All it takes to unleash your inner Joan Jett is a bit of patricide with some step-matricide thrown in for good measure. Before doing in her father and stepmother, Lizzie Borden is a dowdily dressed young woman who is repressed, abused, and seething with inner turmoil. But once the gasket is blown �" after delivering, respectively, 40 and 41 whacks with an axe to Mr. and Mrs. Borden �" Lizzie gets a rock-star makeover and a fierce F.U. personality. Oh, this is not the historical Lizzie Borden, accused of the two murders in 1892, but the title character of the hard-rocking musical Lizzie at the Victoria Theatre.
Never mind that the real Lizzie Borden was acquitted, this Lizzie did the deed, and the musical raises her from eccentric outcast to girl-power role model. Creators Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner, and Alan Stevens Hewitt have massaged the facts in a way that gives Lizzie the moral high ground and makes concrete the old rumors of her lesbian affairs to further her rebel creds. While the rock-concert amplification and the thrash-rock songs are not likely to appeal to the Naughty Marietta crowd, the relatively youthful audience provided decibels of approval than could overpower even the mega-watt sound system.
With those qualifiers out of the way, this Lizzie is a fearsome production, tuned into both small details and emotional eruptions with non-stop invention from director Eliza Leoni and a cast that surrenders to the musical's throbbing energies. Lizzie is another entry in Ray of Light Theatre's productions of uncommon modern musicals, with Heathers, Carrie, and Jerry Springer: The Opera as past examples, with the current show perhaps its most professionally polished to date.
This really is a rock musical, not the theatrically tempered sounds of, say, Rent or Spring Awakening. It's told mostly through song by four women (Lizzie included) who were historically wrapped up in the pre- and post-murder events, and the performers in these roles are a fearsome quartet. The score requires vocal pyrotechnics that are delivered with full-out passion and commensurate physical expression that Nicole Helfer helps provide with high-voltage choreography.
Elizabeth Curtis heads the cast as Lizzie, whose body jerks uncontrollably as she tries to cope with a life that includes a perhaps-sexually abusive father, a hated stepmother, and a sequestered life. Curtis, even as her voice can go shrill when reaching for the heights, doesn't hold back for a moment in her blazing performance. The other characters each get one or two showcase songs, but most powerfully perform as a quartet. Jessica Coker is Lizzie's old sister, with a matronly veneer that Coker blows away. Melissa Reinertson gives the Bordens' housekeeper a mischievous edge, and Taylor Iman Jones is a shy neighbor who beautifully delivers one of the show's softer ballads, expressing her secret love for Lizzie.
Melissa Wortman's evolving costumes, Angrette McCloskey's set that is both elaborate and austere, and a bursting six-piece band led by David Moschler substantially contribute to putting across the powerhouse that is Lizzie. But kids, please don't try this at home.
Lizzie will run through Oct. 17 at the Victoria Theatre. Tickets are $25-$36. Go to rayoflighttheatre.com.