> BOWEN: I'm Jared Bowen, coming up on Open Studio: Six, the royally clever musical about the six wives of Henry VIII, comes to Boston.

>> ♪ You must agree that baby ♪ ♪ In that all the time I've been by your side ♪ ♪ I've never lost control ♪ ♪ No matter how many times I knew you lied ♪ ♪ Had my golden rule, gotta keep my cool ♪ ♪ Yeah... ♪ >> BOWEN: Plus, pioneering photographer Rosamond Purcell's first retrospective brings her 50-year career into focus.

>> Taking a photograph can constitute a page in... in a permanent book of memories.

That is, I can look at a photograph and remember the circumstances or things surrounding it.

>> BOWEN: Then, what do you get when you mix hip-hop, Tchaikovsky, and Duke Ellington?

It's the Urban Nutcracker.

All that, plus our round-up of what to see in Arts This Week.

It's all now on Open Studio.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: There's a quorum of queens reigning here at the Emerson Colonial Theater: all the wives of King Henry VIII.

And given that his was a beastly court of beheadings, these queens have a lot to say in the hit musical Six.

I spoke with two of them-- Khaila Wilcoxon, who plays Catherine of Aragon; and Storm Lever, who's Anne Boleyn.

>> ♪ Live ♪ ♪ Listen up, let me tell you a story ♪ >> BOWEN: Thank you both for joining us today.

We appreciate it.

>> Of course.

>> Thank you for having us.

>> BOWEN: So, Khaila, let me start with you.

How do you describe the show?

>> Oh, man.

I would describe the show as a... pop musical that is telling the stories of Henry VIII's six wives from their point of view.

So you're not getting any male perspective from this.

It is all from the female perspective, and it is kind of outrageously hilarious in so many different ways.

I'm hoping that everyone walks out of the theater with a different mindset than what they came in with and give people a different...

I don't know, perspective on different things in life.

>> BOWEN: Well, let's start with a little history.

Quick history lesson.

>> Yes, yes.

>> BOWEN: Who... remind people, Anne Boleyn, as you see her... >> If you've never heard of Anne Boleyn... >> (laughs) >> She was one that is noted to have changed the history of England.

The church changed after her.

She was the first beheaded queen.

She was a troublemaker back in her day and stirred up a lot throughout history.

And, in our story, they kind of... shift that narrative where she still stirs the pot a little bit.

>> Five, six, seven, eight!

♪ Sorry not sorry about what I said ♪ ♪ I'm just going to have some fun ♪ ♪ Don't worry, don't worry ♪ ♪ Don't lose your head ♪ ♪ I didn't mean to hurt anyone ♪ It really gets to... let you see that she was a victim of her circumstances and of society, and it wasn't all on her.

> BOWEN: And the same little history lesson with Catherine of Aragon?

>> Oh, well, Catherine, I mean, she is the fiercest queen.

She is the first one and really the only one in my brain.

(laughter) ♪ Baby, in all the time I've been by your side ♪ ♪ I never lost control ♪ ♪ No matter how many times I knew you lied ♪ ♪ Had my golden rule, gotta keep my cool ♪ ♪ Yeah, baby ♪ There wouldn't be actually any other queens if Catherine would've just had a son.

And because she didn't, actually that's the only reason the other queens came in.

She was married to him for 24 years and she was a Spanish warrior.

So she came over, and she's probably one of the strongest and most powerful women that he encountered, because she challenged him and she did not let him run all over her.

>> BOWEN: So, how does this work then?

We've always, I think, through history, understood these queens in the context of their husband.

So he is always the framing.

Does this completely upend that?

>> There is no Henry in our story.

>> (laughing): Yeah.

>> So, so often, you look at different texts written about these queens, different articles that have come out, different documentaries that are made, and oftentimes it's through the perspective of a man.

>> Yeah.

>> And you get that male lens, you get that male perspective, and this is... our team, our choreographer, the band, the voices telling the story are all by female-presenting people.

I think that just changes the narrative of the story.

I think it changes the ownership of the story... >> Yes.

>> That we haven't often gotten that perspective on.

And it just is a beautiful retelling that... >> Truly.

>> Yeah, just is a different kind of ownership.

>> ♪ There's nothing left to discuss, no, no ♪ ♪ 'Cause I don't need your love ♪ ♪ No, no ♪ ♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: What's the significance of that, of having a primarily female-identifying team driving everything?

>> I feel like it held the room to such a higher standard.

The room was healthy in a way that I don't think that a lot of rooms in this industry, when you go into rehearsal spaces and things, like-- sometimes the space can be very unhealthy or very unwavering or, just a lot of tension because of the different people that are in the room, but something about this room when we walked in, it was just completely healthy, it was all open, and everyone was just very kind to each other.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> It was another...

I was just giving... >> Yeah.

>> (laughing): Giving the vibes.

>> I think there's also a great layer that also is in this show, the show talks about the "competitive nature"... >> Yes.

>> That women often have, that we pin... throughout history, throughout society, we pin women against each other... >> BOWEN: Catfights.

>> Because there's-- yeah, catfights.

>> BOWEN: Always.

>> That there's-- can only be one, and this room, this story really shows us that that's not... doesn't have to be the case.

>> BOWEN: Well, let's talk about the singing.

How... again, upending preconceptions, how does English history live in pop music?

>> I would... >> I mean, the lyrics are... (laughs) >> They're genius.

>> They're genius, >> They did an incredible job.

It's funny because it's historical, but it's cheeky.

It's using modern references... >> Yeah.

>> ...to talk about... give you historical content... >> Tudor womanhood.

>> And yeah, context.

>> It's just, yeah.

>> ♪ You said that I tricked ya ♪ ♪ 'Cause I, I didn't look like my profile picture ♪ ♪ To, to that I don't ♪ ♪ Agree ♪ >> And it's just so smart in that way.

It's telling a historical story, but it's using vernacular that we're used to, that makes it so any modern person can come and understand this history in a way that relates to them and is... um, yeah, just understood by them, because it's using phrases and terms that we use.

> BOWEN: I'm curious about the costumes, and I was reading that... >> (dramatically): Ooh, the Tony Award-winning costumes.

(laughs) >> Yes!

>> BOWEN: The Tony Award-winning costumes.

They're, they're kind of, there's some code in there.

>> Oh, yes.

Um, let's see, Anne Boleyn and Howard wear chokers to represent the beheaded cousins.

(laughter) Gold chains is all I wear.

It's just chains, spikes, chains, spikes.

And it actually represents a nice warrior costume.

It, it's a... it's a body of armor.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Mine is, it's very heavy in real life.

(laughs) It looks heavy, but it is actually very heavy in real life.

♪ You must think that I'm crazy ♪ ♪ You wanna replace me ♪ ♪ Baby, there's n-n-n-n-n-n-no way ♪ And the crown is actually representing, um... the crown that Beyoncé wore.

So it is very representative of Beyoncé, and, like, this golden status that Catherine has.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> I mean, there's so many other little, little things in the costumes.

>> BOWEN: Well, talking about wearing all of that weight and how much you're doing in this show... >> Mm-hmm.

>> BOWEN: Is there a physical regimen that you both need to have to... >> Oh, yeah.

>> BOWEN: To survive the show?

>> (laughs) I started off the process because my costume is so heavy, and now, they actually currently start all of the Catherine of Aragons off with a weighted vest.

(laughing): I didn't get that luxury when I started.

They just started it after our company.

And I actually had a regimen every day of waking up at 7:00 a.m. and running on the treadmill, which is actually a practice that Beyoncé does, running on the treadmill and singing the first 25 minutes of the show, because Catherine doesn't get a break.

She jumps from the opening number to the opening scene to her song.

She doesn't get a second to breathe.

>> Mine's a lot of Pilates and strength training and just we're doing plenty of cardio in the show.

