Review: PARADE at The 5th Avenue Theatre

Dear Readers, we live in divisive times.  That’s no news to anyone.  Our society is extremely polarized with many basing beliefs on fear, misinformation, and xenophobia while those in charge propagate that division by spreading lies.  Sadly, this kind of behavior has been around forever, but if we can look at stories of this ilk, then maybe we can learn to rise above them.  And that’s where shows like “Parade”, currently performing at the 5th Avenue Theatre, come into play.

In this heartbreakingly true story, we meet Leo Frank (Max Chernin), a stoic, educated Jewish man from the north, living in the very southern Atlanta in 1913.  A town that still celebrates their part in the confederacy every year.  So, to say Leo is an outsider is an understatement.  But he makes what life he can with his wife Lucille (Talia Suskauer), a good southern woman, as he manages a local pencil factory.  But when one of the young girls who works there turns up dead in the basement of the factory, the investigation points to Leo through coercion and deception. 

With a book by the incredible Alfred Uhry and featuring one of Jason Robert Brown’s best scores, the show is a powerful one to say the least.  With rousing anthems such as “The Old Red Hills of Home” and heartbreakers like “My Child Will Forgive Me”, the show manages gem after gem each building the story and moving it along beautifully making it no surprise that it won the Tony Awards for best book and best score.  But even so, since it’s original outing in 1998 it’s taken until 2023 to get a revival.  I managed to see the original tour back in the day (at the 5th Avenue no less), as well as a local production, both of which blew my socks off.  And last night was no exception especially with this stunningly talented cast.

Chernin and Suskauer lead this show with heart and soaring voices.  Each of them brings forward a brilliant arc for these two trapped characters and each one has a rich, vast, voice that reverberates into the rafters and they carry this show beautifully.  That’s not to say this amazingly talented ensemble isn’t pulling their weight. Each one blends into an incredibly rich sound and brings to life their own vibrant characters.  I must mention a few standouts.  Andrew Samonsky as the Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey is a marvel.  I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him a few times on and off Broadway and he never fails to thrill.  Jenny Hickman managed to rip my heart out with the aforementioned “My Child Will Forgive Me”.  And Ramone Nelson blew me away on multiple occasions as the scheming Jim Conley. 

This is simply a super solid production of an underdone masterpiece, and you need to catch it.  And so, with my three-letter rating system I give the North American Tour of “Parade” at the 5th Avenue Theatre a “let’s try and learn from the past” YAY.  We still seemed to be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, but with theater and stories like this, hopefully we can learn to overcome even a little bit of our own prejudice and ignorance.