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A CurtainUp Review
Lizzie Borden
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I saw no one, heard no screams; I was up in the barn loft, I heard a distressing noise, like scraping and came back and found the screen door open.— Lizzie
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Jennifer Fellner as Lizzie Borden
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" Lizzie Borden took an axe/Gave her mother forty whacks/When she saw what she had done/Gave her father forty-one." The ditty is so well known few people remember that a Massachusetts court actually acquitted Lizzie of the crime. Her infamy lives on because, although there were no witnesses, there was ample motive and circumstantial evidence to convict, and to this day no other culprit has been identified.
Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens Hewitt, the creators of the rock musical Lizzie Borden, don't pay much attention to this fine point either. But their show is so extravagantly over-the-top, its music has such energy and thrust few people will care.
Maner directs a cast of four rock divas who represent some of the principal characters in the drama (curiously, but quite effectively, Mr. and Mrs. Borden are not included). His skillful use of a small stage to portray such an intense and sweeping drama (the O.J. Simpson trial of the 19th century) is extraordinary.
Jennifer Fellner heads the cast as Lizzie, outwardly a sweet ingénue, but inside conniving, angry and somewhat maniacal. Lisa Birnbaum is her older sister Emma, independent, sexy and manipulative. Marie-France Arcilla plays Alice Russell, the Borden's next-door-neighbor and perhaps Lizzie's lover, a woman who gives Lizzie comfort until, in Lizzie's hour of need, she betrays her. Carrie Cimma completes the cast as Bridget (called Maggie) Sullivan, the spiky-haired Irish maid and the play's evil muse.
The creative team has wisely chosen to focus not so much on the events as on the tangled relationships and the intense emotions that led up to the murder: Lizzie and Emma's hatred of their stepmother, Mr. Borden's abuse of his daughters whom he apparently intended to disinherit in favor of his wife, Alice's desire for Lizzie, Bridget's disdain for the entire family. And they've told this story almost entirely in song.
However, unlike the scores of so many rock musicals, this one never becomes repetitious or boring. The powerful belting of the four women and the clever way the songs are mixed in with the action contribute hugely to the effectiveness of the music. Cheslik-DeMeyer and Maner's lyrics effortlessly mix irony, sincerity and poetry. Rock ballads such as Lizzie and Alice's "Will You Stay?" contrast dramatically with the driving "House of Borden."
The possibility that the story of Lizzie Borden would make a great rock musical is not at all obvious. The murder took place at the end of the 19th century in a small, peaceful New England town. None of the characters was particularly interesting. In fact Lizzie died of pneumonia twenty-five years later in the town where she was born.
Cheslik-DeMeyer, Hewitt and Maner have taken certain liberties with the story but their revisionist history is certainly no more extravagant than the conjectures offered in a host of books, movies, plays and television specials that have entertained and titillated generations of Americans. Besides, who cares about fact when fiction is so much fun?
Editor's Note: Besides being funk, it's also priced to be flagged up with our piggy bank icon for shows costing $25 or less.
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Lizzie Borden Music by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Alan Stevens Hewitt Lyrics by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Tim Maner Book and Additional Music by Tim Maner Conceived by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Tim Maner Directed by Tim Maner Cast: Marie-France Arcilla (Alice Russell), Lisa Birnbaum (Emma Borden), Carrie Cimma (Bridget Sullivan), Jenny Fellner (Lizzie Borden) Musical Direction and Orchestration: Alan Stevens HewittScenic Design: Caleb Levengood Lighting Design: Christian DeAngelis Sound Design: Jamie McElhinney Costume Design: Bobby Frederick Tilley II Video Design: Zoê Woodworth . Hair/Makeup Design: Carrie Lynn Rohm Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes, with intermission The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton Street http://lizziebordentheshow.com From 9/10/09; closing 10/17/09 Thurs-Sat at 8pm; Fri & Sat at 10:30pm Tickets $25 Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons Sept. 24, 2009 SONG LIST Act I Forty Whacks The House of Borden Maybe Someday/Gotta Get Outta Here The soul of the White Bird Sweet Little Sister Shattercane and Velvet Grass Will You Stay? Why Are all These Heads Off? Mercury Rising Somebody Will Do Something Act II Forty Whacks The Fall of the House of Borden (reprise) Emma's Return Burn the Old Things Up Questions, Questions Will You Lie: - The Betrayal Watchmen For The Morning (Psalm 130) 12 Days in Taunton Where Are You Lizzie? Forty Whacks |
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South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill 2007-08 Yearbook
Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide
