dontbebittah

[dontbebittah]

Yes, they all left at the cast change as expected.

A History of Six Chaos: Broadway 3.0 (2023-25)

The third Broadway cast consisted of the full principal cast of the Aragon tour, although the alternate situation was more complicated. Only one new alternate, Sierra Fermin, was announced to be joining the production with the new principal cast. Broadway 2.0 alts Ayla Ciccone-Burton, Aubrey Matalon, and Kristina Leopold all stayed on for the first several months of the production and left in March 2024, leaving Sierra as the only alternate for about a week (although universal alternates Cassie Silva and Wesley Carpenter were available to provide coverage at the time). Jenny Mollet and Jessie Davidson were quickly announced as new alternates and began on March 10th before Cassie left on the 17th. Former Boleyn tour alt Jana Larell Glover joined as the fourth alternate in May.

Former alternates Taylor Pearlstein and Aubrey Matalon returned to the show as emergency covers in August to provide additional coverage while Jenny and Jessie were unavailable (these count as emergency covers as they had not formally joined the show, but they clearly were with the production for an extended period of time). Taylor performed eight times (6 Parr shows on August 13th, 14th 2x, 15th, and 21st 2x and two Howard on the 17th and 19th) and Aubrey two (Seymour on the 22nd and 23rd). In late August, former principal Howard Zoe Jensen returned to the show temporarily until Didi Romero returned in mid-September. 

Wesley left the show in late September, with former Boleyn tour alternate Aryn Bohannon joining the Broadway cast as a fifth alternate in early October. Towards the beginning of November, Sierra had to take a medical leave, and original Broadway alternate Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert returned later that month to cover Aragon and Cleves until Sierra's return at the beginning of January 2025. Meanwhile, principal Aragon Khalia Wilcoxon left the show at the end of November and was replaced through the end of the run by original Broadway Aragon Adrianna Hicks. Jasmine Forsberg also left the production early, about a month before cast change, and was replaced as principal Seymour by Aubrey Matalon through the end of the run. Finally, Didi left the show a week before the final performance, and the role was covered by Aryn and Sierra until the final show. 

Stats: # total shows: 506 # emergency cover performances: 10 # emergency performers needed: 2 (Taylor Pearlstein and Aubrey Matalon) # shows canceled: 0 # alts/swings: technically only 1 alt who was there for the full run (had 4 alts for majority of run, minimum 1 alt 2 universal alts) # temporary/short term performers: 7 (Cassie Silva as universal alt at beginning of run, Wesley Carpenter as universal alt for most of run, Zoe Jensen as temp principal Howard, Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert as temp alt, Aryn Bohannon joined as alt, Aubrey Matalon replaced Jasmine Forsberg as principal Seymour for last month of run) # cast member changes: 4 (Jenny Mollet, Jessie Davidson, and Jana Larell Glover replaced Ayla Ciccone-Burton, Aubrey Matalon, and Kristina Leopold as alts; Adrianna Hicks replaced Khalia Wilcoxon as Aragon)

Overall chaos score: 4/10

[dontbebittah]

Congrats to Laura Baxter on hitting Swingo! Her profile is now complete in the Swingo doc (under Pretty in Pink) and will be posted here when she completes her run. Big thanks to @lottebaisipont for help with the fun fact and for always letting me know when there's news!

[dontbebittah]

Congrats to Shakira Simpson for hitting her 2nd production Swingo!

Other multi-Swingo members are Natalie Pilkington (3), Esme Rothero (2), Rachel Rawlinson (2), and Chiara Assetta (2). Meg Dixon-Brasil should also be joining soon! Shakira is the first member of the club to get her Swingos in entirely different productions (not just multiple casts of the same production), UK tour 5.0 and West End 6.0.

And we are now officially on #SwingoWatch for West End swing Laura Baxter, who just debuted her 5th role! Don't forget to check out the Swingo doc for up-to-date stats and bios, as well as lots of fun graphs and charts in the extras.

[dontbebittah]

The History of Swingo, Part 15: The Aussies Redux

(Gabriella Boumford as Catherine Parr. Photographed by @caitlinbridgephotography.)

(21) Gabriella Boumford was a swing in the 2024-25 AUS/NZ tour and wore the teal alternate costume. She was the first to wear the teal pants variation in an Australian production. She was previously the Aragon/Cleves/Parr swing in the 6th Bliss cruise production. 

Days to complete Swingo: 524 (single production: 128, AUS 3.0) Date completed: December 13th, 2024

Performance stats (note: stats other than debut dates not available for cruise productions):

Fun Fact: Gabriella is the second person (after Natalie Pilkington) to hit Swingo after originally debuting in a cruise production.

(Thalia Smith performing as Anne Boleyn. Photographed by @caitlinbridgephotography.)

(22) Thalia Smith was a swing in the 2024-25 AUS/NZ tour and wears the orange alt costume. She’s the only swing in the cast that has not been involved in a previous production of Six. Thalia had previously performed in several touring productions as a swing or ensemble member, including Mamma Mia!, Frozen, and Beauty and the Beast.

