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An Evening On Parade
Jason Robert Brown, Alfred Uhry, Steve Oney, Julie Burstein Photography by Melanie Einzig / Museum of Jewish Heritage
by Rachel Goddard
Bringing history to the stage was the theme for the evening and the subject was the Broadway musical Parade, the 1999 Tony Award Winner for Best Book of a Musical and Best Score. “An Evening on Parade” was an absolute dream for any theatre, music, or history lover. The evening featured the writers of Parade, three-time Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown and Pulitzer Prize recipient, book-writer Alfred Uhry. Steve Oney joined the panel as the principal historian of the 1915 murder trial of Leo Frank, the only man of Jewish faith to be lynched unjustly for murder, the story that inspired Parade.
Jason Robert Brown photos by Melanie Einzig
Between the Q&A and discussion moderated by, Peabody Award-winner Julie Burstein, featured performances of songs from the musical. Jason Robert Brown conducted a ten-piece orchestra of his own score while Broadway favorites performed ten of the numbers from the Parade. Broadway sweethearts Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus sang the principle roles of Leo and Lucille Frank and Broadway's Jesse Warren-Nager, Caitlin Houlihan, Caitlin Kinnunen, and Allie Trimm completed the cast of gifted actors.
The audience seemed to be composed of mostly eager theatre fans, most of whom had never set foot in this museum before. Many in attendance seemed more than familiar with Parade, a musical not quite commercially popular, but greatly honored by any musical theatre disciple. While the discussion that would follow would be predominantly around the historical events, with Steve Oney contributing the greatest to the conversation, the other real luxury of the evening was hearing the music of Jason Robert Brown.
Stephanie Block, Sebastian Arcelus,
Jesse Warren-Nager gave an energetic and convincing performance of Jim Conley, the African-American man who testified against Leo Frank. The main character of Parade is a challenge for any actor both vocally and emotionally but Sebastian Arcelus gave a vulnerable and dynamic, albeit polished, performance of Leo Frank, exhibiting his and the composer’s versatility by switching between the imaginary character described by Jon Conley as a seducer, removing his jacket and glasses in a jazzy rendition of ” Come Up to My Office", to which the trio of young girl factory workers attested, then reverting back to the tight collared emotionally repressed factory superintendent.
Stephanie J. Block joined him showing off her big Broadway voice captivating the audience with her compelling and unaffected performances. Watching them sing with a genuine enjoyment of the music and story was the perfect supplement to the historical discussions that dominated the night. If the audience already wasn’t invested in this story, they were by the end of the first three numbers, proving the message of the night to be true; that theatre can bring a historical story back to life in the most emotionally gripping way.
Much to the anticipation of the audience, Stephanie J. Block gets a chance to show off her vocal magic in “You Don’t Know This Man” heightening the already sky-high intensity of the story felt in the room. Arcelus singing Leo Frank’s testimony song, “It’s Hard to speak my Heart” only adds to the emotion. After he finished, sounds of audience members sniffling lingered into the next part of the dialogue. At the point in the evening the façade of theatricality slowly slipped off and the reality of the story affected everyone in the room.
The last two songs performed were, “This is Not Over Yet” and “All the Wasted Time”, sung by the two principals as they believed he would be exonerated, just before he was lynched, which gave the audience some of the most tender moments between real-life husband and wife Arcelus and Block. The room continued to melt as Block looked adoringly at Arclelus singing. Hearing it sung by a couple who didn’t have to forge their romance only highlighted the honesty and veracity of the musical Brown and Uhry created. The last number ended with Arcelus giving his wife a perfectly sweet and seemingly impromptu kiss, proving the enthralling effect this story told through this music has on anyone.
Topics of discussion were greatly around the question, “What inspired you to write this musical?” a question Jason Robert Brown seemed to be baffled by. “Why wouldn’t we write this?” Brown said plainly, bringing up even more miserable musicals that have come before it like Sweeney Todd and Les Miserables. The need for a musical was obvious to him, although he confessed that the principle role of Leo Frank was difficult to musicalize and write songs for him that were satisfying to listen to. (And if you haven’t listened to Parade, he obviously overcame that challenge.)
Uhry had more of a personal connection to the story. Uhry, raised in Georgia, grew up with the story of Leo Frank being commonly referenced but never fully explained. He even knew Lucille Frank growing up, saying she was a friend of his grandmothers. He said he didn’t realize the significance of his connection, “any friend of your grandmother’s is just another old lady” he joked. Uhry recalls many times asking to hear more and a “never mind” was all he received. Steve Oney also concurred that the Jewish community felt this event to be taboo and repressed it out of fear.
They also answered the question of why a musical, which takes place in 1915, would begin during the civil war. Uhry stressed the importance of “getting to the route of the anger” in which the South still felt “occupied” by Northerners, embodied by Leo, a New York Jew in their midst. The “Old Red Hills of Home” the prologue to the musical, was the first song written and Uhry said it perfectly encapsulated how he felt about Georgia and almost brought him to tears the first time he heard it.
The relevance of this story today was the final topic. Oney’s opinion was that injustice occurred then because those involved of different backgrounds were “speaking culturally past each other, making it near impossible to know the truth” a familiar issue still today. Jason Robert Brown’s answer for why this story is significant included a subtle jab at Donald Trump referring to him as a “racist demi-god”. The audience gave a loud laugh of approval, not needing any further justification for why this musical and story is still essential.
Uhry and Brown revealed that they attended a school performance of Parade, with some apprehension, in Marietta, Georgia where they met the great-niece of the little girl who was murdered, Mary Fagan. She believed, despite what the musical believed, and the stunning revelations by Steve Oney’s post trail research putting the blame for Mary’s death squarely on Jim Conley, that Leo Frank in fact murdered her great Aunt. (In fact the lynch mob was comprised of the town's leading and unapologetic citizens) “She’s fine,” quipped Brown easing the tension the audience had been building all night. “It was all so dramatic” Uhry said, which is exactly what the audience had gathered as they learned that the original story was just as intoxicating as the music created to enhance it.
“An Evening on Parade” rarely lost their audience’s attention. The evening achieved its goal to be educational and entertaining and made yet another case for not only the success but the importance of history-inspired musicals with specifics on how the brilliant collaborators of Parade reached their objective and brought the heartbreaking story of Leo Frank to life.
The evening was made possible by the Museum of Jewish Heritage in association with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene Museum of Jewish Heritage 36 Battery Pl, New York, NY, 10280 (646) 437-4202
Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited can be viewed at the Museum of Jewish history through August 2016. http://www.mjhnyc.org/e_nowonview_leofrank.html
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