Lizzie the musical at Southwark Playhouse Elephant - some little moments that I love, part 2/?
Previously: [Part 1]
We left off with Bridget announcing that it was time for Mrs Borden’s tea :)
Shattercane and Velvetgrass:
THIS IS MY JAM
Bridget brings in a tray with a teapot and associated accoutrements and starts singing about making tea while Lizzie reads aloud from a book on household poisons and forms a bright idea
Their voices are so gorgeous together
The last(?) time they do the chorus, Lizzie brings down the teapot dramatically and it hits the beat just right and it’s super satisfying
Bridget gives it her ALL in the last verse. FIRE BURN and TOIL.
A fun thing I notice on the final night in London sitting in the right-hand balcony: while Bridget and Lizzie perform this educational masterpiece about poisons and teas, a shadowy figure stands in the aisle separating the middle section of the audience from the left section and leaves after a little bit. It’s Emma! There is no spotlight on her so I only realise it is her because she lets in a little light when she opens the door to enter and leave the theatre.
(Tbh my initial interpretation was that Bridget was cheerfully planting the idea of poisoning the Bordens in Lizzie’s head of her own volition, but I’m not mad about this revelation)
2. ‘To...clean a stain?’
Lizzie x Lying is a close second to Lizzie x Alice for me.
Quick break for me to gush about Lauren Drew’s performance as Lizzie because this feels as good a time as any! I just love the physical ways in which she conveys how deeply awkward Lizzie is – her posture is terrible and she blinks a lot when she’s nervous. It’s in her manner of speech as well and I just find it so compelling. At the same time, we obviously get these powerhouse vocals when she’s singing about her feelings – the contrast is fascinating.
3. Alice makes good on the invitation from this morning and comes over to hang out! Lizzie says she’s sorry but she must go to Benson’s Pharmacy.
‘Why?’ – Alice sounds so unguardedly baffled and offended and I personally find this hilarious.
4. ‘Are you well?’ is Alice’s first reaction to Lizzie freaking out about Alice calling Mrs Borden Lizzie’s mother
She cares about her so much, I wail
5. Lizzie in Kronk mode is one of my favourite things. The milk, the milk that comes in a can, the milk that leaves behind an empty can. The canned milk.
6. That awkward moment when the girl next door – in a kindhearted attempt to ease your mind! because she loves you! – casually pokes holes in your plot to poison your stepmother and you have to pivot and talk about your struggles with sleeping at night.
7. Will You Stay:
So! Much! Anticipation!
How does one sing these suggestive lyrics about gathering ripening pears in skirts and biting through skin to the sweet flesh within while smiling (and sounding) like an angel? How?!
Alice sings, ‘let me bring back your smile’ and it does actually bring a tiny smile to Lizzie’s face :)
Lizzie says she has to go and things escalate rapidly
IT’S JEALOUS PEAR TIME
Maiya’s delivery of ‘she’s always eaten ingreathaste’!!!
And also the vocal acrobatics in ‘will you bite through the skiiiiiiiiiiiin’
Alice literally guides Lizzie’s hands down her neck and her torso and the whole time I panic while gay.
(NOT to be mistaken for the strategy of legal defence where a straight person argues that they found a purported same-sex advance so horrifying that they reflexively reacted violently!)
Alice promises to keep Lizzie safe while she sleeps. She has this cute smile when she ducks her head and says she’ll keep one eye open half the time
8. AND THEN THEY ARE CONSUMED WITH PASSION AND KISS FOR SEVERAL SECONDS AND THEN BREAK APART AND KISS AGAIN
I have Notes from watching this from multiple angles
Hands-down the funniest view was when I was in the front row in the central block but at the last seat from the right and so could not see the actual kissing and just admired the braids in Alice’s hair the entire time
I have seen some clips from other productions on Youtube where it kind of looks like Alice is pushing Lizzie into the kiss? Happy to report that this is not the case here! They both lean in. Maybe Alice leans in a tiny bit more / first but Lizzie is definitely enthusiastic and wraps her arms around Alice. HA.
9. Alas, Bridget comes in bearing bad news and a bagful of dead pigeons.
10. Why Are All These Heads Off:
Somehow, another banger!
‘Wait, wait, wait! Everything is fine Lizzie, we will find a better way’ – there is audible laughter from the audience at this on the last night and, well, I get it.
A fleeting moment of peace as Alice presses her forehead to Lizzie’s
A tug-of-war between Alice and Bridget before Lizzie strides forward in the middle and makes her choice
‘I'm standing looking forward in the dark / A feeling brushes past me / And I know the wind has changed’ – it’s like Lizzie's carving these words into stone. CHILLS.
11. Mercury Rising: the lyrics are so archaic and poetic. More chills.
12. Somebody Will Do Something:
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bridget whips out her microphone to announce that Mrs Borden is ‘ALL…BY…HERSELF’
‘AXE FALL RIVER RUNS RED’ is amazing to witness up close (the upshot of missing the kiss!)
‘My eyes they never saw it / But my hands they found the axe’ – BRIDGET is the one to hand Lizzie the axe – I don’t know if this is how they do it in all productions, but I love how integral she is to everything here.
