Lizzie: The Musical at The Beck Center, February 4-27

Review by Laura Kennelly (Roger  Mastrioanni, photo)

Did “Old Maid” Lizzie Borden kill her father and step-mother in 1892? Lizzie: The Musical offers a rock (and roll) answer in the show now playing at the Beck Center in collaboration with Baldwin Wallace University.

 No one knows. Lizzie is not a detective mystery, but instead a screaming plunge into evil in Fall River, Massachusetts.

 Using tools available--gossip, witnesses, testimony—officials conducted a thorough investigation. However, this story unfolded in pre-DNA days. The one sure fact is that Mr. and Mrs. Borden were brutally murdered in their home. (Strange thing, everyone complained of an upset stomach several days before and Lizzie had purchased rat poison early that same week.)

 Only Lizzie and the victims will ever know the truth.

 But never mind. It is rock music we are here for. And we get it. Director Victoria Bussert, with her trademark gusto, allows the four dynamic female leads to do abundant screaming. A few lyric pieces (“Sweet Little Sister”) offer welcome contrast, but major angst suffered by all four characters soon offsets peaceful moments.

 A small onstage ensemble led by Matt Webb provided backup and a loud relentless beat when needed (which was often). Rock was most obvious in rhythmic numbers such as “The House of Borden,” “What the Fuck Now, Lizzie,” and—of course, the earworm, “Forty Whacks.”

This excellent four-woman show is double cast. On the Saturday night I went, it was the “Blood” cast. Lizzie Borden (a forceful Alexa Lopez), Emma Borden (a melodious Kris Lyons), the Borden’s neighbor Alice Russell (a naive and lyric Audrey Hare), and Bridget Sullivan (a practical and saucy Gracee Street) enacted the terrible story.

 For alternate performances the “Axe” cast features Jessi Kirtley (Lizzie Borden), Autumn Key (Emma Borden), Andie Peterson (Alice Russell), and Colette Caspari (Bridget Sullivan).

 As the Borden’s Irish servant girl, Street reveled in her character’s caustic side, especially revealed when she continuously had to remind the casually racist Borden household that her name was “Bridget,” not “Maggie.” In Fall River all Irish looked the same.

 While the “Sweet Little Sister” duet with Lopez and Lyons stays sarcastically sweet, watch out for the driving thump of “Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks, and when she saw what she had done, gave her father forty-one.” It may become an earworm.

 It’s an active musical, near Olympic, and Lopez, Lyons, Hare, and Street moved with grace (when called for) and vigor (most often called for) as guided (and required) by Greg Daniels’ challenging choreography.

One major feature on the set, employed to great effect by the actors, was a thronelike wooden chair placed front and center in the set designed by Jeff Herrmann. The throne was sturdy enough for two or more cast members to simultaneously stand on it and roomy enough for two to snuggle. It anchored the stark setting.

 If this is not your first Lizzie (it is my third local production so it might not be new to you either), the answer to the obvious question about spatter is: “Yes.”

 Yes, there is a splash scene. This time blood did not fly everywhere—the blood (yes of course there was blood), stayed safely onstage thanks to a splash screen. (Intermission brought a bit of mopping for the hardy stage crew.)

 The only sour note the night I attended was produced by a clique of super-loud student fans who shouted encouraging cheers no matter what was happening on stage. (OK, maybe they thought it was a rock concert, I get that, but it was not, it was a small theatre show.) The real problem was that even thoughtful ballads triggered loud whoops, so much so that they upstaged performances. With luck, the screamers will not appear at subsequent shows.

BOTTOM LINE: Lizzie lives again thanks to beautiful, capable, and talented young performers in a smoothly directed and produced musical. But do not forget your earplugs if you want to preserve your hearing.

IRONIC SIDE NOTE: Do not, I repeat, do not research genealogy to trace Lizzie Borden’s descendants. While she remained childless, as far as we know, numerous figures are said to be related to the prominent New England family. Highlights? Elizabeth Montgomery (who played Lizzie in a TV biopic), Winston Churchill, and (the best one), serial killer Charles Manson. Some stones seem best unturned.