Broadway-Bound Six Triumphs at Chicago's Equity Jeff Awards

Six is picking up trophies before heading to the Great White Way. The cheered musical was honored with three Equity Jeff Awards this week for its run at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Six took home Jeff Awards for music direction (Roberta Duchak and Joe Beighton), best ensemble (Adrianna Hicks, Abby Mueller, Anna Uzele, Andrea Macasaet, Samantha Pauly and Brittney Mack) and the top prize of best production—musical—large.

Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the new musical centers on the six ex-wives of King Henry VIII, who headline an electrifying pop-concert spectacle. The musical will transfer to Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre on February 13, 2020, with the full Chicago company intact. Six will return to the Windy City for a run at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place in summer of 2020.

Joining Six among the Equity Jeff Award winners is Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Downstate, a new drama written by Pulitzer winner Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park). The new play took home Jeff Awards for Tony-nominated actor K. Todd Freeman (Airline Highway), as well as the top honors of best new play and best production.

As the Jeff Awards do not segregate acting honors by gender, only female actors won awards in the four best performance categories this year. They went to Janet Ulrich Brooks (Master Class at Timeline Theatre), Chaon Cross (Photograph 51 at Court Theatre), E. Faye Butler (Gypsy at Porchlight Music Theatre) and Barbara E. Robertson (Queen of the Mist at Firebrand). Male actor Joe Foust, however, did win a solo performance honor for American Blues Theater's The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.

For a full list of 2019 Equity Jeff Award winners, click here.