Review: Pop styles, spunk and sparkly outfits rule in Ordway’s ’Six,’ back for a zesty third time

The trauma Olympics are back, and, boy, are they fun.

“Six,” the reality show musical about which of Henry VIII’s wives had it the worst under the despotic English king, has returned to St. Paul’s Ordway Center for its third engagement. It’s polished, spunky and, as the kids like to say, it’s fire, never mind that this remix of the past is based on some horror history.

An impetuous, craven madman who ruled England for 36 years, Henry married six women, divorcing, executing or otherwise discarding all of them. The premise of this concert/musical by the English songwriting team of Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow is that the queens have formed a pop supergroup. They are choosing the lead singer through a competition that we, the audience, get to judge based on which queen experienced the most trauma at Henry’s hands.

Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon (Kristina Leopold), Henry’s first wife, did not bear him a son. When the Catholic Church would not grant him a divorce, he started the Church of England and divorced her anyway. Second queen Anne Boleyn (Aryn Bohannon), who was his mistress while Henry was married to Catherine, was beheaded for adultery. Third wife Jane Seymour (Kelly Denice Taylor), who he may have loved, died in childbirth.

Henry got engaged to German noblewoman Anna of Cleves (Danielle Mendoza) based on her profile picture, er, painting. “Haus of Holbein,” the musical number introducing her, is Tudor-era Tinder as Henry swipes left a lot before finally swiping right. But he thought she was ugly in person and promptly divorced her.

Katherine Howard (Alizé Cruz), a teenager who was a lady-in-waiting for the previous queen, was executed for adultery. His final wife, Catherine Parr (Adriana Scalice), also had had many previous spouses. She survived him.

This cast, backed by the funky, tight all-female band the Ladies in Waiting, is as good as the two previous ones at the Ordway, including the team that had a pre-Broadway run in St Paul. They are inhabiting the riffs, runs and arrangements that all have a pop diva familiarity and making it their own. And they have full power, shimmying and emoting and flirting up a storm.

If the songs are queens are aligned with contemporary pop stars, it’s because they were designed that way. Taylor delivers the Adele-esque power ballad “Heart of Stone” with honesty and heart. Cruz is poppy, bouncy and flirty in “All You Wanna Do,” an Ariana Grande-esque number about old men abusing girls.

Scalice channels both the emotive power of Alicia Keys and mature cool of Sade on “I Don’t Need Your Love.” As Boleyn, Silva injects pep in the bubble gum pop of “Don’t Lose Ur Head,” a song that’s thematically akin to Demi Lovato’s “Sorry Not Sorry” but sounds like something from Avril Lavigne’s oeuvre.

In fact, one of the fun things about “Six” is that it works on us both visually (British costume designer Gabriella Slade won a Tony for her pop-meets-Tudor costumes) and sonically. We recognize some of the musical elements subconsciously as the queens channel other pop princesses, including Beyonce, Katy Perry and Rihanna.

As they shimmy and dance, they dive into the material with such wit and zest that they convert the poison of the historic trauma into something delightful. True, “Six” remains dramaturgically skimpy and often seems cute. But it’s a squealing blast that has earned its Olympic gold.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 1:30 & 7 p.m. Sun. Ends July 28.

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

Tickets: $56-$181.50. 651-224-4222 or ordway.org.