What better thing to do on New Year's Eve than watch a musical based on the true story about the lynching of a man falsely accused of murder? If you love musicals as much as I do, then this is actually the perfect way to ring in the new year!We watched the musical Parade, which depicts the sensationalized murder trial of a Jewish factory superintendent in 1913 Atlanta Georgia. Originally a northerner from New York who moved to the U.S. south after his marriage, Leo Frank is railroaded in a kangaroo court for the murder of 13 year old Mary Phagan who worked in his factory. Spurred on by prejudices against both his Jewish heritage and his northern roots, the southern jury convicted him based on flimsy circumstantial evidence. This included false witness testimony that was coerced by a politically motivated district attorney who was anxious to wrap up the case. Upon later appeals, Leo's death penalty was changed to life in prision pending a retrial. Tragically before this could happen Leo was kidnapped from his jail and lynched.
The songs ranged from patriotic anthems to emotional ballads to sassy rhythm and blues melodies. Most of the songs advanced the story with their lyrics, including the testimonies at the trial. For me, this is what a good musical is all about - where exposition is provided through song and verse. My favourite songs included "Factory Girls", a haunting song where Mary's coworkers falsely accused Leo of making inappropriate advances towards them, juxtapositioned against "Come to My Office", a fantasy of song describing the girls' imaginations of what a lecherous Leo said to them.
The star of the show, playing Leo Frank, was Michael Therriault who was featured in several Mirvish productions such as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and Leo Bloom in The Producers. His acting was perfect in the role of a nervous, uptight little man whose demeanor helped draw suspicion to him. All the performers had good singing voices, but the best was that of Daren A. Herbert, who played the black janitor who was probably the real culprit of the crime. His song "That's What He Said" which accuses Leo of the crime was powerful, taunting and dramatic.
As described in a pre-show talk, this version of the musical had been abbreviated from its original 3 hour(!) length, cutting out some scenes and characters. Although it made the show duration more manageable, to me it seemed that some of the plotlines felt rushed including the developing relationship between Leo and his wife. Because of this, their love songs lacked the emotional resonance that could have been felt had there been more time to establish these characters.
Parade is playing at the Upstairs Berkeley Street Theatre, which is an intimate little theatre with only 6 rows and about 150 seats. We sat in the front row which put us at floor level, at times about 3 feet away from the action. Sitting so close provides excellent sightlines, which is important for someone of my height, but also leaves very little to the imagination. I was often distracted by the wide open mouths of the singers, the sweat on their brows and spit emitting as they spoke. It also gave a clear view of the actress playing Leo's "young" wife Lucille, whose wrinkles betrayed the inappropriate casting of the role. A 4-man band playing the musical score resided on the right side of the stage, making it hard for the people sitting directly in front of the band to hear the singing. Luckily our seats were well away from the band so we avoided these issues. Given the tiny size of the theatre compared to the large cast of 15 actors (originally 38 in the Broadway production), the sparse sets and imaginative staging of the scenes very effectively conveyed the different locations of the story.
The programme was very interesting, providing the historical facts of this case, photos of the real Leo Frank and Mary Phagan, and a timeline of events. Of particular note was that in 1982, a former office boy of the factory provided an affidavat claiming he saw the janitor carrying Mary's body and in 1986, the Georgia state granted Leo Frank a posthumous pardon.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable show for me but then I like most musicals, so take what I say with a grain of salt. However Rich liked it too, so that counts for something.
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