Fall River Legend

[3] The playwright Edward Sheldon encouraged de Mille to use the Lizzie Borden story for a dance, following the success of her 1942 ballet Rodeo.

Still, the idea remained on de Mille’s mind and on her honeymoon she brought a copy of Edmund Pearson’s The Trial of Lizzie Borden.

De Mille worked closely with Gould to create Fall River Legend and the decision to end the ballet with a guilty verdict was one they came to together.

De Mille describes how this choice, “… would get over the exposition quickly and reveal that our heroine was in a very nasty predicament.”[8] De Mille made the decision not to show any violence on stage throughout the ballet, as she believed that violence on stage was “nearly always silly.”[9] Early in the ballet, a younger version of “The Accused” dances in a dream sequence with her mother, while the adult version of the character looks on.

[10] The original cast of Fall River Legend included: A March 24, 1957 episode of Omnibus presented a production of the ballet with Nora Kaye as "The Accused".