‘Lizzie The Musical’ Off Broadway Engagement Axed Due To “Unforeseen Circumstances”

Off Broadway won’t be getting a whack at Lizzie The Musical this summer after all. Producers of the Lizzie Borden-inspired rock opera canceled a previously announced late-summer run at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

“We are so disappointed that this production will not happen at this time,” said producers Danita Thomas and John E. Thomas in a joint statement. “However, we hold out all hope for a production to come together at a future date.”

No reason was given for the cancellation other than “unforeseen circumstances.” Director Victoria Bussert, head of the music theater department at Ohio’s Baldwin Wallace University, where Lizzie originated as a student production, told The Cleveland Plain Dealer, “I’m terribly disappointed and my heart goes out to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen.”

Following the 2012 student production at Playhouse Square’s 14th Street Theatre in Cleveland, Bussert directed the show in subsequent productions in Denmark, London and Chicago. According to the Plain Dealer, prospective investors at a sneak peek on the BW campus in February were told the Thomases “were eyeing a Broadway opening in spring 2020.”

The New York Off Broadway production had been set to begin previews on the Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center July 19 and run through September 29. (Ticketholders will be refunded.)

Lizzie features music by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Alan Stevens Hewitt, lyrics by Cheslik-DeMeyer and Tim Maner, a book by Maner and choreography by Jaclyn Miller. The four-character New York cast was to have included Shannon O’Boyle (Kinky Boots) as the title character, Carrie Cimma as Bridget, Ciara Renée as Alice and Eden Espinosa as Emma (Espinosa and O’Boyle pictured above.)