It’s really a wonderful thing when theater can comment on the world we live in. Even more remarkable when that piece is based on actual events and originally ran on Broadway back in the late 90s. Wednesday night I saw the New York City Center production of Parade by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown. The show only runs Nov 1-6, but what an impressive production director Michael Arden has mounted. I’ve known this show for years. When it originally came out, I’ll admit I was jealous of then 28 year old Jason Robert Brown as I was spending the 90s in the BMI Musical Theater Workshop as a composer/lyricist and had written my own Georgia musical with my writing partner…hoping I’d make it big on Broadway and here was this guy one year younger than me doing it. All of that jealousy quickly left as I became enamored by everything he wrote and played this CD over and over. The show only lasted a few months back in 1998/99 and no one has brought it back to New York since. Until now.
The great thing about the City Center productions are you are usually getting a concert version of a show that for whatever reason has been left behind or forgotten. They bring in incredible Broadway performers who learn the show in two weeks and put it up on its feet. What we witnessed this week felt like a full on show. Costumes, sets, lights, everything memorized…it’s as if they created this piece to try and move it back to Broadway after it’s run at City Center. Which wouldn’t be such a bad thing: the show deserves to be seen…as does this production.
Parade is based on the true story of Leo Frank. A NY Jewish man who moved to Georgia to be with his wife, put on trial for the death of a young girl and convicted in 1913..and lynched by a mob in 1915. So much of this hit me harder 24 years after it initially ran on Broadway. Not simply because there is so much anti-Semitism happening in America now, but because America is so divided. The show starts with the beautiful anthem “The Old Red Hills of Home” which encapsulates the souths love for…well…the south. They were/are passionate about their feelings for America and the values they hold. They were/are driven by the Civil War and what they truly believed they were fighting for. The RED HILLS jumped out at me as we are divided between Red & Blue states (as we march towards midterm elections). The mob mentality of what happened to Leo Frank is played out again and again in real time and on social media in 2022. So much of this show feels true to day even though the story took place over 100 years ago. I feel it’s such an important piece of theater that directly relates to what is happening in the world now.
The other reason this production works so well is the casting. I need to be honest and say I was a huge fan of Ben Platt from his movies and then Dear Evan Hansen. Somewhere after that…my feeling shifted and I was in a different camp on how I felt about him. I was nervous going to see this as I was worried what he and his vibrato would do with the role of Leo Frank. I can’t believe I even questioned it. He is absolutely wonderful in the role. He has matured over the years and is totally believable and heartbreaking in this role. He sings the songs gloriously and that vibrato has never sounded so sweet. Micaela Diamond (who I’ve only seen as young Cher in The Cher Show on Broadway) is stunning. I said last spring she should have been cast as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and after seeing this…I know she could have done all the comedy, drama, and singing in that show. She sounds amazing on this score and her portrayal of Leo’s wife is “southern strong” and incredible. The entire cast is full of Broadway’s “who’s who” and each of them are remarkable.
My one complaint of the evening is the darn set. Dane Laffrey has worked with director Michael Arden many times. Arden is actually listed under set design also. For some reason, they chose to put everything up on a platform and then in the middle of that platform, another raised playing area like a boxing ring with the cast watching from the side. The entire show is done up in the air. For those sitting down front, I’m sure they had strained necks. I was 7 rows back so it was a little better. Still it was a very odd choice. The worst part was, we missed out seeing the amazing orchestra lead by the composer himself. One of the highlights of the City Center shows is seeing the large orchestras they usually hire. They were hidden so far upstage behind this monstrosity of a set that the only way I knew the conductor had entered was when the balcony started to applaud.
It wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying this beautiful piece, shedding a few tears, and uncomfortably loving the evening of this very heartbreaking show. I hope that this production can bring more attention to a musical that takes a chance by telling a factual story from 1915 and holding up a mirror to the America of 2022.
Once again, I envy you. I've loved for years the original recording with Carolee Carmello and Brent Carver, and, even more, the concert version with the luminous Laura Benanti and the angelic and intense Jeremy Jordan; their ALL THE WASTED TIME is otherworldly.
Thank you for posting.