PARADE On Broadway

All the Wasted Time

PARADE. Book by Alfred Uhry. Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown.

Parade, which first debuted on Broadway in 1999, is based on the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man married to a Southern Jewish woman and living in Georgia. He is accused of murdering a young girl who worked in the factory where he was superindendent. Due to anti-Semitism and politics, Frank winds up being railroaded for a crime he didn't commit. (Books which examine the case pretty much make it clear that Frank was not guilty.) Parade was revived by City Center's Encore series, where it was so well-received that it moved to Broadway, where I saw it last week.

Diamond and Platt

I consider Parade to be a modern masterpiece of musical theater, with a great and eclectic score that consists of jazz, ballads, love duets (such as the beautiful All the Wasted Time) and the rousing martial The Old Red Hills of Home. There is a large and very talented cast, led by Ben Platt as Leo and Micaela Diamond as his wife, Lucille. Both of them, especially Diamond, give excellent and sensitive performances. (It may have been a fluke during the performance I saw, but Platt seemed a little perfunctory at the climax, but otherwise was fine.) The show was very well-staged and directed, with the orchestra bringing Brown's score to life with vibrant effectiveness. 

The story has been filmed several times: They Won't Forget (1937) starring Claude Rains (although his character is not revealed to be Jewish); The People vs. Leo Frank (2009), and The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988 telefilm), with Peter Gallagher as Frank and Jack Lemmon as the governor, as well as several documentaries on the case. 

Verdict: An exciting, tuneful and moving evening on Broadway. ****.