Seat Filler: Best NYC Theater of 2009

7. Lizzie Borden
Part drawing-room period drama and part Spring Awakening–inspired rock concert with gratuitous handheld microphones, this bloody good musical at the Living Theatre balanced a sharp camp edge with seriously killer songs. Tim Maner, Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, and Alan Stevens Hewitt’s low-budget yet high-quality show not only assumed the notorious spinster’s ax-swinging guilt on that fateful 1892 summer day but also suggested that Alice Russell — the neighbor whom Lizzie “always received upstairs,” according to her murder trial testimony — was her lesbian lover! As Liz, Jenny Fellner led the fearless female cast of four, which included Carrie Cimma as Bridget, the butch Irish maid.