Days to complete Swingo: 133 Date completed: December 26th, 2024

Performance stats:

Fun Fact: Both Thalia and Harriet Watson have red hair (or perform in red wigs), wear the orange alt costume, and debuted Howard last. 

Bonus: Updated stats for Chiara Assetta!

[dontbebittah]

Congrats to Sierra Fermin for debuting Parr and hitting imperial Swingo (my name for US alts that make it to 4 covers)! Full mini-profile on my Swingo doc for anyone interested.

[dontbebittah]

Congrats to Alexia who will be shooting straight to the top of the list when she re-debuts in May (and keeping Hana from getting the top spot)!

@lottebaisipont and I are putting together a list of Six performers with the longest amount of time between their first and most recent performance. We have a top 10 but it's totally possible we're missing someone. The list we have at the moment is:

Adrianna Hicks

Natalie May Paris

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert

Hana Stewart (will move into 1st in July)

Caitlin Tipping

Harriet Watson

Loren Hunter (will move ahead of Harriet soon)

Gabriella Stylianou

Natalie Pilkington

Aimie Atkinson

Please let me know if there's someone else that should be on the list!

[dontbebittah]

@lottebaisipont and I are putting together a list of Six performers with the longest amount of time between their first and most recent performance. We have a top 10 but it's totally possible we're missing someone. The list we have at the moment is:

Adrianna Hicks

Natalie May Paris

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert

Hana Stewart (will move into 1st in July)

Caitlin Tipping

Harriet Watson

Loren Hunter (will move ahead of Harriet soon)

Gabriella Stylianou

Natalie Pilkington

Aimie Atkinson

Please let me know if there's someone else that should be on the list!

[dontbebittah]

A History of Six Chaos: Broadway 3.0 (2023-25)

The third Broadway cast consisted of the full principal cast of the Aragon tour, although the alternate situation was more complicated. Only one new alternate, Sierra Fermin, was announced to be joining the production with the new principal cast. Broadway 2.0 alts Ayla Ciccone-Burton, Aubrey Matalon, and Kristina Leopold all stayed on for the first several months of the production and left in March 2024, leaving Sierra as the only alternate for about a week (although universal alternates Cassie Silva and Wesley Carpenter were available to provide coverage at the time). Jenny Mollet and Jessie Davidson were quickly announced as new alternates and began on March 10th before Cassie left on the 17th. Former Boleyn tour alt Jana Larell Glover joined as the fourth alternate in May.

Former alternates Taylor Pearlstein and Aubrey Matalon returned to the show as emergency covers in August to provide additional coverage while Jenny and Jessie were unavailable (these count as emergency covers as they had not formally joined the show, but they clearly were with the production for an extended period of time). Taylor performed eight times (6 Parr shows on August 13th, 14th 2x, 15th, and 21st 2x and two Howard on the 17th and 19th) and Aubrey two (Seymour on the 22nd and 23rd). In late August, former principal Howard Zoe Jensen returned to the show temporarily until Didi Romero returned in mid-September. 

Wesley left the show in late September, with former Boleyn tour alternate Aryn Bohannon joining the Broadway cast as a fifth alternate in early October. Towards the beginning of November, Sierra had to take a medical leave, and original Broadway alternate Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert returned later that month to cover Aragon and Cleves until Sierra's return at the beginning of January 2025. Meanwhile, principal Aragon Khalia Wilcoxon left the show at the end of November and was replaced through the end of the run by original Broadway Aragon Adrianna Hicks. Jasmine Forsberg also left the production early, about a month before cast change, and was replaced as principal Seymour by Aubrey Matalon through the end of the run. Finally, Didi left the show a week before the final performance, and the role was covered by Aryn and Sierra until the final show. 

Stats: # total shows: 506 # emergency cover performances: 10 # emergency performers needed: 2 (Taylor Pearlstein and Aubrey Matalon) # shows canceled: 0 # alts/swings: technically only 1 alt who was there for the full run (had 4 alts for majority of run, minimum 1 alt 2 universal alts) # temporary/short term performers: 7 (Cassie Silva as universal alt at beginning of run, Wesley Carpenter as universal alt for most of run, Zoe Jensen as temp principal Howard, Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert as temp alt, Aryn Bohannon joined as alt, Aubrey Matalon replaced Jasmine Forsberg as principal Seymour for last month of run) # cast member changes: 4 (Jenny Mollet, Jessie Davidson, and Jana Larell Glover replaced Ayla Ciccone-Burton, Aubrey Matalon, and Kristina Leopold as alts; Adrianna Hicks replaced Khalia Wilcoxon as Aragon)

Overall chaos score: 4/10

[dontbebittah]

have we tried turning six west end off then on again

[dontbebittah]

Can we all agree that Hana Stewart looks SO much like Aubrey Matalon in her new costume/wig? I keep on thinking pics of the new West End cast are from Broadway 😭

[dontbebittah]

A History of Six Chaos: West End 5.0 (2023-25)

The West End 5.0 production started with chaos immediately due to principal Seymour Kayleigh McKnight being unable to perform for the first few weeks of the production, so alt Gabriella Stylianou was made temporary principal until Kayleigh's return. Soon after, universal swing Natalie Pilkington left briefly and was temporarily replaced by former tour swing Harriet Caplan-Dean. During this time, former swing Esme Rothero returned for two emergency cover Seymour shows December 13th and 15th 2023. 

