Country music star Jessica Nettles’ ambitious debut musical about a 17th century serial killer ends on a thrilling note. During the curtain call, the audience stands as if for the national anthem as Nettles leads the ensemble in “Higher,” which is indeed a rousing anthem, for female empowerment: “This is the moment when the hero is the girl,” they sing. “This is the beginning of a real happy ending.”  An especially rousing performance — one of several exciting musical numbers among the more than two dozen in the show (see sample videos below.) But the lyrics are befuddling: We’ve just seen Giulia burned at the stake and her practice of killing men passed onto the next generation. There is no indication that the juxtaposition is meant to be ironic; we’re made to believe that her execution was unjust, and we’re being spurred to cheer on mass murder.

Nettles, the star of the show as well as the composer, lyricist and librettist, tries to impress and galvanize in  “Giulia: The  Poison Queen of Palermo.” But the production at PAC NYC, directed by Mary Zimmerman,  appeals far more for its look and its sound than for its language and its story.

“Giulia” is inspired by what may be a true story, although historians widely dispute the details. In 1660, a group of women were prosecuted for selling a fatal poison called Aqua Tofana to (in one historian’s delectable phrase) women who wished to become widows. I suspect that part of what appealed to Nettles about this supposed history is that it almost tracks with the murder ballad tradition in country music, songs of women killing men. But Nettles has written a score that’s not in the country music tradition; the sounds are largely pop and opera (a “pop-eretta,” she calls it.)  And, fairly or not, theater lovers are most more likely to compare “Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo” to Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s  “Sweeney Todd.” But that bloody musical ultimately drives home a clear moral – that revenge never satisfies. 

There is little such nuance in “Giulia.” The men are almost all outright villains who deserve what they get. Chief among the villains are the syphilitic Cardinale (standout Quentin Earl Darrington) and  Governatore (Christopher M. Ramirez), the church and the state, who together run the patriarchy that conspires to keep women down.

We’re told of desperate times in Palermo, plagued by drought and epidemics, but the men don’t seem desperate; they are just evil. Giulia, who works as an apothecary to make ends meet, is abused by her husband Carlo (Matthew Amira), which she puts up with, until he begins to go after his stepdaughter Vitoria ( Naomi Serrano).  (See “Split Second Life Changing Moment” video in rehearsal of the moment that Giulia decides to kill.) Next, she offs Pietro (Andrew Kober) on behalf of his threatened wife Maria (Emily Fink.) And so it goes, becoming easier each time, but she draws the line at Duchessa (Didi Romero), who has simply tired of her husband; Giulia has her scruples:

Duchessa: I’ve heard you help women get out of their marriages
Giulia: Are you injured or in danger
Duchessa: Technically no
Giulia: Then technically I cannot help you

If this sounds darkly comic, it didn’t come off that way for me.

Father Paolo (Sam Simahk), the only decent man we meet, cautions Giulia: “There is so much more to tell/Than the world is black or white, wrong or right.”But Giulia doesn’t listen – and neither does Nettles.

This men-are-scum worldview would be more tolerable if Nettles were more witty about it. But so many attempts at levity are so cringe-worthy that one yearns for a return to the earnestness that weighs down much of the show. In the song ‘Happily Ever After,” ostensibly a celebration of the marriage engagement of Giulia’s shop assistant Renata (Aubrey Matalon) each woman in turn talks about how awful her husband is, including this gem about an affluent butcher:  

He made a fortune selling meat
But his meat was a total flop

(Are we meant to understand this as a good reason to kill him?)

Given how much of the language feels like a work-in-progress, the design stands out, both inventive and classical. Indeed, can it really be a coincidence that several scenes provoked memories of the paintings of  Artemisia Gentileschi, who was not just an Italian Baroque painter; she specialized in portraits of women killing men, such as the Biblical story ofJudith Slaying Holofernes.

Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo
Perelman Performing Arts Center through August 2
Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes including intermission
Tickets: $109 – $218
Written by Jennifer Nettles
Choreographed by Austin McCormick
Directed by Mary Zimmerman
Scenie design by Daniel Ostling, costume design by Ana Kuzmanic, lighting design by TJ Gerckens, sound design by Palmer Hefferan, hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe, makeup design by Rachael Geier, music director and arranger Adam Rothernberg, orchestrator Cian McCarthy.
Cast: Matthew Amira (Carlo), Quentin Earl Darrington (Cardinale), Emily Fink (Maria), Bre Jackson (La Capitana), Andrew Kober (Pietro), Aubrey Matalon (Renata), Christopher M. Ramirez (Governatore), Didi Romero (Duchessa), Jessica Rush (Standby for Giulia and Duchessa), Jamila Sabares-Klemm (Ensemble), Naomi Serrano (Vitoria), Sam Simahk (Father Paolo) and Maya Sistruck (Ensemble). Kim Onah and Kaleb Wells serve as understudies.

The Duchessa (Didi Romero)