Review: Parade (Writers Theatre)

Don't let this sumptuous, enthralling 'Parade' pass you by

Review by Catey Sullivan

Parade opens with a solemn drum cadence, a thrumming, insistent tattoo that precedes and then underscores a haunting male solo. The singer is a young Confederate soldier, the song an ode to his beloved Georgia. He's standing in a pool of golden light, straight-backed and proud in Confederate gray, emanating idealism and vigor as he marches off to a war he is certain will end in glory.

Midway through "The Old Red Hills of Georgia," the young soldier recedes into shadow. In his place, a ravaged, limping veteran emerges, eyes like hollows and a voice that's edged with bitterness and grief. It's a song of the south that bookends Parade , and informs a production that will leave you haunted. Jason Robert Brown (music and lyrics) and Alfred Uhry's (book) musical takes place some 50 years after the Civil War officially ended. But as director Gary Griffin makes tragically clear, the post-war South was as enduringly brutal, violent and racist as it was in the antebellum era when cotton was king and white plantation owners absolute monarchs over all they surveyed.

The lynching of Leo Frank was steeped in the lingering rage that followed the war, and in the the toxic history of a land where Klan membership was honorable and where anyone who wasn't white and "Christian" was viewed as less than human. would be a grim bit of business were it only an exploration of a warped and ugly place where blood thirsty mobs dished out "justice" as they saw fit. But is also a story of love so strong and sublime, not even a noose has the power to snuff it out.

Under Griffin's direction, it is an exquisitely rendered ensemble piece defined by richly nuanced performances and sonic majesty. Anchored by Patrick Andrews as Leo Frank, is stunning from that austere, somber opening to the cadence that closes the piece.

Frank's story is one of the many blots in Georgia's ugly history. Frank was a Brooklyn-born Jew who moved to Atlanta after marrying his southern-born bride Lucille (Brianna Borger). Frank hated the south, but he loved Lucille. Moreover, he had a good job as a supervisor in a pencil factory. Their marriage was happy enough to make his status as a perpetual outsider tolerable. Frank would never understand southerners, and vice versa. But in Lucille, he had a soulmate.

The Franks' domestic bliss was forever upended when 13-year-old Mary Phagan (Caroline Heffernan) was found murdered in the factory basement. Leo, already an object of mistrust, derision and fear, was immediately charged with the crime. He was summarily tried and sentenced to death, even though there was virtually no evidence against him. The courtroom proceedings were ludicrous, pure political theater that had nothing to do with justice. The stakes weren't Frank's life and death - they were whether Georgia would elect a new governor.

"We can't afford to hang another Negro," says Atlanta prosecuting attorney (and eventual gubernatorial front-runner) Hugh Dorsey (Kevin Gudahl), "We have to do better with this one." In this case. "better" meant hanging a Jew instead of a Black man.

Griffin has packed the production with memorable visuals, including a flag-cloaked Act I finale that foreshadows the massive, black-and-red bunting the Nazis would drape over Germany some 20 years later. It's an optic that shows Frank literally swallowed up by the bloodlust surrounding him, and it might give you nightmares.

The cast makes the show's moments of beauty resonate as well, nowhere so much as during "All the Wasted Time," a love song between Lucille and Leo. Borger has a voice that's both powerful and overflowing with the kind of emotion that defies expression in non-sung dialogue. She's at her best here, portraying a woman whose unwavering strength is mighty enough to defeat the most formidable foes. The chemistry between Borger and Andrews is electric - you can practically see the sparks generated by their passion, be it physical or emotional or a white-hot combustible combination of both.

As Frank, Andrews creates a character who on the surface seems ordinary, soft-spoken and unremarkable. But in Frank's unassuming demeanor, Andrews finds a streak of unbreakable heroism. Frank maintains his dignity in the most cruelly humiliating of circumstances - he personifies grace under the most extreme pressure. Frank may seem quiet, but his ability to rise above his legal circumstances has the strength of thousands shouting.

