Overview
Synopsis
Parade tells the heart-wrenching, true story of Leo Frank: a Brooklyn-raised Jewish man living in Atlanta who was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of his thirteen-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in 1913. Because Frank’s trial was replete with faulty testimony and lacked any clear evidence, Georgia’s governor eventually commuted his sentence from death to life imprisonment. Despite this ruling, a lynch mob hanged Frank in Mary Phagan’s hometown of Marietta, Georgia. The momentous case drew national attention to Anti-Semitism, and was pivotal to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as well as the reviving of the Ku Klux Klan in the South. With a characteristically rich, intricate, and wide-ranging score penned by Jason Robert Brown, and a bold willingness to dive into the complexities of early 20th century social relationships in the South, Parade is a sophisticated, dark tale with endless depths for a highly skilled company of actors and musicians to plumb.
Show Information
Context
Parade opened on Broadway on December 17, 1998, to mixed reviews, closing after only 39 previews and 84 performances. Despite the lukewarm press, the musical won the 1999 Tony Awards for both Best Book (Alfred Uhry) and Best Original Score (Jason Robert Brown). In 2007, a reworked version of the show opened at the Donmar Warehouse in London. This production significantly downsized the company from 51 actors and musicians to 24, in addition to cutting some songs and adding at least one new
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ACT ONE
The scene opens on a young Confederate soldier standing alone in a field in Marietta, Georgia, in 1862 bidding farewell to his beloved Lila. He sings about fighting for safety and peace in Marietta, working to protect the purity of the Southern way of life from the “lies” taught by the North (“The Old Red Hills of Home”). Time then fast forwards 51 years to 1913 and the hustle and bustle of preparations for the Confederate Memorial Day parade in Atlanta. We meet the same soldier,
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Character Portrayals
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Songs
Act One
- "The Old Red Hills of Home: Part 1" – Young Confederate Soldier
- "The Old Red Hills of Home: Part 2" – Old Confederate Soldier and Townspeople
- "The Dream of Atlanta" – Townspeople
- "How Can I Call This Home?" – Leo Frank and Townspeople
- "The Picture Show" – Mary Phagan and Frankie Epps
- "Leo At Work" / "What Am I Waiting For?" – Leo Frank and Lucille Frank
- "Interrogation: "I Am Trying to Remember..." – Newt Lee, Leo Frank, Detective Starnes, Officer Ivey, Mrs. Phagan, Lizzie Phagan and Young Policeman
- "Big News!" – Britt Craig
- "Funeral: There is a Fountain" / "It Don't Make Sense" –Frankie Epps, Britt Craig, Iola Stover, Essie, Monteen, Prison Guard, Lizzie Phagan and Townspeople
- "Watson's Lullaby" – Tom Watson
- "Somethin' Ain't Right" – Hugh Dorsey, Detective Starnes and Officer Ivey
- "Real Big News" – Britt Craig and Townspeople
- "You Don't Know This Man" – Lucille Frank
- "Trial Part I: People of Atlanta" – Fiddling John, Tom Watson and Townspeople
- "Trial Part II: Dorsey's Statement: Twenty Miles From Marietta" – Hugh Dorsey
- "Trial Part III: Frankie's Testimony" – Frankie Epps and Mary Phagan
- "Trial Part IV: Factory Girls/Come Up to My Office" – Iola Stover, Essie, Monteen and Leo Frank
- "Trial Part V: Newt Lee's Testimony" – Newt Lee
- "Trial Part VI: My Child Will Forgive Me" – Mrs. Phagan
- "Trial Part VII: That's What He Said" – Jim Conley, Townspeople, Randy, Fiddling John and Lizzie Phagan
- "Trial Part VIII: Leo's Statement: It's Hard to Speak My Heart" – Leo Frank
- "Trial Part IX: Summation and Cakewalk" – Hugh Dorsey, Judge Roan, Jury Foreman, Jurors and Townspeople
Act Two
- "Rumblin' and a Rollin'" – Riley, Angela, Jim Conley and Newt Lee
- "Do it Alone" – Lucille Frank
- "Pretty Music" – Governor John Slaton
- "Letter to the Governor"– Nurse and Judge Roan
- “This is Not Over Yet” -- Leo Frank, Lucille Frank and Prison Guard
- "The Factory Girls" (Reprise) – Iola Stover, Essie and Monteen
- "Newt Lee" (Reprise) – Governor John Slaton, Lucille Frank and Newt Lee
- "Blues: Feel the Rain Fall" – Jim Conley, Chain Gang, Governor John Slaton and Chain Gang Guard
- "Where Will You Stand When the Flood Comes?" – Tom Watson, Hugh Dorsey, Mrs. Phagan, Britt Craig and Townspeople
- "All the Wasted Time" – Leo Frank and Lucille Frank
- "Abduction" – Leo Frank, The Old Confederate Soldier, Frankie Epps, Detective Starnes and Officer Ivey
- "Sh'ma" – Leo Frank
- "Finale" – Lucille Frank, Leo Frank, Frankie Epps, Mary Phagan and Full Company
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
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