In the new year, former tour alternate Leesa Tulley performed a total of 13 emergency cover shows: Howard on February 23rd, March 17th, and April 4th; Parr on March 31st and April 6th; and Seymour on June 2nd 2x, 8th 2x, 14th, 16th 2x, and 18th. If Leesa wasn’t already cast in the new Marlow and Moss musical, it seems likely she would have formally joined the production, but after this point she was in rehearsals and no longer able to act as the de facto emergency cover.

After this, things truly went off the rails. Kayleigh McKnight had to leave the production, principal Howard Inez Budd was on an extended leave, and Natalie Pilkington‘s universal swing contract ended. Two former alternates, Danielle Rose from the West End 3.0 and 4.0 casts and Hana Stewart from 2.0, returned to the production, Danielle as B/S/H alt and Hana as a swing (despite only Danielle having hit Swingo during her run). Hana surprisingly wore her original costume from 2019. In the single performance between Natalie leaving and Hana and Danielle joining, alternate Tamara Morgan was brought in from the UK tour as an e/c for Parr on June 25th 2024. 

Despite the added coverage, the West End almost immediately needed to cancel three performances, one on the 29th and two on the 30th. One show did run on the 29th with former principal Seymour Claudia Kariuki (who was an ensemble member in Sister Act at the time) as an emergency cover. A month later, tour alt Ellie Jane Grant was brought in to emergency cover Parr for two shows on July 21st and and then Cleves on August 20th. Harriet Watson then came back once again for two Parr emergency cover shows on August 30th and September 6th, after which Caitlin Tipping was brought on as the new principal Seymour and Danielle Rose left the show, although Danielle was back soon after for one more emergency cover Seymour show on 9/29. Hana left the show at the beginning of October, replaced by Ellie as the new second swing.

Even with a second swing and a full principal cast, the production still couldn’t catch a break. Hana Stewart returned for one more Seymour emergency cover on October 26th, followed by former tour Seymour Erin Caldwell on the 29th. Esme Rothero was then hired as a third swing in mid-November, which provided additional coverage but did result in the first triple-silver-costume show where all three performers were wearing the exact same version of the costume, with Gabriella in her second cover Parr, Esme as Howard, and swing Meg Dixon-Brasil as Boleyn. Esme left the production in early January to provide additional coverage to the UK tour during their Japan stop.

With only a month left to go, the most chaotic Six production to date couldn’t end without one more burst of emergency covers. On January 19th 2025, three emergency covers performed a total of five times- Shakira Simpson and Rachel Rawlinson as Boleyn and Parr respectively for both shows, and (of course) Harriet Watson joined as Cleves for the evening show. Rachel had last performed with Six in October of 2023, so it’s wildly impressive she was able to join the show with little notice over a year later. This also marked the first time a cast has hit emergency cover Swingo- having an emergency cover for all six roles. To ensure that this cast would break ALL the chaos records, Harriet returned for one more emergency cover show, this time as Boleyn, on the 26th.

Stats: # total shows: 591 # emergency cover performances: 31 # emergency performers needed: 11 (Esme Rothero, Leesa Tulley, Tamara Morgan, Claudia Kariuki, Ellie Jane Grant, Harriet Watson, Danielle Rose, Hana Stewart, Erin Caldwell, Shakira Simpson, Rachel Rawlinson) # shows canceled: 3 # alts/swings: 3 alts, 1 swing # temporary/short term performers: 6 (Natalie Pilkington as universal swing, Harriet Caplan-Dean as temp swing, Danielle Rose as temp alt, Hana Stewart as temp swing, Ellie Jane Grant as temp swing, Esme Rothero as temp swing) # cast member changes: 1 (Kayleigh McKnight replaced by Caitlin Tipping as principal Seymour)

Overall chaos score: 10/10 nothing is topping this

[dontbebittah]

A late congrats to the 23rd member of the Swingo Club, Izzy Formby-Jackson! Her profile and stats have been added to the Swingo doc and I'll post it here once she leaves the show.

[dontbebittah]

[dontbebittah]

so who had “caitlin and harriet reunite but on the west end and in 2025 and with two former uk tour swalts and a former west end swing who hasn’t done this show in over a year” on their bingo card

[dontbebittah]

[dontbebittah]

does anyone know what the deal is with the Six UK/international tour Shanghai stop overlapping with a bunch of scheduled UK stops?

[dontbebittah]

If they end up with triple silver in a non emergency cover situation again we riot