Lizzie. Shall I compare thee to The Student Prince, or even Oklahoma!? One of the great pleasures of theatre is the wide range of possibilities within a genre, and if Sigmund Romberg is at one side of the spectrum, heeeere’s Lizzie at the other side, strutting her stuff at New Line Theatre.
Yes, it’s that Lizzie Borden, she of the alleged axe, plus her older sister, the housemaid and their next-door neighbor in 1892 Fall River, MA, all Goth-icized for our viewing pleasure.
It works. It actually does. For the two people out there who don’t know the story, the 32-year-old unmarried Lizzie reported that someone had brutally murdered her father and her stepmother. There clearly was, if not an axe, then a hatchet involved. There was also the money from her frugal-but-if-not-wealthy-then-very-comfortable father as a motive, plus hard feelings for the woman who had been her stepmother since she was 6. Lizzie was charged and tried. In a time when the OJ Simpson story still fascinates us and the Menendez brothers are the subject of a current television miniseries, Lizzie Borden turns out to have led the way to all that.
There actually is something rather Gothic, in the earlier sense of the word, about all this. Nevertheless, seeing it in visual contemporary Goth, is invigorating. Is the play historically accurate? Well, since we had no forensics teams then, there are few absolute answers. Authors Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens Hewitt do utilize several intriguing, yea, even titillating theories that have been floated over the years.
The music, of course, matches the theme. Director Mike Dowdy-Windsor (resplendent opening night in a shocking pink sport coat and Lizzie t-shirt) has done a superb job of casting. Anna Skidis Vargas is Lizzie, romping through the evening’s festivities and belting her way through the score. Bridget Sullivan, often called Emma because that’s what the previous maid’s name was, comes to life with Kimi Short’s work. Larissa White’s the neighbor Alice Russell, who’s very fond of Lizzie, very fond indeed – until she begins to realize what has happened. Sister Emma Borden, Marcy Wiegert, stalks and glares and generally has a fine time with things, including the song whose title and repeated lyrics probably wouldn’t get through some internet filters. There’s a fine rapport among them and swell performances from all four.
The New Line Band, led by Sarah Nelson, is having a good time, too. Ryan Day’s sound mostly keeps them from overwhelming the lyrics so significant to this mostly sung-through show. Rob Lippert did both the set and the lights, the lights from a concert and the set feeling pretty much like Fall River. But perhaps pride of place should go to Sarah Porter’s costumes, nothing short of glorious. I was particularly taken with Vargas’ almost warrior-like garb, becoming even more fun with the addition of panniers in the second act.
The score is only intermittently inspired, but as some of us used to hear Dick Clark’s acolytes say, it has a good beat and you can dance to it. Or head bang.
Adult content, younger music. The components beyond the score make it all worthwhile.
Lizzie
through October 21, 2017
New Line Theatre
Marcelle Theatre
3310 Samuel Shepherd Drive