About the work
Parade is a musical by Jason Robert Brown (music and lyrics) with a book by Alfred Uhry, premiered on Broadway in 1998. Based on a real legal case, it won the Tony Award for Best Score and Best Book.
Plot
In 1913 Georgia, the Jewish factory superintendent Leo Frank is accused of murdering the young worker Mary Phagan. In a trial poisoned by antisemitism and prejudice, he is convicted despite thin evidence. While his wife Lucille fights desperately to save him, a deep love grows between the spouses in their distress. When the death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment, an incited mob takes the law into its own hands and lynches Leo Frank.
Cultural significance
Parade addresses, with great emotional force, antisemitism, xenophobia, and judicial failure through a real American case that still resonates today. Jason Robert Brown's multilayered score, combining Southern folklore, march music, and intimate ballads, is regarded as a masterpiece. An acclaimed 2023 Broadway revival won the Tony Award and, amid renewed antisemitism, underlined the work's chilling topicality.