Forget the Big Parade and Watch This Masterpiece of a Show - Mer Dusosky

Breathtaking, heartbreaking, and beautiful; three words that encapsulate this production thoroughly, yet don’t even scratch the surface of this masterpiece. Parade, which originally debuted in 1998, is a show that displays the hidden normalcy of blatant discrimination amongst innocent people, for something as simple as their religion. The plot follows the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man living in the South, as he gets accused and convicted of a serious crime. Unfortunately, even though this show is set in 1913, the antisemitic discriminatory themes are eerily familiar to present experiences, even now over a century later.

With a story such as the one told by Parade, the actors chosen to play each of the characters need to be carefully selected in order to pay proper homage to the story and its meaning. This can be a tricky task with any show, but the casting agency for this particular production, The Telsey Office, ended up being right on the money with the wonderful artists that they chose to portray the characters. The cast for this production was absolutely spectacular and truly one of the best combinations of actors I’ve seen. With a plotline that touches on very sensitive topics such as antisemitism, the actors need to have a certain kind of trust and chemistry that isn’t typically necessary for a lighter, more animated production. These actors absolutely had that level of comradery, namely the actors playing Leo and Lucille Frank (Max Chernin and Talia Suskauer.) These two performers had such a difficult job to do within this performance, navigating extremely difficult emotions and portraying such an awful display of disrespect. While a story such as the one discussed in this production is heavy and difficult to get through, it is so important that stories such as these are told. People need to learn about oppression and discrimination, even when it’s hard to watch. 

One part of this show that really blew me away was how each element of the production worked together so cohesively. It is rare that a production nails every single aspect of the show's makeup and have them work so smoothly together. The music score for the 2023 revival of Parade is very well-crafted to fit the individual situation that each scene presents. When a character is being threatened, the music tends to navigate between minor key pieces to portray sadness, and harsh beats to show anger or power. Along with music portraying the scenes, the technical aspects of this production were so clever and pulled the audience further into the story. The projections that were used to show newspaper headlines and pictures of the real people involved in scenes, along with the lighting (designed by Heather Gilbert,) helped immensely to connect the stage production with the real story that it’s based on. All of these individual elements working together with the pristine, raw acting made for a breathtaking and heart-wrenching performance. A production such as this has to be such a well-oiled machine in order to work correctly but when it does, it creates a work that combats both past and present societal qualms. 

“Art should disturb the comfortable, and comfort the disturbed.” -Cesar A. Cruz. When watching this performance of Parade, this quote kept coming to mind. This production is meant to make the audience uncomfortable. Knowing that this story really happened was really crushing, yet it only made the events that much more impactful. I hope that this story and ones like it continue to challenge people to shed light on oppression and discrimination of all shapes and sizes.