Photos by Joan Marcus
Parades are usually synonymous with floats, frivolity, and maybe some flag-waving. By design, however, the Parade currently marching through the Kennedy Center—the final stop of the 2023 Broadway revival’s national tour—has none of the frivolity and just one particular flag. Indeed, the opening scenes are filled with Confederate flags waved with ominous enthusiasm as a young Jewish couple gets ready for Confederate Memorial Day in early 1900’s Georgia. While native Georgian, Lucille Frank, is dismissive of her Brooklyn-born husband, Leo Frank’s, disquietude, the gathering crowd’s fervent nostalgia for the good ol’ days of the Confederate South are an early clue that Frank has every reason to be anxious. Or, as Frank sings in one of the show’s lyrical high points, “How Can I Call This Home”: “It’s like a foreign land; I didn’t understand that being southern’s not just being in the South.”
As the plot unfolds, Frank gets a crash course in this lesson. He is accused of a horrific crime against a child and spends the show fighting for his innocence and for his life against a backdrop of antisemitism and in a community that’s hungry for an easy scapegoat—evidence be damned. While Parade is far from the only musical to tackle weighty issues, it may be one of the few to do so without any moments of levity or at least a good dance break. And while this reviewer did not have anxiety-breathing on her theater-night-out bingo card, such discomfort is, of course, the whole point of retelling this grim true story. On that score, this production nails it.
Max Chernin plays Leo Frank with the solemn commitment that embodying a character based on a real-life figure demands. While his chemistry with Talia Suskauer (Lucille Frank) is a bit lacking, his voice is gorgeous and his admiration for his wife in “This Is Not Over Yet” is perhaps the most palpably hopeful moment of the show. Another standout in the cast includes Jack Roden. Roden plays Frankie Epps—a friend and wannabe boyfriend of the deceased child, Mary Phagan (played by a rather haunting Olivia Goosman). His earnest regrets over being unable to protect Mary make him more than willing to fan the flames of rumor and hatred surrounding Leo Frank. Ramone Nelson also shines as Jim Conley, a janitor in the pencil factory where Leo Frank works, who serves as key witness against him.
While Parade doesn’t have a plethora of earworm melodies (the chillingly sinister “The Factory Girls” being a notable exception that’s wonderfully staged), it does have some great lyrics from the talented Jason Robert Brown (music & lyrics). Unfortunately, those were largely difficult to hear. That difficulty may have been partly from the affected Southern drawls of the characters, but it was surely also because of some sound mixing issues that sometimes made it difficult to hear certain characters above the orchestra. Still, the audible rest of the show give the audience more than enough for a gripping and relevant tale of faith, the dangers of mob mentality, and justice delayed and denied.
As noted at the end of the show, the real Leo Frank’s case was reopened in 2019 and is still ongoing.
FINAL GRADE: B
Parade runs through September 7th at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. Tickets range from $49.00 – $159.00 Running time is 2 Hours and 30 minutes with one intermission. To purchase tickets, click HERE
A limited number of $39 Rush tickets will be available for every performance at the Kennedy Center Box Office the day of the performance. Rush tickets become available 2 hours prior to each performance. Tickets are subject to availability and have no guaranteed location. 2 ticket max per person. Available to purchase in person only. Void if resold.
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