Atlanta Planning Big Welcome for this ‘Parade’
Community events are planned at The Temple in Midtown and the Fox Theater.
“Parade,” the Broadway musical that was revived in a stunning new production in New York three years ago, is returning to the Fox Theater for eight performances beginning April 1.
The show, which features music by Jason Robert Brown, was written by Atlanta native Alfred Uhry, who also wrote, “Driving Miss Daisy,” the film and stage hit. Its arrival in Atlanta is getting a welcome rarely seen for a visiting Broadway production.
A series of events tied to the show’s opening is planned by members of the community led by The Temple and The Breman Museum.
The show which made its first appearance in Atlanta on a national tour in 1999, tells the story of Leo Frank, a 29-year-old Jewish American transplant from New York, who is charged with the murder of a 13-year-old worker, Mary Phagan in the pencil factory he manages in Atlanta.
His conviction for her murder in 1913 attracted national attention. Two years later, he was lynched by a group of 25 residents of Marietta who took him from the prison in Milledgeville, Ga., after his death sentence was commuted.
The action by Georgia’s governor at the time, sparing Frank’s life, provoked outrage among those who believed he should pay with his life for the young girl’s murder.
The case, which shook the nation, led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League and brought back the Klu Klux Klan, which was originally started after the Civil War. But, despite the lengthy historical record of the trial and its aftermath, as well as the importance of the Frank case, some here know little or nothing about Frank. The executive director of The Breman Museum, Lesley Gordon, is concerned.
“Many people here don’t know about the lynching of Leo Frank,” Gordon says. “I’m talking about lots of Jewish people who live here. They may go to see it because it’s a well-known musical, but they don’t know anything about the background to the play.”
The Frank case is a part of The Breman’s exhibit of Jewish history, “Chutzpah!” and has been the focal point of their traveling national exhibit, “Seeking Justice – The Leo Frank Case Revisited.”
Starting the week of March 23, The Breman is partnering with The Temple in Midtown for two events that will precede the play’s Atlanta opening.
At 3 p.m., Sunday, March 23, Emory University media professor Matthew H. Bernstein and AJT writer Bob Bahr, will present a program at The Temple called, “Screening a Lynching – Leo Frank Before Parade.” It’s based on a book written by Bernstein that examines two TV programs and two films that, over the years, have been based on the Frank conviction.
Then, on March 30, The Breman Museum and The Temple are hosting a $250 per plate dinner chaired by Bill Schwartz and Buck Goldstein honoring Alfred Uhry.
“It’s important, that Atlanta honored this author who has been honored by so many others,” Gordon points out. “After all, he grew up in this city at The Temple, and I want him to be recognized. He deserves that, and his work needs to be recognized.”
Finally, on April 2, Uhry will be honored again by the community at a special program at The Fox following the performance that evening. The Temple and The Breman will be joined by members of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta and Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta, whose former Rabbi, Steve Lebow, was instrumental in placing a bronze plaque at the site of Frank’s lynching in Cobb County. All four groups have had access to the early purchase of discounted tickets for the performance.
The author of the definitive volume on the Frank tragedy, “The Dead Shall Rise,” Steve Oney, spoke about the case during an online presentation last month sponsored by the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco. He points out that “Parade” reintroduced the story to the American public, who were able to see the insidious effects of public hangings as something more than crude vigilante justice.
“Lynching is an act of terrorism, and it takes place in two realms. One it’s a crime, it’s a murder, but also, it’s a public act meant to send a signal. And this was meant to send the signal that Southerners were not going to tolerate Northern capitalists, who also happened to be Jews.”
The Broadway revival of “Parade” in 2022, which was based on a partial rewrite of the original production, was one of the most honored productions of that year. It won two Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical for the director of the staging at the Fox, Michael Arden.
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