BROKEN JUSTICE // A THEATRE REVIEW OF “PARADE”
BY MATEO MORENO
On April 26th, 1913, a young girl named Mary Phagan was strangled and murdered in the basement of the National Pencil Factory. A few months later, on August 25th, a guilty verdict was handed down to one Leo Frank, the director of the pencil factory. The case became a sensation, gaining National Attention, and Leo Frank continuingly maintained his innocence. The Governor of Atlanta John M. Slaton commuted Frank’s sentence to life in prison after reviewing the case, which was nothing short of a circus. Believing that an injustice had taken place, a ground of vigilantes then broke into the cell of Leo Frank, dragged him to a tree and hung him in a public lynching. The case of Leo Frank, which by most modern histories believe was a sham of a trial and that Frank was indeed innocent, and his public lynching has become a fixture in the conversation of improper justice and even spurred the creation of the “Anti-Defamation League,” since the trail and conviction was based around Frank being Jewish and was surrounded by anti-Semitism. Over the years, Leo’s story has been revisited and retold and in 1998 Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s musical PARADE, which dramatized the Leo Frank case, premiered on Broadway and became an instant classic, and cemented Jason Robert Brown as a musical theatre staple. In 2023, a Broadway revival, restaged by Michael Arden, premiered and won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. That version is now on tour and playing at Kansas City’s Kauffman Center through Feb. 2nd.
This glorious production stars Max Chernin as Leo Frank and Talia Suskauer as Lucille Frank, his determined wife who played a very key role in getting his sentenced commuted. Arden stages this moving piece not with splash or over production but with subtlety and grace. Beautiful projections (designed by Sven Ortel) fill us in on where we are while the center of the stage is raised to hold the main action of the moment. The lighting design by Heather Gilbert is also striking, beautifully capturing the emotion onstage. The story begins during the American Civil War, and we see an unnamed soldier and woman lying together as he bids farewell to his love, heading off to war. We then jump to 1913 and see that same soldier as an older veteran preparing to march in the Confederate Memorial Day Parade. We meet Leo Frank, a young Jewish man who has relocated to Georgia from New York City and is not feeling at home in any way. His wife Lucille, who is also Jewish, is fully embracing the way of Southern life but Leo seems like a fish out of water, wanting to hold onto his Judaism and culture while no one else around him seems to want to. His wife longs for a closeness that her husband doesn’t seem to be willing to give, as he is constantly wrapped up in himself and his own work. While at work at the factory, a young girl, Mary Phagan (Olivia Goosman) comes by the factory and asks Leo for her pay. We don’t see the end of their interaction until much later in the piece. For now, we jump forward to the evening, when Police show up at the Frank home, asking Leo to come with them. They inform him that a young girl has died at the factory and that they are questioning the night watchman Newt Lee (Robert Knight). Soon though, they arrest Leo and charge him for the murder, not based on evidence but on pressure to wrap up the case and make an example out of someone.
We then follow the trial, the verdict and the two years of appeals from the Frank family, ending with the unlawful and horrendous lynching of Leo Frank. The score, by Jason Robert Brown, is lush, haunting and bold, capturing the fervor of the moment and showcasing the anti-Semitism and racism that took the place of justice, something that is still far too relevant today. Even though nearly all historians believe that Leo Frank was innocent of it all, his name still hasn’t been cleared to this day, even after the case was reopened in 2019. Max Chernin, as Leo, perfectly encapsulates the role, adding real humanity and delicacy, never overplaying any moment. He was a standby on the recent Broadway production and though I didn’t get a chance to see Ben Platt as Leo there, I can’t imagine how it would top this stunningly understated performance. Talia Suskauer is also wonderfully understated, showcasing quiet strength and resilience in her performance. Both sing beautifully and tackle the tough material with aplomb. The rest of the ensemble all have moments when they shine and by the end of the evening we’re left with both beauty and a bitter taste. How could something this vile, this outrageous still be something we can connect to our modern day? How have we come so far, yet not that far at all? Seeing a tremendous piece of theatre like this may not give you an easy ride home, but it will stick with you and hopefully open your eyes up to what still must be done, and how we still have so far to go.
GRADE: A
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY Jason Robert Brown BOOK BY Alfred Uhry CO-CONCIEVED BY Harold Prince DIRECTED BY Michael Arden STARRING Max Chernin, Talia Suskauer, Griffin Binnicker, Evan Harrington, Ramone Nelson, Jack Roden, Andrew Samonsky, Chris Shyer, Michael Tacconi. NOW ON TOUR AND CURRENTLY PLAYING AT THE KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS THROUGH FEB 2ND. FOR TICKETS: TOUR TICKETS