Lizzie - Milky Way Productions
- Kate O'Sullivan
- Mar 16
- 3 min read
Reviewed by Jordan D'Arcy
Lizzie is the story of a woman, Lizzie Andrew Borden (named for her father, as he wanted a son), tried and acquitted of the murder of her father and stepmother in America in August of 1892. The story has been covered and re-covered since then and is the source of many people’s hyperfocus. Milky Way Productions is quickly building a reputation for producing quirky thrillers, often with dark themes, with Lizzie coming off the back of an encore season of Evil Dead. This production was directed by Kieran Ridgway and Luke Miller.
The performances from this cast are phenomenal. The combination of powerhouse voices is some of the best Perth has to offer. Lukas Perez as Lizzie Borden herself gives a well-rounded performance – possibly the best I have ever seen from them. Likewise, Brittany Isaia, in the strongest performance I have seen from her, bounces beautifully off Lukas as Lizzie’s older sister Emma Borden; a particular highlight of this production was ‘What the F*** Now, Lizzie?’.
Jessica Huysing as Alice Russel was a softer, but not any less strong, presence on stage. In this version of the story, Alice was Lizzie’s neighbour, confidant, and love interest. The connection between Alice and Lizzie felt genuine, but it would have been nice for the audience to see more of the relationship throughout the show. Sarah McCabe as Bridget (Maggie) Sullivan, the Borden housekeeper, was also excellent. Sarah’s ability to act as narrator was a highlight, especially as she kept us totally engaged in her character as a part of the story.
Akari Komoto has done a phenomenal job of music direction, somehow also conducting and playing piano 1 for performances. The harmonies were excellent, and the band was flawless.
Unfortunately, there were some opening night teething issues; mostly in the sound balancing. This musical is totally sung through, and without the lyrics in front of you, it is impossible to tell what is going on – even for someone who knows the story. When you could hear the cast, their enunciation was perfectly clear, it was simply that in the space and with the band so close it would have been understandably hard to mix the sound.
The set was clever, although gave the actors very little space in front of the band to work with. The window acting as upstairs of the house was used effectively, although was too small to fully see some of the actors behind the wall. However, although Bailey Fellows’ lighting design was cool, it left the actors often with their faces in total darkness, meaning we missed a lot of the character-building.
This show was somewhere between a concert and a full-blown musical, and it could have benefitted from a decision being made either way. The choreography felt forced and out of place, as the show tried to straddle this line. In particular the numbers ‘Why Are All These Heads Off’ and ‘Gotta Get Out of Here’ felt a tad disingenuous, in part due to the vibe difference in the choreography, the direction, and the lyrics. The actors also did not look comfortable with the choreography, and it came across as under-rehearsed – the scenes where it was simply movement and blocking felt much more appropriate to me as an audience member, and also more clearly understood by the cast.
Further, I strongly feel that this production needed a femme eye higher up on the production team, as it was evident where a woman’s eye had contributed and where it had not. Intimacy coordination by Michelle Ezzy was very much visible, and in a show where there is a heavy emphasis on femininity and having femme and non-binary cast and band in the marketing, it was unfortunate how clear the differences were between some scenes.
Ultimately, I felt that there were a few aspects of this production that needed refining, however, that does not take away from the amount I enjoyed it. As someone who is definitely the target audience for this show, I loved the energy and the passion that was evident from all on stage. There are still tickets available for the remaining shows, and this production deserves to have a full house for them.
Reviewer Note: Jordan has previously worked with members of the cast and crew. Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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