Exclusive interview: Aline Mayagoitia Queen Katherine Howard in SIX The Musical at the Des Moines Civic Center
Hola Iowa had an exclusive interview with Aline Mayagoitia one of the performers in SIX The Musical that will be performing at the Des Moines Civic Center February 7-19.
Interview by Erika C. Macias
Hola Aline, please tell me your full name, where you are from, and what character you play in SIX The Musical.
My name is Aline Mayagoitia I am from Mexico City originally, but I did a little bit of school in Austin, Texas. And now I play Katherine Howard in SIX The Musical.
What is SIX The Musical about?Â
SIX The Musical is a pop musical about the Six wives of Henry VIII kind of reincarnated as these fabulous pop Queens that tell you their story from their point of view. So, King Henry VIII is nowhere in the show. And they talk about how some of them were divorced, some of them were beheaded by him and the way all of their marriages and mistreatments by him interlocked but in this really funny way with the best music and so much dancing. And the best lighting you have ever seen.
Growing up, what were some of the artists that influenced you?
I am a crazy musical theater nerd, obviously. I am obsessed with Bernadette Peters since I was a child but honestly, for this show, it feels a lot like I am doing like Thalia and obviously like Selena and like my Belinda era from when I was a kid, you know, with my braids.
It's like all these pop Queens, I think growing up in Mexico, I had a little different upbringing because Britney Spears was not as big of a deal for me as Thalia was. These are my queen inspirations.
What would you say to the young audience out there that aspires to the same dreams as you?Â
For anyone interested in pursuing a career in musical theater in particular, the best thing you can do is to train as much as you can when you are young, particularly in dance training. Even if you don't want to be a dancer, dance training helps with everything. It just helps you stand on stage better and even in a show like SIX where we’re mainly just singing and acting but surprise we dance the entire show so it’s really a triple threat experience more than anyone thinks when you first see SIX The Musical, so yes, training as much as you can and particularly having really good habits about vocal health. Making yourself warm up every day when you are young. Because sometimes when you are young you don't have to but that's when you install the habit so once you doing eight shows a week which it’s really taxing you have the discipline to do it.Â
What can we expect going to see SIX at the Des Moines Civic Center?
What you can expect to see in SIX The Musical is, first of all, the show is only 85 minutes, which we love. So, go to the bathroom before because you gonna want to stay through the whole thing. Ok? So, you come in and we are going to start telling you the stories of these Queens with the coolest lighting you have ever seen and it is so much energy. Honestly, the show is very funny in a way that we compete against each other because it is framed like the competition of which wife had it the worst.
So, that's a really fun part, I think. So, the audience can be like oh, I like her more or I think she had it worse. And then at the end, there is a really fun twist about how it all went down. So, yes, you will have a really great time. If you have any nieces or grandchildren or kids, boys and girls from ages 7 to 77 that's the best age for SIX The Musical. Everyone will love it.
Thank you Aline, could you invite our Iowa Latino community to come out to see you perform in SIX The Musical?Â
Families, please come see SIX The Musical. We're going to be at the Des Moines Civic Center and I promise you're going to have a magical night. It is a musical about English history but we explain it very well within the musical. You don't have to know anything before. And the pop music you will love it. It's very easy to understand and there are also certain days when we have open-captioned performances. So if you are someone who helps you see the subtitles in English, look on the dmpa.org website for the days there are open captions because you can read along so you don't miss the story and the jokes. The music is great, and the lighting is amazing. It's like a Beyoncé concert, seriously. And you will leave happy about this story where we women really talk about what it is to be women and we claim our power through these historical figures, so you all are going to have a great time.
SIX The Musical that will be performing at the Des Moines Civic Center February 7-19. The tickets are now on sale at https://desmoinesperformingarts.org/events/six/
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Thanks for the interview!
Excellent show...thanks for interviewing one of the Six!