There’s also something about the practised way in which Bridget shifts her grip on the axe just a little bit when giving it to Lizzie that has stuck with me!
Lizzie darts offstage to look for her stepmother
(A quick note on the staging: there’s a doorway with sliding…doors at the centre of the stage. For this scene, the doors are open and there are PVC strip curtains hanging from the doorway. You can see this in the eighth picture in thegirl20’s lovely collection of production photos here: [link])
Lizzie attacks Mrs Borden with her axe behind the PVC strip curtains while the 40 whacks rhyme is projected onto the wall
Another fun thing I notice while sitting upstairs: Shekinah and Maiya pop up in the balcony and sing about being afraid somebody will do something and that somebody will dieeeeeee! Such rockstars!
‘OOH Miss Lizzie you startled me’ is Bridget’s v chill response to Lizzie when she emerges from the murder curtains with blood all over her. Bridget’s reactions and harmonies are always top-notch.
Lizzie sounds so exhausted and on the edge when she says she might go out too. I know she's just violently killed her stepmother, but I do also want someone to wrap her in a blanket and give her some cookies (maybe no coffee).
Anyway, one final push! ‘HE’LL WISH HE’D HAD THAT SON,’ Lizzie declares to the balcony while holding aloft her axe.
Lizzie murders her father as well and immediately asks Bridget to summon Miss Russell because she does not want to be alone.
13. Lauren Drew looks really, really good covered in fake blood.
It’s time for the interval!
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I love Hit Bite Love. *long post*
In the most unironic way, I'm intrigued by this scorching hot mess. The subtitles are nonsense. The product placements are wild. The plots are questionable. However, episode zero proved that this crew did its homework and aced Kink 101, which is why I love it! It's cringe, but it's cringe with a heart.
We have the A+ plot with Burger and King (who were missing this week), but we also have Lil' Dom Daddy Masochist, Mateo, who is doing it the best I've seen. Mateo talked about puppy play, blade play, needle play, wax play, bondage, impact play, consent, and AFTERCARE! And he mentioned that play does not equal sex. And AND he gently explains to Shogun what is happening. And AND AND he isn't ashamed of his kinks.
They lost the key which is the introduction lesson in Kink 101 and resulted in them ending up in the ER where King's mom lectured them about being safe, but Mateo has got the spirit. Also, I loved that when Mateo hung up the phone and announced his mother was coming over, Shogun merely told him that he needed to clean his room.
I thought Mateo was going to regret picking Shogun as a playmate after Shogun compared Mateo's toys to a story about a queen and a princess.
And I think even Mateo thought twice about it.
But a product placement quota had to be met, so Mateo decided to continue with the play date and taught Shogun the importance of aftercare. He wasn't expecting Shogun to reciprocate. He simply wanted to value Shogun and care for him like a good Lil' Dom Dom.
Plus he reminds Shogun to be kind to himself. Ken was emotionally abusive to Shogun, and here we have Lil' Dom Daddy Masochist telling Shogun that he is special, and that Shogun should believe it as well.
Mateo bought every instrument Shogun wanted. He didn't get the teacher, but that wasn't the deal, so even though this started strange, it's equally beneficial, and the limits can always be negotiated. Shogun hears how other playmates are, which helps him see how compatible he is with Mateo. Shogun doesn't have to role play or clean as punishment. Mateo just tells him he is pretty and buys him things in exchange for him tying Mateo up and gagging him. That's a win in my book!
Also, Mateo has friends.
He is aware of what is going on (that comment about Saint already having an extension of himself around 24/7 = Hida), but listens to them rather than judges.
And he helped Hida remain the constant barrier between Saint and his girlfriend for at least six more years. What a trifling bitch Hida is. Don't change, babygirl.
I like the objectionable parts (Hida x Saint) of this show as much as I like the sweet ones (Burger x King).
But I really like this kinkster!
M is for Mateo Masochist
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Other than Matt ripping my heart into pieces, the rest of the episode was amazing.
I loved the way Fearne and FCG said "fuck it" to the airship plan, and trusted Ira to get Xandis out of the ship safely.
How they basically used a Trojan Horse to infiltrate, with Imogen girlbosssing her way through.
The locket! How Matt reminds everyone that not every enemy is an evil villain, some of them have families, and reasons to be there that they think are right for them...
FCG almost killing Ryn... welp. I guess she doesn't need that arm, even if she makes it out alive. Her friend Allura could probably recommend her a certain tinkerer who could probably make her an arm, tho.
Imogen almost turned Liliana against Ludinus!!! If it hadn't been for that bad roll, I think a lot would have been different, and that is the beauty of D&D.
I'm excited to see the new party split, especially with FCG and Chet being so far north. I hope we finally get to learn some Chet lore, and, who knows, maybe an Aeor visit for FCG???
I'm excited about the possibility that Orym, Ash, and Laudna being in Tal'Dorei. Matt mentioned things happening to Opal, so I'm hoping we might get a Dorian and Opal return?
The next few weeks are going to be a rollercoaster, and I'm so not ready for it, but at the same time, I am.
FUCK! I LOVE CRITICAL ROLE! <3 Is it Thursday yet? T_T
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