King Henry VIII’s wives find their voices as pop singers in “Six” – Twin Cities

If you want to produce something that will appeal to young theatergoers, ask a young theater artist to create it.

This seems to be a key ingredient in the recipe for success of Six. The play was a hit on Broadway and in London’s West End – and is currently being performed by a touring company based at St Paul’s Ordway Music Theatre until July 28. It began as a school project for Cambridge University duo Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. They decided to take a well-documented chapter of English history, the numerous marriages of King Henry VIII in the 16th century, and retell it in the style of a 21st century pop song.

The result is a sort of “American Idol”-esque sing-off that rocks and funkisses the stories of trauma and tragedy endured by Henry’s six wives. But “Six” also contains some good advice about the road to unhappiness paved with comparing yourself to others. That could be a life-saving lesson for some teens. And indeed, teen girls seem to make up a very large percentage of the show’s fan base, judging by the crowd at Ordway Stadium Wednesday night.

They probably found “Six” pretty damn entertaining, and that has a lot to do with the girl group energy that breaks the fourth wall once the six wives and their four-piece all-female band take the stage. Each wife gets the chance to tell her story in song, with Marlow and Moss choosing a different pop subgenre for each of their majesties.

Catherine of Aragon tells the story of the divorce that led to the founding of the Church of England (after “the Pope said no”) in a Caribbean salsa song, Anne Boleyn rocks her way to execution, and Jane Seymour belts out a ballad about a doomed love with all the passion and power that pop music borrows from gospel.

But Seymour was only the third of the six wives, and after Kelly Denice Taylor expertly scales the emotional heights of the final song, “Heart of Stone,” Marlow and Moss’ music begins a descent into far less imaginative territory. Of course, there is the entertaining parody of German electronic dance music called “Haus of Holbein,” but the quality of the songs drops in the second half of the show.

Perhaps it is because Anne of Cleves does not really have much to say – the marriage lasted only months and she spent the rest of her life in luxurious exile – and Katherine Howard’s dance-pop portrayal of her existence as a teenage sex object suffers from Alizé Cruz’s slurred diction and a too-loud band – crucial flaws in a musical whose story is told entirely through song.

But Adriana Scalice is quite good as Catherine Parr, the most mature and natural of the wives. She is entrusted with putting an end to the posturing and challenging the show’s patriarchal premise, and her version of “I Don’t Need Your Love” would be a good way to start – except that Broadway demands high-energy finales and curtain calls, and this 80-minute, non-interval show obliges.

“Six” benefits from Gabriella Slade’s Beyoncé-meets-the-Tudors costumes and Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s energetic and, er, well-executed pop concert choreography. With a set of platforms and running lights, it’s a very simple production. And that keeps things from becoming overstimulating and distracting from the valuable message.

‘Six’

When: Until July 28

Where: Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul

Tickets: $191.50-$41.50, available at 651-224-4222 or ordway.org

Capsule: British history is presented in an entertaining way.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at [email protected].