Music: Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Alan Stevens Hewitt
Lyrics: Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Tim Maner
Book: Tim Maner
Director: William Whelton
Fall River, Massachusetts, August 1892. In the Borden family home, the dead bodies of Mr and Mrs Borden are found axed in the back of the skulls. Days later, the youngest daughter, Lizzie, is arrested on suspicion of murder. So runs the true story which gripped America in the nineteenth century and is back to stun audiences in the twenty-first.
LIZZIE: The Musical is on its first UK tour, having premiered in New York in 2009. It is presented by Manchester-based Hope Mill Theatre, a relatively new company which has outsize impact and boasts a catalogue of award-winning, hugely inventive productions. LIZZIE: The Musical is no exception.
Setting murder, abuse and female solidarity to a high-octane rock score, it screams its way through the real historical case and far beyond. Lizzie Borden (Lauren Drew) is the perfect punk rock heroine; as various threads of the narrative are uncovered, including the abuse she suffers at home and the involvement in the case of her sister, her maid, and her lover Alice (Maiya Quansah-Breed), it is impossible not to root for her. An excellent book and lyrics by Alan Stevens Hewitt, Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, and Tim Maner deliver consistently surprising turns of phrase and rhythms whilst sticking to their irresistible rock formula.
Drew is a stand-out as Lizzie and manages to steep her perfect vocals in character, particularly in early songs which see younger Lizzie facing her abusive father with quiet defiance. When this loveable Lizzie suddenly becomes brash and somehow guilt-free after the killings, it is a jarring break in the show’s overall tonal consistency, but Drew is a strong enough performer to keep her audience engaged.
Shekinah McFarlane’s performance as Lizzie’s sister Emma is magnetic, too, with McFarlane delivering a stunning duet with Drew in Watchmen For The Morning, a genuinely emotional hymn which sees a momentary break in the show’s high-energy flow. A modern-day finale is another highlight, in which the talented cast – completed by Mairi Barclay as maid Bridget – are liberated from historical re-enactment to point out that there are small parts of Lizzie’s tragic story in every woman’s. Lizzie’s ultimate triumphant acquittal at her trial might take female solidarity to the extreme, but stories like this happen around the world in the past, present, and future.
Given that LIZZIE: The Musical is touted as a bloodier Six, and boasts two cast members and a musical supervisor/ orchestral manager in common with the smash-hit historical musical, the actual gore is a little disappointingly tame. The rest of the production does lean into the macabre, though, with Andrew Exeter’s set and lighting design using projections and butchers’ curtains to conjure a swirling, American Gothic hellscape. By the end of the show, however, it has dissolved into a party – and for fans of true crime, rock, and girl power, it’s not one to miss.
Runs until 2 December 2023
