1y ago

Tony-Winning Parade Revival Will Tour in 2025

playbill.com Tony-Winning Parade Revival Will Tour in 2025

The Jason Robert Brown-Alfred Uhry musical returned to the Main Stem following a 2022 run at New York City Center.

Broadway's Tony-winning revival of Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry's Parade will embark on a national tour beginning in January 2025. The production will launch from Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre.

Casting and further dates are to be announced.

The official premiere in Minnesota will follow technical rehearsals and public preview performances as Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, New York.

Michael Arden will be back to recreate his Tony-winning direction, working with his entire Broadway creative team.

Parade tells the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was wrongfully accused and convicted of murdering a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1913. It features a score by Brown and a book by Uhry.

This production began with a 2022 limited run at New York City Center. Much of that cast continued on with the Braodway transfer, including Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond as Leo and Lucille Frank, respectively. The revival won two 2023 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical for Arden.

2 comments

I have only heard of Parade's existence. Simply judging off the title I thought it was lighthearted. Going off this, it is probably a dark depressing one about antisemitism (otherwise there'd be no need to single out how Leo Frank is Jewish in the very short summary which probably only wants to include the important bits). Seems fitting with how antisemitism is on the rise at least partly because of wrongful accusations (specifically "because you are Jewish, you are guilty of agreeing with and supporting everything Israel is doing in their current conflict with Palestine").
- There is in fact another show called Parade, a revue of Jerry Herman songs, which I think would be as light-hearted as the title suggests. :-)
  I've seen a couple of productions of the JRB Parade (including this revival), with a third coming up next year, and, yeah, it's fairly heavy going. And while the anti-Semitic themes do resonate particularly strongly at the moment, I tend to view the show as being against prejudice of any kind. It's like the old adage says - it's through specificity that you attain universality.