Review: Pinky Swear's LIZZIE Rocks the Revenge Musical

OK, so the Holidays are over-all of 'em-and the festive lights, candles, decorations and wrapping have all been safely stowed or consigned to the trash (along with half of our presents, if we're honest).

A perfect time to break out the axe and celebrate a different kind of family togetherness, eh?

Just in time for those winter, presidential inaugural blues, Pinky Swear Productions comes along offering the ultimate rock-scream therapy session with Lizzie, a musical dedicated to America's most famous real-life axe-murderer. Not for the faint-of heart, this is a musical that by rights should be featured in this Saturday's women's march, a reminder that women are perfectly capable of getting in their digs (or whacks, as the case may be) when pushed to the edge.

Lizzie Borden, she of axe-wielding fame, lived in a small New England town with her sister, father and stepmother. Relations in this tight-knit family were rumored to be tense, and it appears that her father-a mortician-kept an axe for purely professional purposes (hint: avoid the big meal before the show). Lizzie's stepmom famously was found hacked to death, as was her father; but the weapon was never found, and a mysterious, "paint-stained" blue dress from Lizzie's wardrobe went up in smoke before police could investigate it.

(Future Monica Lewinskies take note: it's better to burn that little blue number than dry-clean it).

Armed as they were with little more than circumstantial evidence, prosecutors couldn't get a conviction. So the 32-year-old Lizzie Borden, found innocent by a jury of her peers, lived to a ripe old age; but schoolchildren ever since have delighted in the blood and gore of a certain nasty nursery rhyme.

Created by the team of Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens Hewitt, Lizzie cites rock influences from Heart to Patti Smith, and offers four meaty roles. Director Marie Byrd Sproul has found a great quartet, led by Alani Kravitz as the title character. Kravitz's rock-vocal chops anchor the ensemble, accompanied by the affecting Allyson Harkey as Lizzie's friend Alice and Rebecca Speas as Lizzie's sister Emma. Speas and Kravitz have a solid, sisterly comradery here, and the often profane lyrics speak to the high tensions of life in the Borden household. Meanwhile Karen Lange as the family maid Bridget provides the troubadour-themester with a full presence as well; Bridget, often called "Maggie" because of her Irish heritage, plays a pivotal role in the murder's aftermath and like all the characters here shares in the quartet's generously-shared agency.

Music director Piero Bonamico has assembled an eclectic ensemble, and accompanied by Kenny Neal's eerie sound effects leads us through a harrowing 100-minute journey into the darkness at the heart of Victorian America. Liz Gossens' costumes, meanwhile, are brilliantly steam-punk in spirit, with hair styles to match, a perfect accompaniment to the spirit of the show.

Given the temper of the times, it's a comfort to know that the theatre remains a place where we can commune in our rage, and live vicariously through villains we love, but whom we'd rather not meet. Lizzie should be a great way to celebrate resistance, of the familial or political kind.

Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes with one intermission.

Production Photo: Karen Lange as Bridget (background left) with Alani Kravitz as Lizzie (right foreground). Photo by Ryan Maxwell.

Lizzie runs January 12 - February 5 at the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE, Washington, D.C. For tickets go to http://lizziethemusical.brownpapertickets.com/ .

For newcomers, the Anacostia Playhouse is five blocks from the Anacostia Metro on the Green Line; for drivers, it is just across the 11th Street Bridge.