Cult Favorite Rock Musical LIZZIE Picked Up by Broadway Licensing

After nearly 100 independent productions in ten countries across four continents in six languages, "LIZZIE" the Musical, by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner, and Alan Stevens Hewitt, has been picked up by Broadway Licensing, the "global leader in theatrical licensing and distribution," home to "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "Head Over Heels," "Passing Strange," "Grey Gardens" and many other titles.

"LIZZIE" began life in NYC's alternative theatre scene in the 90s, first with a tiny mythic theatre company at The Ohio Theater and then at HERE Arts Center, and was further developed in a critically acclaimed, Drama Desk-nominated production at The Living Theatre on NYC's Lower East Side in fall 2009 starring Jenny Fellner.

Following a buzzy standing-room-only presentation at the 2010 NAMT Festival of New Musicals, and further development for Village Theatre Festival of New Musicals 2012 mainstage production, a studio album (feat. Carrie Manolakos, Storm Large, Carrie Cimma, and Ryah Nixon) was recorded and released by Broadway Records in fall 2013. That same year, Houston's Theatre Under the Stars chose "LIZZIE" to launch its TUTS Underground series.

In spring 2014, "LIZZIE" enjoyed its first international production at Fredericia Teater in Denmark, for which a Danish-language cast album was also recorded and released. Portland Center Stage presented a mainstage production in its 2014 season starring Mary Kate Morrissey in the title role. "LIZZIE" debuted in London in 2017 with a cast featuring Eden Espinoza in the role of Emma Borden and made its Chicago debut the following year featuring Ciara Renée as Emma.

Though the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted U.S. live theatre in 2020, "LIZZIE" made its Sweden and South Korea debuts that year to rapturous receptions, with productions in New Zealand, Spain, Australia, and Hungary following soon after. In January 2021, San Francisco's Ray of Light Theatre streamed a ticketed, one-night-only capture of their legendary 2015 production featuring Taylor Iman Jones in the role of Alice Russell to a worldwide audience with viewers as far-flung as Kazakhstan. The spring/summer 2022 remount by Shownote Theatre in Seoul was met with sold-out houses filled with screaming fans, many returning multiple times during the run.

"In its effort to help make everyone a theatre person, Broadway Licensing is pleased to license 'LIZZIE,'" said Sean Cercone, CEO and Founder of Broadway Licensing. "Everyone thinks they know her story, and now musical theatre companies everywhere can rock their version of this famously gruesome tale."

ABOUT LIZZIE

"Rage! Sex! Betrayal! Bloody murder!

In the heat of late summer 1892, Andrew Borden and his wife were found murdered in their house. The main suspect in the murders was Andrew's youngest daughter from a previous marriage, Lizzie Borden. Using a searing rock score, and based on the historical record, LIZZIE explores the heady and heated days leading up to the murder and Lizzie's controversial acquittal of all charges and the creation of a new American myth.

Learn more: https://broadwaylicensing.com/shows/off-broadway/lizzie/ and at https://www.lizziethemusical.com/