Graphic by Jieyu Feng ’22
BY REBECCA GAGNON ’23
A musical about an axe murderer? In the spring of 2020, Mount Holyoke will be performing “Lizzie, The Musical,” a musical about the chilling story of Lizzie Borden, who was accused of axe murdering her father and stepmother in the 1800s.
Although Borden was accused and tried with the murder, she was not found guilty and ended up living until 1927.
The musical will be directed by Michael Ofori and consists of a cast of only four cast members: Lizzie Borden, played by Sophia Schweik ’23; Emma Borden, played by Zara Malik ’21; Bridget/Maggie, played by Emma Chaffee ’22; and Alice Russell, played by Kylie Levy ’21.
“[The musical] is very... human. In the sense that it is very easy to confuse ‘Lizzie, The Musical’ with the actual facts of Lizzie Borden’s case ... I find it intriguing that the public perception of this is that Lizzie did it,” Ofori said. “People have not really thought to go beyond ... assuming she did it; why would that have been the case?”
“The musical allows the characters to speak for themselves and I find that really interesting — to be able to dig deep into the souls of these characters and figure out why,” Ofori said.
Each cast member expressed familiar excitement, saying that they are excited about this challenge as actors. The cast wishes to go deeper and truly understand their characters and why they did what they did.
One of the things that the actors are most excited about is that this is a rock musical.
“I am really excited to be performing on stage. It is really general, but I really like to perform and belt. And this, because it is a rock musical, is very, very vocal-heavy, so I am really excited about that,” Malik said. “I am not too sure about my acting skills, but I know I can hit a note. So I am really excited to just go off with it, you know, because it is such an edgy musical I can just be crazy on stage.”
The intense emotions behind this play have, at times, been a challenge to the actors.
“I really want to go all-in for this role and do my best while being emotionally honest as I can — while also making sure I take care of myself and keep myself healthy emotionally and physically,” Shweik said. “It is obvious when someone is on stage and they don’t believe what they are saying.”
Overall, the cast and director are very excited about this show. “At first, I was like, ‘this is a very odd musical,’ But I listened to the soundtrack and researched it more and it is very well done. The music is beautiful and it is a really interesting story,” Chaffee said.