Interview: Ramone Nelson of PARADE at Broadway At The Hobby Center

Ramone Nelson is coming to Houston with the touring production of PARADE, which is starting at the Hobby Center on July 15th. It is a deep and dark musical, based on real historical events. It follows the story of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent in Atlanta, who is wrongly accused and convicted of murdering a young girl in 1913. It mines themes of prejudice and justice, and the power of love and devotion amidst adversity. It debuted on Broadway back in 1998, and it got some Tony awards that year, but it had a regrettably short run. But now the show is a sensation after a Tony Award-winning revival, and probably because it speaks to our times more poignantly than ever. PARADE was simply ahead of its time. Broadway World writer Brett Cullum got a chance to talk to Ramone Nelson about this special event tour hitting Houston this month.  

Brett Cullum: Tell me about PARADE. It's not a show that a lot of people know. What is it about from your perspective?

Ramone Nelson: I always say that PARADE is somewhat of a niche musical. It's not your GREASE, it's not your CAROUSEL. You really have to know musicals to know PARADE. It's a true story. It's a dramatization about a man who moves to Marietta, Georgia, and is falsely convicted of murder. It's his journey of trying to prove his innocence, while simultaneously we see and follow this love story between him and his wife Lucille, and through that, we see that love is the guiding factor of both, trying to find his innocence and falling deeper in love with who he is, who his wife is, and their connection together.

Brett Cullum: Now, who do you play in this?

Ramone Nelson: So I play Jim Conley, who is a janitor at the pencil factory, or, as he likes to call it, “the cleaning supervisor” at the pencil factory. He is a key witness in the trial, and Jim has had a somewhat troubled past, and the prosecuting team knows that, and they unfortunately use that against him. That is later used to help fabricate a story against Leo Frank to find him guilty.

Brett Cullum: What do you love most about doing this show? 

Ramone Nelson: I was really looking for a piece that makes you a little uncomfortable. I like theater that makes you think beyond what you saw on the stage and beyond a car ride home. I want to do the show that is making people have conversations - days, weeks, months, after they see it. PARADE is a show that is making people have conversations like, “Oh, my gosh! That song was so good!” And “Oh, my gosh! The performers were amazing, and the orchestra was so big and beautiful!”  And at the same time, you're having conversations about real topics that are happening in their everyday life. Although PARADE can be heavy, and it can also be real and raw, those are the stories and the theater pieces that I strive to do, and that really can make a difference in today's world. So, knowing that every time I put on that costume, I'm like, “Let's get out there and let's do it.” 

Brett Cullum: One of the things I'm always fascinated by when you're part of a touring company is, do you find that the audiences kind of differ in their reactions as you travel? 

Ramone Nelson: Absolutely, absolutely. And especially with this show. There can be audiences that are really leaning in with us, but quietly. They don't say a word. And then there are audiences who laugh at every single joke, maybe laugh times 10, just so they can get out that emotion before it's the real things start to hit. So yeah, I think people at the stage door have different reactions. Most people are flustered at the stage door, but they are very thankful and appreciative of what they saw, and that applies to all of the cities that we've gone to thus far. The people at this stage door have been so kind and so gracious, and it's a beautiful connection that we make at that stage door.

Brett Cullum: Now famously. Hal Prince developed this show, and he originally approached Stephen Sondheim, who actually passed on PARADE. And then he got Jason Robert Brown, who wrote the score. It is famously complex, like most of his work. So what is it like to perform his music night after night?

Ramone Nelson: First of all, it's the theater kid in me's biggest dream. So let me start there. One of the rehearsals during week one, he's standing right across from me. He's shaking my hand, and I'm trying not to fangirl too much. Then week two, they pulled me to a rehearsal, and they were like, “Hey, Ramone, Jason wants to just hear your songs.” I was like, “My songs are his songs on me! What are you saying? He wrote this song!” I'm fangirling half of the time. I also will say that he really put his foot in it, and it's hard, it's not easy. And he wrote a beautiful and complex score that is, gives nods to old-time musical theater. I think a lot of musical theater today is very modern and very poppy at times, and this really goes back to those big sweeping orchestrations and big sweeping melodies. And it's been missed on my end. So it's been a pleasure to sing his score, to say the least.

Brett Cullum: Do you feel like this production has changed you at all, and how you approach things as an artist?

