Uhry Talks About the Impact of ‘Parade’
Atlanta native Alfred Uhry recalls at the Fox Theatre how he first became interested in the Leo Frank case.
Alfred Uhry, who co-authored, “Parade,” the Leo Frank musical, was an honored guest at the April 2 performance of his work at the Fox Theatre.
Sitting six rows back from the stage, with his daughter, Rebecca, by his side, he pronounced the rousing and energized performance that has been on a national tour since mid-January as “right on target.”
It was the second time that his acclaimed work was performed here by a national touring cast. Twenty-five years ago, his musical drama, with music and lyrics by Jason Brown, made a stop at The Fox as part of its first tour. That was largely the result of efforts by Chris Manos, who ran Atlanta’s Theater Of The Stars and raised the million dollars needed to finance the performances in major cities across the country.
Uhry admitted during the show’s intermission that he has been stunned by the rapturous reception his show has received over a quarter century after its premiere in New York. In its 2023 revival, it was an award winner that played to capacity audiences.
When asked if he had expected his show to still be filling theaters so many years later, he said, “never, never.” As for, why he thought the work had won a Tony Award for the best revival two years ago, he admitted that “it’s all about the times we’re living in,” an apparent acknowledgment of the resurgence of antisemitism and political extremism in America and the world.
After the performance, he joined Rabbi Peter Berg, senior spiritual leader of The Temple, to reminisce about “Parade.” The conversation was part of the evening’s performance attended by members of The Breman Museum, Temple Kol Emeth, and The Temple. Berg asked Uhry about how he first developed an interest in the story that became “Parade.”
He had first heard Leo Frank’s name mentioned as a young boy in his Druid Hills home. Some family friends were visiting and when Frank’s trial was brought up in the conversation, they walked out of the room. saying they didn’t want to talk about it.
The incident occurred, perhaps, 30 years or more after Frank was convicted of murdering a 13-year-old girl at the pencil factory he managed, but the memory of his trial, then, and his subsequent lynching was still painful for those who remembered it.
It was, after all, a repudiation of the Jewish community by a considerable proportion of Atlanta’s citizenry. In their implicit criticism of Jews and the local political and economic influence they wielded, the trial had not only helped end the life 29-year-old Frank but apparently had a traumatizing effect on the entire community.
When he questioned his mother about her friends’ unwillingness to discuss the case, he was rebuffed. So, the young Uhry pursued his own research in Atlanta’s public library that fired his imagination.
“I loved to write, and the things that I read said that during the trial, when he was pronounced guilty, the 12 members of the jury had to stand up and each one say, guilty, guilty, guilty. All the church bells in Atlanta happened to be ringing because it was noon and I thought, wow, what great theater.”
It’s all about the times we’re living in.
It would take another 40 years or so, but the thought of putting that drama on stage stayed with him. In the late 1990s, Hal Prince took an interest in directing the project and found a young talented composer and lyricist, Jason Brown, who had never written a Broadway show, to work with the old pro.
Uhry provided much of the firsthand understanding of what Leo Frank and his young wife, Lucille, must have experienced. Brown produced 30 musical numbers to go with the historical drama that stretched back to the Civil War South and forward to the early years of the 20th century where much of the story takes place.
Uhry admitted in his conversation with Rabbi Berg that the trial and the tragedy of Leo Frank was a “perfect storm that affected everything” in Atlanta.
The murder victim, he pointed out, was a little girl who was put to work in a factory where child labor was commonplace. It was run by Frank, whose physical appearance, Uhry described, was “like a poster child for horrible Jew.” But in his drama, it was not just those two whom he believes were victims.
“Everybody in this show.” Uhry said, “except for Hugh Dorsey, the prosecutor who later is elected governor, and Tom Watson, the Atlanta newspaper publisher who become a senator, are victims. Everybody, it’s like a tsunami.”
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