“Parade”, which opened this weekend at the Ivory Theatre, isn’t for folks who need cheering up. But nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile experience for those who understand we must remember history, even with artistic liberties, to avoid re-living it.
The musical, whose book is by Alfred Uhry, who wrote “Driving Miss Daisy”, tells the story of Leo Frank, a young man from Brooklyn who married a girl from Atlanta and moved there to run a pencil factory in the pre-World War I years. Frank was a Yankee, and he was also a Jew.
In those days before child labor laws, one of his workers was a 13-year-old girl. She was found dead in the factory basement. Frank was quickly arrested, indicted, tried, and sentenced to die. Some few still argue that the evidence against him wasn’t trumped up, but feelings ran high with demonstrations in the street, political figures intriguing in back rooms, and racism and anti-Semitism boiling and frequently clashing. The sentence was commuted. And then a mob attacked the prison where he was held, took him and hung Frank themselves.
So here’s this musical. (Well, Sondheim wrote about presidential assassins, remember?) Why go? Well, it’s beautifully cast, for one thing, and while the score isn’t anything that the audience leaves humming, it’s pleasant enough and the voices are good to great. It was hard to figure out if the orchestral music was live or Memorex until at the curtain, someone pulled the backdrop curtain open a little ways and sort of exhibited the band. (They deserve credit in the program, too.)
Pete Winfrey does a nuanced job as Frank, and Jennifer Theby, cast as his wife Lucille, is more than his equal, as both of their characters grow during the progression of the story. There’s a song, “All The Wasted Time”, that beautifully caps their relationship. The politicians are very watchable, too, particularly Ken Haller’s Hugh Dorsey, the prosecuting attorney who parlayed his spotlight moment into two terms as governor of Georgia. Haller’s Dorsey feels like a character out of Tennessee Williams.
A word about the Ivory Theatre. Yes, it’s in South City. it’s not far from the Loughborough exit from I-55. Plenty of parking, well lit, and three restaurants across the little half-block park from the theater. Also comfortable stadium-type seating. And R-S Theatrics is doing all kinds of special things with this show, including a pay-what-you-want night.
Parade
through September 15
Ivory Theatre
7620 Michigan Ave.