“Stop it, daddy stop it,’’ sings Lizzie (Bailea Twomey) in one of the most powerful moments in the punk-rock musical, Lizzie the Musical.

Until opening night, I didn’t know the story of Lizzie Borden, who was tried and acquitted of killing her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. The American musical with a stunning rock opera score is not a who-dunnit but a why-dunnit, suggesting incest in the Borden household as a motive for the crime. [More]

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“Lizzie Borden took an axe,
 and gave her mother forty whacks.
 When she saw what she had done,
 she gave her father forty-one.”

So many playground rhymes, fairy tales and stories, lean into the horror, the macabre and the lesson to be learned. So too the mystery around the horrific Lizzie Borden murders, and subsequent trial and acquittal, is explored through this punk-rock musical by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens-Hewitt.

There is much controversy and speculation, even now, as to whether or not Lizzie Borden did commit these murders all those years ago. This musical takes us back to 1892 and gives us a wild ride through the Borden household’s lives, not so much asking ‘who did it?’ as ‘why did it happen?’. What was the world around this family and how did it influence this sensationalised murder which has gripped true crime followers for over 100 years?

Witch Musical Theatre is well known for its productions of edgy dark cult-like musicals like Carrie, Spring Awakening, Sweeney Todd and the most recent offering of Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812: the more on the fringe, ‘if you know, you know’ musicals which dig a little deeper into the soul and challenge the ears with unlikely musical influences and presentations that like to shock more viscerally than many of the more mainstream offerings out there.  

Joshua Tucker-Emerson’s set design, with its imposing clean angles yet uncluttered house interior, seems to call us to sit up straight and mind our manners and immediately puts us into the oppressive world of a time gone by. Alex Fisher’s lighting design embraces the moods of Victorian half-light and ‘Murder Most Foul’infused with theatrical Sweeney red.

The epic five-piece band – consisting of the steady lead of Musical Director/Pianist Hayden Taylor, Guitarist Steve Morrison, Cellist Esther Lee, Bassist Grace Kendrick and Drummer Bec Watson – sit either side ready to crank into this un-apologetic score.

I purposely didn’t listen to the sound track before attending this full-to-the-brim opening night, as I wanted to be taken on a journey and feel the experience without preconception.

I love that the opening lines are the jump-rope rhyme quoted at the beginning of this review and we are thrust into a narrative-style, heavily influenced punk-rock alt-folk soundscape full of big hair, big personalities, huge vocals and stylised choreography (Greta Casey-Solly), all dressed by Rhys Tunley’s sexily demure period costumes, with puffed sleeves, cinched waists and feminine ruffles.

Within this era-driven landscape, directors Ben Tucker-Emerson and Greta Casey-Solly lean fully into the grit and flamboyant pseudo-concert presentation, with echoes of SIX: The Musical and our very own New Zealand composed That Bloody Woman where the feminist rage against patriarchy is alive and well.

I initially question the sudden appearance of the prop mics which aren’t giving the vocal effects that hand-held mics can do, but on doing a bit of background research on the styles of the bands influencing this score, I can see the angle they’re going for and more of the reasoning to break moments out into this intensification of thought and emotional through-line. But I can’t help imagining if the sound colour could also have been altered. In saying that, sound engineer Kase Walker has created a pretty cohesive mix in a theatre which isn’t always kind to amplification on this scale.

The performances by this insanely talented cast are fierce and raw. There is no hiding place to simply coast through. For a contemporary theatre vocal work-out such as this, especially against such a drum dense rock score, every technical vocal set up for the belting screams needed will have been worked through and ‘choreographed’ with the expert help of vocal coach Maya Handa Naff.

There is one moment of the most magical acapella and I sit through the entire 2^nd act waiting for more – the score lends itself to so much more of this. Utilising these fabulous voices in unaccompanied four-part harmony could have given the much-needed breath and space to absorb the emotional theatrics of this story. A story of societal and family trauma, of greed and power over others in an era of female oppression and ownership, where ‘frailty, thy name is woman’ is exploded with this re-telling of this blood-curdling historic event.

Bailea Twomey as Lizzie Borden, Jane Leonard as Emma Borden, Rachel McSweeney as Alice Russell and Aimée Sullivan as Bridget ‘Maggie’ Sullivan smash these characters out of the archived media files with the necessary mix of beautiful authenticity and the direct ‘giving the finger to society’ attitude. In the early scenes, as the show is establishing itself and what it is to the observer, I grapple with whether the actors’ earnestness is somewhat overdone – or is it a more deliberate parody fighting against stereotypical characters and fairly clunky libretto writing? I conclude, the later.

The portrayal of Lizzie is a combination of a conflicted, manipulated and manipulative heroine, set alongside her steely strait-laced loyal sister Emma who wins the night with her somewhat left-field, F-bombs. Alice Russell is the sweet, yet confused moral compass and Bridget ‘Maggie’ Sullivan is the all-seeing provider of possibility.

I love that these four incredible performers add their own contemporary and cultural flavour to their vocals and the setting could really be anywhere for this story to take place, there is no real sense that it has to be America and on the whole, they use their own accents.

LIZZIE is unrepentant in its assault on the senses as it carries the banner for women’s rights to their own autonomy, to victims of abuse and for the queer community – all the while smashing the patriarchy as its rebellious rock score blows you back against your seat.

While there are still inequalities, there will always be someone making awesome art about it and this is a night to get swept up in the kicking of some proverbial arse. And curiously we go away asking the question: Did they maybe deserve it?

This dream team of wāhine are killin’ it (literally).

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