>> BOWEN: You know how audiences have been with this show.

Do you understand why it's resonating so much?

>> Yeah.

Especially with our cast; we are one of the only casts that is completely women of color.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And so it's, it's a bit more-- gives me a bit more joy and a bit more oomph underneath my performance, because I get to look out into that audience and see not only every little girl, but every little person in this queendom that makes up the queendom.

All of the fans, like-- they get to see themselves represented in every single shape, color, form... >> Yeah.

>> In this show, and this and our cast specifically.

My heart just explodes with just joy.

And then the little girls at the stage door, it just it makes it all worth it at the end of the day.

>> The show really preaches, again, your sis shining does not dim your light.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> You do not need to compare yourself, you do not need to make that, make you feel small.

In the show... >> I actually have a quote in my bio... >> Yeah.

>> That's in the playbill that says, "If the sun does not ask permission to shine, then why should you?"

>> (snaps) >> And I very much so live by that.

>> Yeah, right.

>> Because I don't ask permission to shine, and I don't expect anyone else to ask permission to shine.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Like it's just what you should do when you wake up in the morning.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Like, it's, it's... it's a proverb to live by.

(laughs) >> I love that.

>> BOWEN: Well, you both filled this room.

(laughter) This was so exciting and fun.

Thank you so much, and congratulations on the show.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: The beauty of photographer and sculptor Rosamond Purcell's work is her wondrous way of looking.

What she sees in objects, specimens, things that most of us would pass by, but she has a majestic eye for them, and you can see for yourself in this first-ever retrospective of her some 50-year career, here at the Addison Gallery of American Art.

Rosamond Purcell, thank you so much for being with us today.

>> Oh, it's a pleasure.

>> BOWEN: Well, tell me about-- I gravitated, I said we have to do this interview in this space.

You were very happy to do this interview in this space.

Tell me about it.

>> When I was teaching a workshop up in, up in Rockland, Maine, and it was not supposed to be about found objects at all.

It was about the ambrotype photographs, the early Polaroids.

And... but we went on a field trip, because I don't like being in the classroom very much.

And we came upon sort of piles of... just sort of like dinosaur parts, of scrap metal.

And I just had to make them stop.

And we walked in, and it was 13 acres, as it turned out, of, of scrap metal and found objects and detritus that had been gathered for a number of years.

>> BOWEN: You likened it to dinosaurs?

>> Well, yes, because it was as if... you don't usually come across dinosaurs in a great heap, but it was... because the parts were so enormous, and just were made out of so many disparate parts that it was a little bit like a metal bone room, say, metal bone, bone field.

>> BOWEN: 99 out of 100 people would pass by that field and not see anything, necessarily.

Has it always been in you to look at something like that and see this mountain of opportunity?

>> I just think it shook... shook me out of a current train of thought, which is "I am here to teach these students "how I developed a certain technique using Victorian plates."

And boy, we don't have to do that right now.

(both laugh) >> BOWEN: As you're looking at objects, is, is it an emotional response?

Is it a clinical response?

>> It is looking at something and saying, "You know, that's beautiful."

And then figuring out, "wait a minute, "it's not really designed to be beautiful, "it's an object that has been... "that has been cast off.

Oh, it is a pipe for this."

And so the identification of what it originally was has been sort of concealed by the condition under which it's found.

But then when you find it and you recognize it, that's a way of rescuing, rescuing it.

>> BOWEN: I'd like to ask you about a few pieces.

We see very few portraits of people, um... other than when you first started out.

But we do see Fred Astaire.

I'm curious about that.

>> About Fred Astaire?

Well, when you go to natural history museums, the animals, the specimens don't necessarily have the same myth and history as the, as that particular animal does.

But in the case of primates, and especially apes-- that is, without tails, like the gibbon-- they have a sort of a, a personality that is conveyed by writers who have studied them, that is comparable to... comparing them to, to sort of the character-- he's the gentleman of, of the forest.

He's a beaut... he's in a very, very sort of haunting cry at twilight in the forest, and is supposed to be very sort of decorous and gentlemanly and not a wild and crazy monkey, and... or ape.

And the gibbon that I photographed in the Natural History Museum at Harvard is clasping his legs with his arms.

And that is, of course, the way that the taxidermist has set him up.

And he just has a sort of a... a look of composure, with white cotton eyes.

And that reminded me of the photograph that I'd taken of Fred Astaire.

And they just seem to-- the gentlemen of the forest and the gentlemen of our whole, whole lives.

(chuckles) You know, somehow they go together.

>> BOWEN: The sequence you did on Shakespeare.

>> Yes.

>> BOWEN: How did that occur to you, to render Shakespeare as you did?

>> Well, I was, I was asked by, by the scholar, and friend, Michael Witmore, who is now the director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, who was familiar with my work, if we couldn't do something together on Shakespeare.

And I said, "Oh, come on, go away."

One day I found a mercury glass bottle in an antique store.

And I thought, "Now this is... this is sort of like a moving stream.

This is like something that will never be fixed.

But you can fix it with a camera very quickly, if you have the depth of field and so forth.

So maybe you could catch something in it that was both distorted but readable, and it could read as if it were Caliban, as if it were King Lear, as if it was a... you know, Ophelia.

Different characters from Shakespeare would show up in a sort of amorphous and warped way that you couldn't possibly get on stage with a real camera.

>> BOWEN: What is it to, to look back at the span of your career in this exhibition?

>> Well, it's sort of amazing.

Taking a photograph can constitute a page in, in a permanent book of memories.

That is, I can look at a photograph and remember the circumstances or things surrounding it-- how I had to push the curtain up in order to get the light; how I had to argue, you know, about removing the card from a from a specimen; who was there, who was helping, what they said.

And that is sort of... it is really... it really does trigger, for me anyway, what was actually going on.

Maybe that's because I went into collections... with my own... hope of what would happen if I was let alone.

>> BOWEN: Well, thank you so much for this conversation.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: Next, in 2001, one-time professional dancer Anthony Williams envisioned a different kind of Nutcracker for Boston.

More than a choreographer, Williams is an alchemist.

By mixing hip hop, downtown streetscapes, and Duke Ellington with Tchaikovsky's classic music, he created the Urban Nutcracker.

The show is about to open at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre, but we have a preview from the PBS special, Anthony Williams' Urban Nutcracker.

♪ ♪ >> Hello, I'm Tony Williams, the creator, artistic director, and principal choreographer of the Urban Nutcracker.

♪ ♪ My Urban Nutcracker puts a modern spin on the 19th century holiday tale, transporting audiences to an enchanted world where sultry strains of Duke Ellington dovetail with the heartbeat of Tchaikovsky.

Ballet, hip hop, tap, flamenco, and swing, blended to a fusion of contemporary and classical dance.

But the Urban Nutcracker is much more than that.

It's a celebration of who we are as a community.

At the Urban Nutcracker, we know that art can change anybody's life.

It helped me leave a street gang and become the first person of color-- half Black and half white-- to be a principal dancer in the Boston Ballet.

When the Urban Nutcracker premiered in 2001 at Boston's Strand Theatre, it opened to an electric wall of applause and standing ovations.

♪ ♪ Since then, I've witnessed time and again the magic that happens when you merge ballet with dance traditions from other cultures.

You create a rich, multicultural mosaic that works as art.

♪ ♪ So we begin downtown on a street filled with busking dancers, adding an inner city twist to this holiday classic.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (over music): >> Hey.

>> Hey!

♪ ♪ >> Hey!

>> Hey!

♪ ♪ ("Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" playing to jazz beat) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (tapping) >> Hey!

♪ ♪ >> Hey!

♪ ♪ (tempo quickens) ♪ ♪ ("March" playing to jazz beat) ♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: It's time for Arts This Week, a Broadway binge edition with a look at the latest plays to see in New York City.

♪ ♪ Full disclosure, Death of a Salesman has always been one of my favorite plays.

It was written by Arthur Miller in 1949-- an artist's way of processing America after the war.

He considered the trauma that had washed over the country.

How it fractured families and put a sizable dent in the nation's collective optimism.

Miller examined it all to heart-wrenching effect, as we're reminded now in a stellar revival on Broadway.

But this time, and for the first time-- on Broadway, anyway-- it's through the lens of a Black family.

Wendell Pierce plays Willy Loman-- "Low man"-- a salesman at the end of his career, who's seen his American dream dissolve into a puddle.

All those years of life on the road, only to end up behind on payments, working for a boss who debases him, and as the father of two sons who don't respect him.

In many ways, this has always been Linda Loman's play.

Willy's wife, played by Sharon D. Clark, is the observer-- reconciling how it is that her family, their lives, have so unraveled.

Watching her husband come apart, she exclaims, "Attention must be paid."

Some 70 years later, those words from Death of a Salesman live to be an international rallying cry.

♪ ♪ Romeo?

What Romeo?

That's the premise of the new, direct-from-London musical & Juliet, now playing on Broadway.

It's opening night of Romeo & Juliet.

1595.

But William Shakespeare's wife Ann Hathaway is having none of what her husband has written.

In a hilarious performance by Betsy Wolfe, she wonders why Juliet has to die.

After all, Romeo and Juliet have only known each other four days.

So Hathaway takes agency, and the quill from Will and together they revise the story-- allowing Juliet to live and embark on her own journey from Verona to Paris and the promise of legit life and love.

& Juliet is the work of David West Read, a leading writer of Schitt's Creek, and Max Martin, billed as one of the most successful songwriters of all time.

So here, Shakespeare's sonnets are swapped for lyrics we've heard from Britney Spears, Katy Perry, The Backstreet Boys, and more.

It works.

It's very clever, and often hilarious.

It could have been sharper and deeper, especially to give our revived Juliet some nuance, But I also appreciated the show's echoes of the real Shakespeare-- of zany comedic subplots and frivolity.

For it all, & Juliet is a great time.

♪ ♪ Take Me Out, a riveting revival of the 2002 play now on Broadway, begins with the National Anthem.

It signals the start of America's favorite pastime.

That it's a fresh day, a new game-- a place where every player is on common ground.

Or turf.

But in his comedy drama Take Me Out, playwright Richard Greenberg dismantles baseball through the story of Darren Lemming.

Played by Jesse Williams, he's a star-- s biracial player extraordinary on the field, who keeps his personal life under wraps off it.

It all works for him as he glides through life.

It works for the baseball fans, who like their heroes uncomplicated.

But then comes the "mess": when Darren comes out.

His gayness sends the team and the national conversation into a tailspin.

Baseball isn't just the national pastime here.

Lemming's gay business manager is played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who won a Tony for the role.

He astutely observes, baseball is the perfect metaphor for hope in a democratic society, a place where everyone is given the same chance-- until they aren't.

Lemming's race wasn't an issue, but his gayness forces a reckoning.

For his teammates naked in the locker room with him.

For an institution that likes things just the way they are, thank you very much.

As is often the case, Take Me Out is just as resonant today as it was 20 years ago.

It's a fascinating dissection of society.

It's also wickedly funny and engrossing.

All that to say this revival is well-worth the extra innings.

♪ ♪ And here's what I'm looking forward to next week.

The Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut ferries us off to Venice for a dazzling look at Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian glass in a show organized by the Smithsonian.

This has been your arts and culture download.

I'll see you back here next week.

As always, you can visit us online at GBH.org/OpenStudio.

And you can see us first on YouTube.com/gbhnews.

Remember to follow us on Instagram and Twitter @OpenStudioGBH.

I'm @TheJaredBowen.

Next week, it's John Waters.

The filmmaker talks about his foray into fiction by way of his first novel: Liarmouth.

Until then, I'm Jared Bowen.

Thanks for joining us.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