By Julie-Anne Whitney
‘Parade’ – Book by Alfred Uhry, Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown; Produced by Sharman Altshuler; Directed by Jason Modica; Music Direction by Catherine Stornetta; Choreography by Kira Trolio; Set Design by Lindsay Fuori; Lighting Design by Steve Shack; Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Stage Managed by Cesara Walters; Dramaturgy by Allison Olivia Choat; Presented by Moonbox Productions at the Boston Center for the Arts (Roberts Theatre) through December 28, 2019.
In the early hours of August 17, 1915, a rabble of twenty-five men stormed a prison farm in Milledgeville, Georgia and captured Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jewish man wrongfully accused of raping and murdering Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old factory worker in his employ. After driving more than 100 miles back to Phagan’s hometown of Marietta, the angry mob hoisted Frank on top of a table under a large oak tree and demanded an admission of guilt. 31-year-old Frank repeatedly proclaimed his innocence – and was promptly hanged by the neck until dead. One month after the lynching, members of the group, The Knights of Mary Phagan, gathered around a burning cross on Stone Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia and ignited the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan.
Staying true to its origin story, the 1999 Tony Award-winning musical Parade, is a harrowing exploration of racial, religious, and political tension in early 20th Century America. When an outsider (“an uppity Jewish Yank”) is put on trial for the murder of a young girl in a small southern town, the tension escalates to the point of explosion. Despite inconsistent and conflicting evidence, and obvious witness-intimidation, factory manager Leo Frank is eventually tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder of Mary Phagan. After a retrial, Frank’s sentence is changed to life in prison which incites a riot among the townspeople. Thirsty for vengeance and blinded by hatred, a group of men take matters into their own hands and lynch Leo Frank in the middle of the night.
Jason Modica’s detailed, thoughtful direction and Kira Trolio’s vigorous, playful choreography is a fabulous pairing for this complex story. The staging and dancing are seamlessly integrated to focus your attention where it needs to be and to move the action forward in a way that flows easily from one scene to the next. Similarly, Steve Shack’s stimulating lighting design and Lindsay Fuori’s imaginative set design work beautifully together. Fuori’s multidimensional set serves not only as a factory and an office but also as a courtroom and a jail cell, complete with a tree at the center of a rocky mountaintop. Shack’s design plays with the emotional effects of light and dark, spreading shadows of branches and staircases and cell bars throughout the space, emphasizing the mystery and suspense at the core of the play.
Phil Tayler plays Leo Frank with gripping sensitivity, seen most notably in his Act One solo, “It’s Hard to Speak My Heart,” in which he stands before the court to defend himself one final time: “I never touched that child—God! I never raised my hand! I stand before you now incredibly afraid…I pray you understand.” Tayler has a great partner in Haley K. Clay who plays Frank’s devoted wife, Lucille, with grace and grit, best expressed in her solo “You Don’t Know This Man” when she stands up for her husband to reporter Britt Craig (a charming Dan Prior), who has been sensationalizing the story in the local newspaper.
Boston Conservatory junior Aaron Patterson plays the devious factory janitor Jim Conley with such astounding charisma that he nearly stops the show with his big-voiced, smooth jazzy croon in the numbers “That’s What He Said” and “Blues: Feel the Rain Fall.” Other stand-out performances include Anna Bortnick, who brings an intriguing attentiveness to the lingering spirit of the young victim, Mary Phagan, and Elbert Joseph as factory night watchman Newt Lee, whose wonderfully expressive signing (ASL) adds complexity and depth to an easily missable character. The incorporation of Joseph’s signing is especially moving in the Act Two opening number, “A Rumblin’ and a Rollin’,” in which Lee, Conley, and Minnie McKnight (the Franks’ housemaid) offer a rousing reflection on the injustices faced by African Americans in the South:
…I can tell you this, as a matter of fact,
That the local hotels wouldn’t be so packed
If a little black girl had gotten attacked.
They’re comin’, they’re comin’ now, yessirree!
‘Cause a white man gonna get hung, you see.
There’s a black man swingin’ in ev’ry tree
But they don’t never pay attention!
They never say, “Why? Why? Why?”
But if a Yankee boy flies:
They gonna pay attention!
They gonna yell “Set that man free!”
In 1915 in a small town in northern Georgia, Leo Frank was considered an outsider. It was his “otherness” – his language, his race, his class, his religion – that made him unable to feel at home in a community steeped in tradition and uniformity. Sadly, nearly 125 years later, the same could still be said of many communities in the United States today. Parade is a frightening but necessary reminder of the irreparable dangers of prejudice and hatred. It is a story both strange and familiar, both false and true; it is the story of America – ugly and beautiful as it has always been. For tickets and information go to: https://www.moonboxproductions.org/
A Note from the production program: “Perhaps unavoidably, the discussion of PARADE’s historical background reveals many of the plot twists that occur on stage. Please be aware that the historical source material covers potentially disturbing topics that include prejudice and violence.”
