Parade- Page 2

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 2:37pm

Yes, the original design certainly played the end from the beginning.

That "predictability" as some are complaining is why it is crucial that this story be told. As noted previously, it is a true story (not 100% accurate in retelling, but the story is true, the events are real) and it speaks volumes that we "know how it ends". It is an incredibly important moment in American history and the justice system, born from many events and prejudices and American history and resulting in, as mentioned, the founding of the Anti-Defamation League as well as a driving force in the rebirth of the KKK in their modern form.. These events still reverb through consciousness and is a VERY difficult topic in Marietta, GA, especially after - not too long ago - the identities of the lynch mob were revealed and were found to be some of the more prominent members of the community and many families were still there and well known and confessions and testimony continued to surface years later... Don't EVEN get me started on the Phagan family...

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 4:01pm

Did anyone else catch the production at Ford's Theatre a few autumns ago? Euan Morton led and unbelievable cast and such a small venue it felt like you were a witness right there in Georgia. The direction was near perfect and the story soared. It was very interesting to bring in race, inequality and confederate themes in the very theatre Lincoln was shot in, too.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 4:29pm

Music,
That IT is the stated mission of Ford's... and there are only a handfull of shows that manage it so well and so organically.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 5:16pm

It's a difficult problem navigating the telling of this story because of how "predictable" one might say it is based on your familiarity with the history. When I did a production of the show last year, it was very curious to see that both among people in the show and all of the friends I invited, all those who were Jewish were very familiar with the story of Leo Frank, while those who weren't had never heard the name mentioned before. Curiously, at the time of the show's opening, my AP US History class was covering the same historical point in time, but not a single mention was made (in class or anywhere in the textbook) about the Leo Frank case. All the more reason this story needs to be told. It's shocking how many people are totally unfamiliar with these very important events.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 5:22pm

It really is baffling how people are either intimate with the sorry or have zero clue. It is as if many want it whitewashed from the records, yet the impact it had is still felt daily and the trial itself was bigger than the OJ trial in the 90s.

For anyone interested, Leo is buried here in NYC. In Brooklyn.

[gcal]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 6:33pm

MusicandPassion, I saw the Fords Theatre production and was blown away. Euan Morton was spectacular, and I loved every minute of the show.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 6:47pm

"Hal Prince says in the video I posted that that's exactly why he thought it was a hard sell and his wife made the exact same comment to him."

Eric, I'd love to see that video but there's no link in your post

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 7:08pm

I found this video of Prince talking about Parade which has the tree comment
Prince on Parade

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 10:51pm

The problem is that Brown lets you know from the first lyric that hw wants you to see the damned tree and no one told him the tree tree should be a reveal. Now it is up to a director and designer to pull it in for the prologue, get completely rid of it as the parade approaches and then manage to reveal it - preferably in ominous fashion - at the climax.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 11:03pm

Ha, sorry--I always forget to post the actual link

[E.Davis]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 3:57am

I really hope that the Concert at Lincoln Center next year uses the original orchestrations/score. I do enjoy some of the additions, such as the extended lullaby that Tom Watson (a part I played and loved/hated him so much) sings to Mary after her funeral.

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 8:49am

I've very excited for the Lincoln Center concert. I attended the last two MCP concerts there (Ragtime, Titantic) and they were beyond excellent. With Lea Salonga cast at the Mother in Ragtime, and a few other nontraditional casting in a musical where racial themes are sewing throughout the story, I wonder how MCP/Lincoln Center will cast Parade.

I know race and ethnicity are at the core of this story, but its score is what is promoted at the concert (hence Salonga as Mother in Ragtime -- and she was perfect). I wonder how casting will be for Parade. My one hope is Phillip Boykin as Jim Conley. Perhaps Emerson Steele as Mary Phagen, too.

On another Parade topic: I saw Jason Robert Brown in a small, relaxed concert in White Plains last week. He described Parade as "A musical about the affects of the Industrial Revolution in the South. Oh, I bet you didn't know that!" I never initially picked up on this as the main point, with the Leo Frank story as a way to describe the Industrial Revolution. Sounds more like a college thesis idea than the musical's primary focus.

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 11:12am

Parade really got me researching the Leo Frank case, and what amazed me was that the prosecution really did turn the trial into an indictment of child labor in the South. One of their main arguments was "Look at these rich, Northern (Jewish) men enslaving our kids."

Combined with the Northern, college-educated, Jewish angle and the media firestorm, poor Leo Frank really didn't have a chance.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 11:42am

I also saw the production in LA and was stunned in a good way. I knew the story, knew the ending, and was still stunned, and angry all the way through. It was a beautiful production - which I appreciated greatly, but because of the subject matter, was hard to really enjoy.