London finally gets to join the Parade

 Artistic Director Michael Grandage has announced that the new season at London's Donmar Warehouse will include the Jason Robert Brown/Alfred Urhy musical "Parade". This will be the long overdue West End premiere of one of the most controversial and powerful pieces of musical theatre to have graced a Broadway stage during the 1990s.  

A true story set in Atlanta, Georgia in 1913, "Parade" tells the story of Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-born Jew who was falsely accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, a young girl working in the factory he managed. It also focuses on the heartbreaking love story between Frank and his wife, Lucille, which was seriously restrained before the crisis but grew ever stronger as Lucille launched a heroic campaign to save his life. The musical takes its title from the annual parade held on Confederate Memorial Day, which was the day on which the murder took place. Amidst this background of Southern jingoism, a vitriolic press stirred up the emotions of the population, prompting them to take the law into their own hands. Even today the controversy surrounding the Leo Frank trial divides opinions of people in the American South.  

"Parade" opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in New York on December 17, 1998, directed by Hal Prince, with a book by Alfred Uhry ("Driving Miss Daisy") and a score by the then relatively unknown Jason Robert Brown ("Songs For A New World", "The Last Five Years"). Although it ran for just a few months, it was nominated for 9 Tonys, winning awards for Best Book and Best Music and Lyrics. It has since gained a huge cult following and the score is regarded by many as one of the finest in Broadway history. Jason Robert Brown has achieved huge popularity in London in recent years, following a prestigious presentation of his "Songs For A New World" at the Bridewell Theatre, two resoundingly successful solo concerts at the New Players Theatre and the excellent production of "The Last Five Years" at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2006. 

  No casting has yet been announced for the Donmar production, which will open on September 24, following previews from September 14, but Grandage announced that the show will be the directorial debut of Rob Ashford (Grandage's choreographer on productions such as "Guys and Dolls" and "Evita").   It has been a long wait for the Broadway-West End transfer of this musical masterpiece, perhaps eliciting comments from its many fans of "All The Wasted Time" (to quote the title of the show's major love duet, itself a master class in musical theatre song-writing). The wait is almost over and I am sure this will now become the most eagerly anticipated West End musical production of 2007.

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