West End hit SIX is doing something rare: handing the keys to its London stage to its Japanese-language company for one week only, performed entirely in Japanese with English surtitles. It’s a bold, joyfully curious move—an invitation to hear a show you know re-timed, re-textured, and newly alive in another tongue. Producer Kenny Wax calls it simply: “We’ve done things differently for seven or eight years now on the show.” This is that instinct, writ large.
What makes the week special isn’t novelty; it’s the craft challenge. Can a pop-concert musical—built on beat choices, breath points, and razor-clean comedy—land with the same voltage in Japanese? The team believes so, and they’re putting the proof where it counts: centre stage at the Vaudeville, for seven performances only.
We had the pleasure of speaking with Kenny Wax about how this one-of-a-kind week came together, what it asks of a company, and why now felt like the right moment to try it in London.
Reader Offer: Japan Nakama readers get 10% off with code NAKAMA10. Book with the code and you’ll also be entered to win a show programme signed by all ten Japanese Queens (winner drawn after the run).
Who is Kenny Wax?
Kenny Wax MBE is a London-based producer and general manager whose company, Kenny Wax Productions, develops and runs West End and touring hits in the UK and internationally—including SIX the Musical and The Play That Goes Wrong. Founded in 1995, the company has sustained multiple concurrent West End runs (five during summer 2024), and partners worldwide on replica productions.
Wax’s career spans the full stack of theatre-making—usher, flyman, box office, follow-spot, crew—before moving into producing and operating “at the epicentre of London’s theatre industry.” He was appointed MBE for services to theatre. Kenny Wax Productions
Beyond SIX, signature credits include the Mischief franchise (The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Comedy About a Bank Robbery), and the Olivier-winning Top Hat, which took Best New Musical in 2013.
How SIX began
Source: London Theatre (Photo by Pamela Raith)
In their final year at Cambridge, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss wanted juicy roles for their friends and wrote SIX in “two or three weeks,” then took it to the Edinburgh Fringe. From a festival run to West End → Broadway → global tours, the concept stayed the same: six equal voices, a pop-concert frame, and history retold from the women’s point of view.
The portability lives in that frame—tight runtime, band on stage, lyric-forward writing—so a Japanese-language week in London isn’t a stunt; it’s the show completing a loop it’s been on since day one.
From spring in Tokyo to a London invitation
Wax’s connection to Japan runs back to his Olivier-winning Top Hat years, when collaboration with Hiroko Murata led to multiple Japanese stagings—including a celebrated Takarazuka version. That long relationship set the table for SIX.
In spring, Wax, co-producer Andy Barnes, and writers Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss flew out to see the Japanese company. What they saw went beyond thrilled. Within days, a thought became an ask: would Umeda bring the cast to London to perform the entire show in Japanese, with English captions, for one special week?
They didn’t even have dates locked when they made the offer. “There were a lot of tears in the room,” Wax recalls—part relief, part disbelief. For some of the company, it would be their first time performing in the UK, and in the very theatre where SIX has been crowned night after night.
Behind the scenes of the week
Hosting a visiting company is simple at heart but busy in practice. The Japanese cast flies in, is housed, and gets stage time to re-space tiny moments where Japanese lines change the breath. Tech adds surtitles screens—two discreet panels by the side boxes plus a top bar—so captions are readable from stalls, dress circle and grand circle.
The resident London cast stands down for the week, while the Japanese company completes rehearsals in London (with a few cultural stops between calls). On stage, the show you know stays the show you know: same rig, band on stage, and concert-musical energy—sung entirely in Japanese, with laughs and lifts still landing on the downbeat.
Captioning for a full house
Expect screens tucked into the boxes downstage left/right and a top bar, calibrated so stalls, dress circle, and grand circle all have a clean sightline. In access shows you can cluster caption-users and run one screen; here, every seat needs coverage.
On stage, almost nothing else changes. It’s the same sleek rig, the same “concert-musical” attack—just sung entirely in Japanese, with the band on stage as ever.
What translates (and what doesn’t)
Wax is clear: SIX’s English lyrics lean on quickfire wordplay—from the opening count gag to the “location settings” nod in House of Holbein. A literal lift into Japanese isn’t always possible, so the brief shifts to keeping the comic intention and hitting the musical cue. The staging, the hand-offs between Queens, and the band’s downbeats do a lot of that work in real time.
Crucially, Japan’s audience arrived pre-tuned. Long before opening night, the studio album had done its job: listeners knew the hooks and contours by heart. So when a pun becomes a different phrasing in Japanese, the rhythm and setup still feel familiar. You don’t need the exact English turn to get the laugh—you recognise where it lands and why.
Side-by-side: hear English, then hear Japanese
Kenny suggested it himself: catch the English cast first (or stream the album), then hear the Japanese company in London. Notice how vowel length shapes the belt, how a breath shift changes the laugh, how the dance picture tightens around a different syllable.
Casting: why this ensemble
Japan ran with two principal casts (12 principals) rotating; ten are expected in London, with a couple unavailable due to existing commitments. Wax won’t rank favourites. What he will say: the group is “a pretty fabulous bunch,” with some faces already beloved—recording artists, Takarazuka alumnae—but the final calls were led by the directing, music and choreography teams who auditioned them.
The brief isn’t “classic legit musical theatre”. It’s pop phrasing at velocity, comedy timing at 140 BPM, and athletic choreography—concert stamina plus character truth.
Cultural exchange, on and off stage
Between rehearsals the company will hit the National Portrait Gallery and Westminster Abbey, with a possible Thames run to the Tower of London—a tidy bridge from Tudor portraits to her-story in performance that night.
Who this week is for (and how success is measured)
This run speaks first to London’s Japanese community, for whom a full Japanese-language takeover is a rare chance to see a West End hit in their mother tongue. It also invites the UK Queendom—the superfans eager to experience a familiar score reframed—alongside language learners and Japan-curious readers who relish captioned performances. And for West End regulars, it’s a smart experiment in cross-cultural staging: same show, new rhythm.
The maths: about seven performances in a ~600-seat house—c. 4,500 seats to sell. Success looks like full houses, a smooth caption experience, and a signal that guest-language weeks can be done at scale without compromising the London run’s quality.
“We were really thrilled by what the Japanese company had delivered.” — Kenny Wax
Why now: female-made, globally told
Part of SIX’s power, Wax argues, is its women-led creative core—writers, director, choreographer, costume designer—and its insistence on equal stage time for six women telling their own story. That message has travelled: Korea, China, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands—and Japan.
Bringing the Japanese Queens to London doesn’t just tick a box; it widens the circle. It also bookends the week with a cultural itinerary—National Portrait Gallery, Westminster Abbey, perhaps a Tower of London visit—that nods to Tudor history while anchoring the company in today’s city. The symbolism is neat: history on the walls, her-story on the stage.
Know before you go
Six the Musical Japan is cross-cultural theatre at full voltage—same band-on-stage swagger, new sonic colour, a fresh angle on sisterhood. For one week, London hears these stories in Japanese while reading the wit in English—a rare chance to notice how timing, vowel length and phrasing reshape moments you thought you knew.
When & where
Tue 4 – Sun 9 November 2025 (one week only) at the Vaudeville Theatre, 404 Strand, WC2R 0NH.
Performance times
Typical week: Tue–Sat 8:00pm, Fri & Sat 4:00pm, Sun 3:00pm. (Check your chosen date at checkout.)
Language & access
Performed entirely in Japanese, with English surtitles visible from stalls, circle and grand circle. This is the first UK run of SIX presented in Japanese.
Run time & effects
About 1 hour 20 minutes, no interval. Expect loud music, strobe/flashing lights and theatrical haze—it’s staged like a live pop concert.
Age guidance
10+ recommended. Under-16s must be accompanied by an adult.
Tickets
From ~£34.50 on the official site (plus £1.50 theatre restoration levy). Availability varies by performance.
Quick caption tip (60 seconds)
Glance at the side/top surtitles for the set-up, then keep your eyes on the performers’ faces for the punchline. In this concert-musical format, two or three glances per song is usually plenty. (If captions are essential for you, choose seats with a clear view of the boxes and top bar.)
Special workshops (one week only)
Celebrate the Japanese-language run with two exclusive, hands-on sessions at the Vaudeville:
Japanese Language Workshop with Dear Asia
Thu 6 November, 5:15–6:45pm
Explore Japanese language and culture through the songs of SIX. Learn favourite lyrics in Japanese and try traditional arts and crafts in an immersive mini-class.
Manga Workshop with Chie Kutsuwada
Sat 8 November, 12:00–1:30pm
Step into the world of manga with illustrator Chie Kutsuwada in a beginner-friendly workshop—complete with a SIX-themed twist. You’ll learn the basics and create your own manga-style portrait of the Queens. All drawing materials provided.
Book Manga workshop tickets here.
Access bookings: To book access rate tickets for either workshop, email access@nimaxtheatres.com or call 0330 333 4815 (Nimax access team).
