Parade

Musical

Writers: Alfred Uhry Jason Robert Brown

Overview

Show Information

Category
Musical
Number of Acts
2
First Produced
1999
Genres
Drama, Historical/Biographical
Settings
Multiple Settings
Time & Place
late 19th to early 20th century
Cast Size
large
Orchestra Size
Medium
Dancing
None
Casting Notes
Mostly male cast
Includes early teen, late teen, elderly, young adult, adult, mature adult, child characters

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.

Lead Characters


Parade guide sections