Ramone Nelson: Absolutely. I think, first of all, playing a real person is an actor's dream. So I went and tried to find out how these people lived in Marietta, Georgia. I am from Georgia. So a lot of the things that they reference in the show, I've been there. I've been to Fulton County. I've been to Marietta. I think it added a lot of nuance to how I take on Jim, and also how I am Jim in the space and in this show. Then on top of it, with a show like this, you are naturally going to change, especially doing it every single day. This is month six! One thing I can say for sure is that I've definitely changed from December 2024 to now, and I'm very grateful for it. And it's been a blessing that I wanted, and am very grateful for.

Brett Cullum: How did you get into show business? 

Ramone Nelson: I came from a huge sports family - sports, sports, sports! I have five siblings, and we all played sports. So it was sports up until 5th grade in music class. In Georgia, you have to play the recorder, and I really fell in love with it, and that transitioned me into playing the saxophone. So I play the saxophone, and I would sing around the house, and I would dance around the house. Then I found out that you could sing, dance, and act at the same time. So then I did both theater and band at the same time, but Band was the thing. Until about junior year of high school, I went to a performing Arts High School in Conyers, Georgia, the Heritage High School Academy for Performing and Visual Arts. We did a production of LES MISÉRABLES, and I played Jean Valjean. I loved it. I loved musical theater. It was great, and I really took that role seriously.

After the show one night, I met an older gentleman who was really touched by the performance and wanted to pull me to the side and have a conversation with me. And he basically looked me in the eye and was like, “Please don't ever stop doing this.” And I was shocked that I could make someone feel that and have that reaction. It was a time when I had to pick between band and theater, and I swear that that was a sign from God, being it's theater - you have to do theater. And from then on, I've just been cooking along, doing it, doing the thing.

Brett Cullum: When I read your bio, you were in the original Broadway production of MJ - The Michael Jackson Musical. What the heck was that like that? It has got to be amazing, and talk about some wildly hard songs.

Ramone Nelson: Okay, you want to talk about a hard song. It was unreal. I was very, very blessed and grateful to be a part of that company. I just graduated from Florida State University, and it was Covid, and I didn't know what I was doing, and I was lucky enough to find an agent, and I was just happy to be auditioning and figuring it out, and then MJ came along. They were looking for future replacements. And I was like, “Okay, great! Casting for future replacements. I'll just throw my name in the hat.” And that wasn't true. They were looking for immediate replacements, come to find out, and after a tape and a FaceTime call with Christopher Wilden, I got the offer that I'd be making my Broadway debut. It was insane, truly insane. I didn't think that it was gonna happen like that. You could not put that in my Bingo card, and it taught me so much! Everything that I could have possibly dreamed of in a Broadway debut, that show gave me. It was thus far the hardest show that I've done. I was a swing in the original company, and swinging itself is already hard, and then the roles are so nuanced, and then you have to put on this afro and jumpsuit and play a Jackson 5 brother. The next day, I'm playing Barry Gordy. Then the next day, I'm playing this person. So it was beautiful. And yeah, you want to talk about a hard song, those songs are, and we had to change the keys for some of them, because I was like, How is Michael Jackson singing that? And Michael Jackson is an icon, and his passing seems like just the other day, and every time that comes around, I'm always blessed to be a part of his legacy, and I hold that company near and dear to my heart. Front of house, stage management crew, everyone! I love that group, and very grateful for them.

Brett Cullum: It was an amazing experience, I'm sure. I love the idea of having Michael Jackson and his music on Broadway. It's just so special and very cool, and it's somebody I grew up with. So I've always kind of fanboyed over that.

Ramone Nelson: Of course, didn't we all? I really strive to do shows that are uplifting black and brown experiences and stories, and I also love inspiring younger generations. And so, seeing those little babies coming in like a “Smooth Criminal” suit, just to come and see it. That little person comes down the aisle, and they're just jumping up and down, ready to see Michael Jackson. It makes it all worth it.

Brett Cullum: Ramone Nelson. We are so excited to have you and PARADE in town starting at the Hobby Center, July 15th. I've been looking forward to this one all year, because this is a very timely musical; it speaks to our era. It certainly has risen in consciousness in a way that I don't think it even did back in 1998, when it originally debuted. I think it's more popular now than ever, and I'm so glad to see that for Hal, Prince, and for Jason, Robert Brown, and all the people that believed in this show for so long, and how great for you to go from MJ to this.

Ramone Nelson: What a journey! Very different, but beautiful in their own regard!

Brett Cullum: Well, thank you so much. Break legs, and we will see you on July 15th.