Review: PARADE at Connor Palace/Key Bank Series

PARADE, which is now on stage at the Palace Theatre as part of the Key Bank Broadway series, is a musical with a book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown.
 
It is a dramatization of the 1913 trial and imprisonment, and 1915 lynching, of Jewish-American Leo Frank.

But the story goes well-beyond what appears on stage.  Besides encapsulating the pain of American history, and paying homage to a man convicted and murdered for a crime he did not commit, it lays forth the tale that reinvigorated the Ku Klux Klan and brought about the birth of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish international non-government organization based on civil rights law and the defense against the defamation of Jewish people.

The musical premiered on Broadway in December, 1998, and won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score.  

The show was Brown's first Broadway production. The show’s music, has been noted as, "subtle and appealing melodies that draw on a variety of influences, from pop-rock to folk to rhythm and blues and gospel.”  The intriguing sounds and words are one of the most superb story-telling blending of melodies and compositions yet created in the dramatic tales presently being highlighted on theatrical stages.  

Like such modern classics as RENT, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, CABARET, A CHORUS LINE, NEXT TO NORMAL, COME FROM AWAY, RAGTIME and HAMILTON, PARADE uses the art form to tell a tale of significant importance.  

While other musical dramas take-on mental health, historical events, social causes, and sexual orientation this script confronts the modern-day angst of prejudice.

PARADE takes the audience from the events which lead up to, and then through the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, a New York-native who is the superintendent of a pencil factory in Atlanta, who was convicted of the murder of a 13-year-old girl.
 
With Frank convicted in the first act, the second act takes us through the appeals of the verdict and his ultimate murder. 
 
When, in 1915, Frank's death sentence was commuted to life in prison by the departing Governor of Georgia, John M. Slaton, due to his detailed review of over 10,000 pages of testimony and possible problems with the trial, Leo Frank was transferred to a prison in Milledgeville, Georgia, where a lynching party kidnapped him. Frank was taken to the victim’s hometown of Marietta, Georgia, and hanged from an oak tree. 

The musical's story implies that the likely killer was the factory janitor Jim Conley, the key witness against Frank at the trial. The other villains of the piece are the ambitious and corrupt prosecutor Hugh Dorsey (later the governor of Georgia and then a judge) and the rabidly antisemitic publisher Tom Watson (later elected a U.S. senator).

The touring company, a follow-up to the show’s recent Broadway revival, is meticulously staged by Tony Award winning director, Michael Arden.   He has taken the rewritten script and added his own interpretation of the staging concept.

Shaker Heights native, Max Chernin, is nothing less that astounding as Leo Frank.  He does not portray the character; he inhabits his persona.  His up-tight, hand-wringing, Yankee frustration with Southern tradition, especially the Jewish southern attitudes, is encompassing.  He does not give a copy of Ben Platt, who recently played the role in the 2023 Broadway revival, he presents his own impressive interpretation.  His vocals "How Can I Call This Home?" and "It's Hard to Speak My Heart!" were spell-binding.

Though, at times, it seems like Talia Suskauer, who plays Franks wife, Lucille, shows little depth of love for her husband, her powerful “You Don’t Know This Man,” is a show highlight.

The rest of cast forms an excellent support for the tale, with strong southern values and loyalties.  The vocalizations are all excellent.

Dane Laffrey’s set, which uses every inch of the stage, seems too busy, large and overly decorated for the space, giving an almost a cluttered feeling. 

Capsule judgment:  In the present era of rising antisemitism in this country, PARADE stands as a vivid reminder of the past history of such hideous actions.  The touring company, headed by local actor Max Chernin, is a compelling production that deserves respect and accolades by paying homage to the pain of prejudice.

PARADE continues through February 23, 2024.  Tickets are currently still available for all performances and can be purchased by calling 216-241-6000 or online at playhousesquare.org