The six wives of King Henry the Eighth share their her-stories on stage in the new musical Six under the watchful eye of Ballarat-trained performer and choreographer Cristina D'Agostino.
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Ms D'Agostino is the choreographer for the Australian production of the award-winning musical, and is one of three "swing" performers who understudy the six main roles.
The choreographer role marks a new direction for Ms D'Agostino, who has been performing in stage shows for many years but moved in to the production as a choreographer on Shrek The Musical before the COVID pandemic decimated the performing arts industry.
It is another chapter in a career that began at Federation University's Arts Academy where she studied a Bachelor of Arts - Music Theatre course ... and in 2017 it her returned there when she choreographed Federation University's production of Rent.
"I studied at Fed Uni and I really enjoyed it. Being from country South Australia it felt like a beautiful stepping stone for me rather than going straight to the big city," she said.
About three quarters of the way through her final year of study Ms D'Agostino got her first professional job in music theatre and has worked in the industry ever since.
"I've been in just over a dozen shows. I went straight on to Guys and Dolls and from them on I've literally ticked off some really great shows on my bucket list like A Chorus Line, West Side Story, Matilda ... so many cool shows that I'm super grateful for."
Six is a high-octane contemporary musical telling the history of the six wives of King Henry the Eighth, which was last week nominated for eight prestigious Tony Awards on Broadway.
"It's pretty much all-octane, 75 minute pop musical very different to the standard musicals," Ms D'Agostino said. "The wives re-tell the story and reclaim their her-stories as they call them on stage. It's an exuberant celebration of girl-power - it's really empowering and once it starts it's full of choreography, full of music and full of laughter.
"People will naturally resonate with a particular queen because they're all very individual. One of the most special things about the show is it's based on real people."
The show is playing in Canberra, and will move to Melbourne's Comedy Theatre from June 17.
Ms D'Agostino joined the crew in December as resident choreographer, and has become assistant to the director and 'alternate swing' for the six queens as well.
As choreographer her job is to make sure the whole cast stay true to the original choreography created for the show.
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Stepping in to the production side of theatre has given her a new insight in to what is needed to ensure a show gets off the ground and runs smoothly.
"I was lucky to move in to a resident (choreographer) position on Shrek the Musical before COVID hit and got to discover a new love and passion still within arts in a creative form ... so when COVID hit I had the time and space to build a repertoire and build on the skills I already had.
"With Six this awesome opportunity came up and I knew I wanted to pursue a career on the creative side of things. I have such a passion for performing but this really extends my knowledge and helps my performing and has given me insight in to what it take to put together a show."
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