show) and helped expand the makeup products to include a larger shade range and artistic flexibility — meaning the queens’ roles will be more accessible in the future, no matter their skin tone.

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If you want to get a glimpse into Ellis-Gaston’s makeup routine, you can find a variety of step-by-step videos on her TikTok channel. The Get Ready With Me-style breakdowns feature the other queens and amazing eye looks that change on a daily basis.

Along with her makeup, Ellis-Gaston also performs with box braids and gelled baby hairs that are “so authentic to a Black lifestyle.” As much as it means to her on a personal level, she’s also coming to terms with the scale of its impact.

A conversation about what Ellis-Gaston’s version of the iconic queen would look like “had a lot to do with my identity as a Black woman, and knowing that I represented not only myself but millions of little Black girls [so] it was important that we found a way to incorporate that in the character.”

Even though she’s a Broadway vet, Ellis-Gaston’s had a few firsts with Six. “This is the first show I’ve ever done where I didn't get a job because I was Black,” she says. “I’m playing Anne Boleyn, but they're not sticking to history. Anybody can step into those shoes. So to think that I could step into them and also bring something that's really cultural to me to the role is just out of this world incredible.”

Although onstage diversity has grown over the last few years (The Visibility Report revealed that 29% of onstage actors in the 2018-2019 New York theatre season were Black, compared to just over 23% in previous years), there is still such a long way to go — for different body types, gender expressions, and racial diversity.

“It's important that when people come see the show, they see curvy women, they see darker-skinned women like myself, they see all ethnicities represented,” Ellis-Gaston says. “It's really important because this world is not made up of just one kind of person. And so any moment we can highlight that or showcase that in a new way is really, really important.”

Six as a whole represents all kinds of women, and welcomes every kind of person to take part in the story. “If art cannot represent what is happening right now in the world, it is not true art,” Ellis-Gaston says. “[Our show is a] musical that empowers people to have a new perspective, a musical that allows people to know that your voice matters.”

$\u200bLeandra Ellis-Gaston in her dressing room before an evening performance of Six: The Musical$

The queens’ journeys and personalities on their own are just as important (if not more) than they are as a collective unit. “[Boleyn] is a spitfire [and] I love how honest she is,” Ellis-Gaston says. “People now get so nervous to say things out loud. And she was never scared to push the envelope.”

Boleyn’s honesty and security in who she is makes her more human — something that Ellis-Gaston also had to learn about herself when she walked on stage in the wrong costume. “I am a perfectionist and I have to remind myself in moments like that, like stupid things happen to you, it reminds you that you're human,” she says. “It was a very humbling moment to be like, ‘Bad things can happen to you, and yet you will live.’”

My favorite part of the show comes near the end, when the queens all realize that even though they’re remembered because of Henry VIII, he’s also only remembered because of them. In a unifying moment, Taylor Iman Jones’ Catherine Parr reminds the other queens that they’re all one-of-a-kind.

“She goes down the line and every day I get emotional,” Ellis-Gaston says. “I get chills because I'm like, ‘Whoa, my 12-year-old dreams are coming true.” And because of those childhood dreams, she understands how important it is for all of the young people coming to see the show now.

“It's important for not only Black women to be represented in this show, but as a dark-skinned woman, the range of women showcased in this show [is incredible],” she says. “I just can't get over how a show like this can reach beyond so much further than we could ever imagine.”

Follow Leandra Ellis-Gaston on Instagram and Tiktok, and check out the products she uses for Six: The Musical below: