This ace cast member is ready to go on in ‘Six’ while creating her own music
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
rich@dallasvoice.com
Divorced. Beheaded. Died — The ex-wives of Henry VIII return to North Texas next week.
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, Broadway at the Bass opens the Tony-winning musical Six in Fort Worth, playing through Dec. 3. Six leads portray the former spouses of the king as a super pop group with some heavy bangers as showtunes.
And if needed, Taylor Pearlstein is ready to jump in to slay for the night.
As an alternative to three of the characters, Pearlstein has been a part of Six since the tour launched in August 2022. “I share my duties because each queen has two covers. My queens are Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr,” she explained.
With a year in, it’s no big thing for Taylor to turn into royalty at the drop of a hat — or head, even. But she even says it’s not that dramatic.
“Mostly we have some lead time to know if we are going on, but I always have to be ready at any time. That’s just part of the job, and, being settled into it, I’m kind of unfazed at this point to jump in,” the 28 year-old said.
Outside of the stage, Pearlstein keeps just as busy on the road with her own music. She is also an independent singer-songwriter who released “The Difference” this year. Songwriting helps her pass the time time between shows.
“It’s so fun to do both. I have my guitar with me on the road,” Pearlstein said. “Making music is a big part of who I am as a person. I even brought some recording equipment.”
The leading ladies of Six
An EP of her original music should drop this winter.
Being on the road with Six , she hasn’t had much time to complete her own music projects, but she did release her single while on the road. In short, this queen can multitask.
“I miss New York and doing shows and creating new music. But also, it’s been nice to have my projects to work on while also having my passion for theater satisfied,” Pearlstein said. “I can balance the show and my life, which is nice for my own mental and artistic health so it makes me better.”
But when it’s time to go on stage, Pearlstein is ready for the drag of it all: “Oh god, Six is total drag,” she laughed. “When I’m doing my makeup, my face is beat. I mean, I am getting dragged up to play queens.”
For her own queer journey, Pearlstein said she came into her identity pretty late. She identifies as asexual and queer, but it was just a couple of years ago that it settled in.
“I didn’t officially adopt the language for being ace (Editor’s Note: “Ace” is used as short for asexuality) until about 2020 or ’21. I had come out of this pattern of dating where I felt gross,” she said.
She found she wasn’t making the right connections. Or rather, her connections weren’t feeling quite right. And the foundations of her relationships were false.
“I was basing them in sex, and that was causing me anxiety. Relationships were confusing, and I just wouldn’t know why,” she said.
She had a hunch about asexuality, but she had trepidation about it because of the stigma or misunderstandings that come with it. For her, she thought there was a parallel with the label and undesirability.
But, Pearlstein said, that she finally built up the courage to face it. “I was ready to ask my own questions, and I simply got on Reddit. I was blown away by people’s experiences and identified with them. As I came into the language, I could reclaim sex and have romantic connections again.”
And the queer label also made sense, but while she doesn’t want to get caught up on labels, she says it’s fun to see how people identify and what that means.
“Labels are fluid themselves, but they unlock and liberate our identities that we can carry. My aceness makes me feel queer, which all that does so much for me to communicate who I am better.”
And sometimes, who she is just happens to be a queen.
For tickets, visit BassHall.com.