Lizzie Borden is an opera written by American composer Jack Beeson. It is based on the real-life case of Lizzie Borden and was commissioned by the Ford Foundation.
It was premiered on March 25, 1965, by the New York City Opera conducted by Anton Coppola. The libretto is by Kenward Elmslie after a scenario by Richard Plant. The roughly two-hour opera is in three acts and an epilogue. [1] [2] [3]
Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, March 25, 1965 (Conductor: – Anton Coppola) |
---|---|---|
Lizzie Borden | mezzo-soprano | Brenda Lewis |
Margret Borden, Lizzie's sister | soprano | Anne Elgar |
Captain Jason MacFarlane, Margret's love interest | baritone | Richard Fredricks |
Abigail Borden, the stepmother | soprano | Ellen Faull |
Andrew Borden. Lizzie's father | baritone | Herbert Beattie |
Reverend Harrington | tenor | Richard Krause |
The plot is a dramatic retelling of the famed double axe murders of the stepmother and the father of the title character in Fall River, Massachusetts. However a great number of dramatic changes are made for effectiveness on the stage.
Lizzie Andrew Borden was an American woman tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Christina Ricci is an American actress. She is known for playing unconventional characters with a dark edge. Ricci is the recipient of several accolades, including a National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Satellite Award for Best Actress, as well as Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, and Independent Spirit Award nominations.
Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was an American film, stage, and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is best remembered for her leading role as Samantha Stephens on the television series Bewitched.
Clea Helen D'Etienne DuVall is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. She is known for her appearances in the films The Faculty (1998), She's All That; But I'm a Cheerleader; Girl, Interrupted, Identity, 21 Grams, The Grudge (2004), Zodiac (2007), Conviction (2010), and Argo (2012).
Katherine Marie Helmond was an American actress. Over her five decades of television acting, she was known for her starring role as ditzy matriarch Jessica Tate on the sitcom Soap (1977–1981) and her co-starring role as feisty mother Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss? (1984–1992). Helmond also appeared in a 1993 episode of The Upper Hand, the British version of Who's the Boss?. She also played Doris Sherman on Coach and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond. She also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows.
Lizzie Borden is an American filmmaker, and is best known for the 1983 film Born in Flames.
Jack Hamilton Beeson was an American composer. He was known particularly for his operas, the best known of which are Lizzie Borden, Hello Out There!, and The Sweet Bye and Bye.
Lizzie Borden (1860–1927) was an American woman accused and acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother.
Fall River Legend is a ballet by American choreographer Agnes de Mille. While the ballet tells the infamous story of Lizzie Borden, it notably alters the outcome of court case, with Borden receiving a guilty verdict rather than an acquittal. De Mille herself believed that Borden was guilty of the murder of her father and stepmother. Like the majority of de Mille’s ballets, Fall River Legend is deeply character driven. The ballet was commissioned by American Ballet Theatre and premiered on April 22, 1948 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Today, Fall River Legend is considered by many scholars to be her masterpiece and when it first premiered, the reviews of the ballet were generally positive.
Antonio Francesco Coppola was an American opera conductor and composer. He was the uncle of film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, as well as the great-uncle of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Gian-Carlo Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Schwartzman, and the younger brother of American composer and musician Carmine Coppola.
Margaret Lloyd is an American soprano who is particularly known for her performances in contemporary operas and concert works. She has sung in the world premieres of several operas, most notably portraying the role of Lightfoot McClendon in the premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree at the Houston Grand Opera in 2000. She has also sung in the world premieres of several works by composer Michael Torke.
Richard Fredricks is an American opera singer, and was one of the leading dramatic baritones of both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He has also appeared on network television, performing on NBC's The Tonight Show, and was the featured guest star on ABC's The Odd Couple.
Ellen Hartla Faull was an American operatic soprano and distinguished voice teacher. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was primarily associated with New York City Opera, where she sang from 1947 until 1978 and created the role of Abigail Borden in Jack Beeson's opera Lizzie Borden in its 1965 world premiere. After her retirement from the opera stage, she taught singing at Sarah Lawrence College, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School and later privately at her home in Camas, Washington.
Lauren Flanigan is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the 1980s. She enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with the New York City Opera, appearing with the company almost every year since 1990. She has sung more than 100 different opera roles on stage during her career, often appearing in contemporary works or more rarely staged operas. Opera News stated that, "Flanigan has enjoyed one of the most distinctive careers of any artist of her generation, one marked by a high volume of contemporary works. Modern composers love her because of her innate musicality, dramatic power and lightning-fast skills and instincts."
Ed Sams is an American author and educator.
Brenda Lewis was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, and music educator. She enjoyed a 20-year-long collaboration with the New York City Opera (NYCO) with whom she notably created roles in several world premieres by American composers; including the title role in Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden in 1965. She also performed with frequency at the Metropolitan Opera from 1952 to 1965, and was active as a guest artist with notable opera companies both nationally and internationally. Although she is mainly remembered as an exponent of American operas and musicals, she performed a broad repertoire of works and was particularly celebrated for her portrayals of Marie in Wozzeck, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and the title roles of Carmen and Salome; the latter of which she performed for the inauguration of the Houston Grand Opera in 1956.
Herbert Wilson Beattie was an American operatic bass and voice teacher.
The Lizzie Borden House is where Lizzie Borden and her family lived. It is notable for being the location of the notorious 1892 unsolved double murder of Andrew and Abby Borden. It is located on 230 Second Street in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts.
The Lizzie Borden Chronicles is an American television limited series following Lizzie Borden after she is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother in 1892. It premiered on Lifetime on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, and ended on May 25, 2015. The series is a continuation of the story begun in the network's 2014 film Lizzie Borden Took an Ax and, like the film, is fictionalized and speculative.
Lizzie is a 2018 American biographical thriller film directed by Craig William Macneill, written by Bryce Kass, and starring Chloë Sevigny, Kristen Stewart, Jay Huguley, Jamey Sheridan, Fiona Shaw, Kim Dickens, Denis O'Hare, and Jeff Perry. It is based on the true story of Lizzie Borden, who was accused and acquitted of the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. Sevigny also served as a co-producer.