But first she put on quite a show in her hometown, according to real police reports and newspaper clippings from back in the day. In 1892, her father and stepmother were slain by vicious bloody attacks.  Did she do it? Maybe. Remember the old song? “Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.” DNA tests today would possibly have made quick work of the investigation, but after a 90-minute debate, the jury refused to convict Lizzie.

None of that matters though in this stylish, screaming, flash of a musical production. The night I went,  the “Blood” cast was on with a breathtakingly evil Lizzie forcefully played by the glamorous  Kailey Boyle, whose performance should murder all those jokes about “dumb blondes, so sweet and innocent.”  As Emma Borden (Lizzie’s sister), Veronica Otim oozed malignant intensity; Livvy Marcus, as the Bordens’ neighbor Alice Russell, played naughty and nice equally well,  and Emily Wronski as the wisecracking Irish servant girl Bridget Sullivan brought a chuckle or two with her cynical views. The four made a fearsome quartet of women who delivered both lyrics and emotion with verve and (even) charm. Narrative numbers included “The House of Borden,” “Sweet Little Sister,” “What the Fuck now, Lizzie,” and “Forty Whacks.”

Alternate performances, by the “Axe” cast, featured Olivia Kaufmann (Lizzie), Emily Grett (Emma), Kelsey Baehrens (Alice), and Amy Keum (Bridget).

The simple Ohio Theatre staging featured four spotlights and four mics — the spots where, often as not, we’d see the four standing, trading mics, striking fierce or loving poses under four columns of light. The costumes designed by Charlotte M. Yetman reflected the women’s changed characters as the story progressed. Although they began dressed in corsets and long skirts, by the end they looked like rock and roll stars. Gregory Daniels’ choreography added to the violence inherent in this tale, with quick steps and hands moving with purpose and intent.

The onstage orchestra, led by Matthew Webb, would have sounded even better with less amplification. The vocalists really didn’t need mics. I know rock equals loud,  but I wish it did not. The amplification in the theater sounded harsh and a bit off.

Bottom Line: Wickedly messy fun (fake skulls were smashed and splashed) in this year’s collaboration between PlayhouseSquare and Baldwin Wallace University.

[Written by Laura Kennelly]