The Tony-winning PARADE holds court March 25 – 30. It’s as timely as ever.

In an Atlanta suburb, a young girl is brutally murdered.

The man accused is Jewish, leading to an antisemitic fervor among locals.

And the ambitious reporter with the scoop is more concerned with advancing his career than with the truth.

A “ripped-from-the-headlines” episode of Dateline?

Could be, but it’s also the true story of the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old pencil factory worker; Leo Frank, the Brooklyn-raised Jewish manager of that Marietta, Georgia factory; and everyone caught up in the scandal.   

With Parade, which premiered on Broadway in 1998, 21-time Tony Award-winning legend Hal Prince, Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) and Jason Robert Brown (The Bridges of Madison County) turned tragedy into art.

A new version, helmed by Michael Arden (who won a Tony for his direction), plays the Belk Theater March 25 – 30. The show also won the 2023 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

Brown, a three-time Tony winner, wrote the music and lyrics; Prince directed; and Uhry – winner of a Pulitzer, an Oscar and two Tonys – wrote the book.

(Max Chernin (center) and company in the National Tour of PARADE, photo by Joan Marcus) 

Uhry grew up in Atlanta in the 1940s and has said his family never discussed the Frank case. It’s an ugly chapter in the city’s history that many wanted to avoid.

But since history has a way of repeating itself, it’s important to examine what can happen when there’s a rush to judgment. And when someone’s religion makes them a target for persecution.

The power of the press

A media circus impacted Frank’s trial, said Michael Tacconi (Broadway: West Side Story, The Cher Show), who plays Britt Craig, the newsman who broke the story. Craig, he said, “got lucky by being outside the factory the night Mary’s body was discovered. He pushes the most salacious – not necessarily the truest – rumors spinning around Leo.”

(The National Touring Company of PARADE, photo by Joan Marcus)

Much has been written about the media’s impact on the tragedy. In a New York Public Library for the Performing Arts blog, Douglas Reside wrote that the “Atlanta press sensationalized and politicized the … trial in a way that arguably contributed to Frank’s conviction.”

And the New York Theatre Guide said Craig’s reporting “churned up antisemitism.” In the song, “Real Big News,” Craig admits to as much: “My career has been revived; all I needed was a snippy, pissy Yankee all along!”

The court of public opinion

That “Yankee” had moved with his wife, Lucille, to Georgia in search of a better life. What the couple found was intolerance.

And even though Georgia Gov. John Slaton believed in Frank’s innocence, that wasn’t enough to overcome a janitor’s false testimony and the media blitz. Frank was the last person known to see Mary alive, and as an educated outsider – and a Jew – he was an easy scapegoat.

(Chris Shyer (center) and company in the National Tour of PARADE, photo by Joan Marcus)

Like any crime drama, this one has a trial sequence – one Tacconi likens to a moving train.

“There’s great forward momentum to it and so many talented actors performing,” he said. “We have a cast of 33, and even our understudies and swings have voices beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.”

His two favorite songs from Parade are Leo-and-Lucille duets. “All the Wasted Time” comes near the end of the show when the couple “sees each other anew after a tumultuous time, and it’s a beautiful moment that audiences consistently find very moving.”

He calls “This Is Not Over Yet” an “incredible, driving, hopeful song that blows the rafters off every theater.”

(Talia Suskauer and Max Chernin in the National Tour of PARADE, photo by Joan Marcus)

 

‘Beauty and tragedy’

Once the public has been whipped into a frenzy, it leads to dangerous “groupthink,” Tacconi said. And that leads the townspeople to inflict their own violent version of justice to the accused.

“This is a heavy show to do every night, and that affects you,” Tacconi said. “It’s also a really powerful story, and we try to embrace the joy of telling it.”

(Max Chernin and company in the National Tour of PARADE, photo by Joan Marcus)

The audience feels the power of it, too. 

“The story moves in and out of beauty and tragedy,” Tacconi said. “And the audience seems to be riding the wave with us.”

In the instant the lights come up, many are still processing what they’ve seen. Tacconi, who saw the show on Broadway, knows how the show resonates – even after you’ve left the theater.

“When it was over, I went to find a friend who was in the cast,” he said. “Soon after we started talking, I got choked up. I didn’t realize my emotions were so close to the surface, but it was like a wave hitting me. It’s very thought-provoking. It may not hit you in the theater – but watch out on the ride home.”