From Apr 16 to May 4, “Parade”, a Tony winning musical was put on at the 5th Avenue theater following the story of Leo Frank, a couple who get thrown into a terrible situation when Leo is accused of the murder of little girl who works in the pencil factory Leo is the superintendent of. The show deals with heavy subjects such as antisemitism, racism, mob violence, and judicial corruption. Viewer discretion is advised, and spoiler warnings ahead.
The show opens on the rolling hills of Marietta, Georgia, during the Civil War, with a Confederate flag waving and an American soldier going off to fight for the Confederacy. Soon after, the same man is shown, 30 years later (1913), attending the Confederate Memorial Day parade, showing how Georgia (in this period) is still strongly rooted in Confederate beliefs. As the parade passes through the town, the audience meets the main character, Leo Frank, a New York-born Jewish man working in the pencil factory. He begins to explain how he feels out of place within the town because of his beliefs. Meanwhile, we meet Mary Phagan, a young girl who is a worker at the factory, on her way to collect her week’s pay. This is where the plot truly begins, as her body is discovered the next morning by Newt Lee, the watchman. When Leo fails to answer the phone as the murder is reported, police eventually arrest him on suspicion.
The town is shattered by the news of her death, with many people swearing that justice will be served. At this point, editors of newspapers are watching the case closely in the hopes of finding the opportunity to report on the next big break. During this time, Leo is meeting with his lawyer as he maintains his innocence. The audience not only sees the strain on Leo but also on his wife, Lucille, as she is bombarded by reporters and thinks of moving away from the town they live in. Leo begs her to stay, hoping her support for him will continue to support his stance that he is innocent.
As Leo’s trial begins, testimonies begin including those from “the factory girls” (a group of girls who were friends and co-workers of Mary, who claim Leo would invite the girls privately to his office and that he “looks at [Mary] funny”), Mary’s mother (who offers him forgiveness for what he’s done), Minnie McKnight (the Frank’s housekeeper, who claims she saw him acting nervous and made Lucille sleep outside of their room the night of the murder), and finally from a man named Jim Conely, who claimed he witnessed the murder and helped place Mary’s body in the room she was found. As Leo’s desperation to prove his innocence grows, he decides to make a statement. The judge makes his decision: Leo Frank is guilty and is sentenced to be hanged as punishment. Act 1 ends with the town celebrating as Leo and Lucille are heartbroken.
Act 2 opens in 1915, two years after Leo’s trial, Lucille works tirelessly to try and appeal his case. As she advocates for him, she attends Governor John Slaton’s house party, begging for an appeal. Finally, Slaton agrees to reopen the case and begins to reinvestigate the people who testified against Leo. At this point, the audience learns that all of the testimonies were either fabricated or false and that the real evidence the police had was circumstantial. With this news, Leo’s sentence is reduced to life in prison while the case is still investigated, which enrages the people of Marietta. After Lucille leaves her weekly visit, a group of masked men (the men from Act 1 who wanted retribution after Leo had been arrested) kidnap Leo out of his cell. They demand he confess to the murder, even though he’s maintained his innocence. Unconvinced, the men decide to kill Leo. As he’s made aware, he requests his wife receive his wedding ring and to have a sack around his waist (as he was taken in just his nightshirt). The men agree, and with one final prayer from Leo, the men hang him.
After the hanging, Lucille receives the wedding ring from Britt Craig, who had previously received it anonymously. Craig is surprised Lucille decided to stay in Georgia, which is now governed by the same man who put her husband in jail. She explains that she didn’t want his death to be for nothing, and with that, the Confederate Memorial Day parade begins.
As someone who walked into this musical with no knowledge of what the plot was or what I was about to watch, I thought it was beautifully produced while also being able to show the difference between what the town believed happened vs. what actually happened. There were several times these differences were shown, and I didn’t know if he was innocent or not. Overall, it was a hard-hitting show that managed to tell a story that many people may not know. If you want to see a show that gets you in your feels while also wanting to learn a heartbreaking story of history, Parade is the show for you.