Griffin's supporting cast is superb. As John Conley, a chain gang member whose testimony is crucial to Frank's case, Jonathan Butler-Duplessisstops the show cold with the raw, gritty "Blues: Feel the Rain Fall." The number comes as Conley is laboring shackled under the relentless Georgia sun. As Butler-Duplessis muscles through it, you'd swear you could smell the sweat and the dirt and the despair of the prison farm.

Nicole Michelle Haskins and Butler-Duplessis also deliver on "Rumblin' and a Rollin," a number that shows how a pair of African American servants view the hoopla over Frank's conviction. The duo are literally sipping their tea while the white folks work themselves into a senseless frenzy.

As Mary Phagan, Heffernan has the youthful spark and wide-eyed innocence of a 13-year-old child, and the sassiness of a young woman just beginning to realize her powers. Gudahl makes prosecuting attorney Dorsey as slick and nasty as custard just past its prime. And as the eventually conscience-stricken Governor Slaton, Derek Hasenstabshows the gradual evolution of a leader who comes to the troubling realization that he cannot be a part of mob "justice." Also memorable is Jeff Parker, who plays politico Tom Watson as a southern-bred Mephistopheles.

Under music director Michael Mahler's baton, sounds magnificent. This is a production of outsize emotion, and it falls to the music to capture what spoken words cannot. Mahler makes that happen, from the seamless blend of the factory girls on "I Turn My Head" to the soaring ache of Lucille's "You Don't Know This Man."

As for the prologue/epilogue of "The Old Red Hills of Georgia," Larry Adams' Old Soldier and Devin DeSantis' Young Soldier searingly convey both the natural beauty of Georgia's famously blood-hued clay and the indelible ugliness of a landscape where the Civil War is burned into the collective memory.

Set designer Scott Davis creates a world where the Confederate flag is ever-present, tattered yet all-powerful. Mara Blumenfeld's costumes are museum-worthy period pieces that reference the class and racial divides that define the world of the play.

Sobering, enthralling and filled with beauty that's both audible and intangible, is a musty-see. Don't let it pass you by.

continues through June 2nd June 9th at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe (map), with performances Tuesdays-Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays 3pm & 7:30pm, Sundays 2pm & 6pm. Tickets are $35-$80, and are available by phone (847-242-6000) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com ). More information at WritersTheatre.org. (Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes, includes an intermission)

Larry Adams (Old Soldier, Judge Roan, ensemble), Patrick Andrews (Leo Frank), Brianna Borger (Lucille Frank), Jonathan Butler-Duplessis (Jim Conley), McKinley Carter (Mrs. Phagan, Sally Slaton), Devin DeSantis (Britt Craig, Young Soldier, ensemble), Kevin Gudahl (Hugh Dorsey, ensemble), Derek Hasenstab (Governor John Slaton, ensemble), Nicole Michelle Haskins (Minola McKnight, Angela), Caroline Heffernan (Mary Phagan, Essie, ensemble), Zoe Nadal (Montenegro, ensemble), Jake Nicholson (Frankie Epps, ensemble), Jeff Parker (Tom Watson, ensemble), Leryn Turlington (Iola Stover, ensemble), Jonah D. Winston (Newt Lee, Riley), Curtis Bannister (u/s Newt Lee, Riley), Nick Graffagna (u/s Frankie Epps, Young Soldier, ensemble), Lindsay Marion (u/s Mary Phagan, Montenegro, Iola Stover), Michael Potsic (u/s Governor Slaton, Britt Craig, Tom Watson, ensemble), John Ruess (u/s Hugh Dorsey, Judge Roan, Old Soldier, ensemble), Colette. Todd (u/s Mrs. Phagan, Lucille, Sally Slaton), Eunice Woods (u/s Minolta McKnight, Angela).

behind the scenes

Gary Griffin (director), Harold Prince (co-creator), Michael Mahler (musical direction), Ericka Mac (choreography), Matt Deitchman (associate music director, piano, conductor), Scott Davis (scenic design), Mara Blumenfeld (costume design), Christine Binder (lighting design), Ray Nardelli (sound design), Scott Dickens (props design), Bobby. Kennedy (dramaturg), David Castellanos (stage manager), Nick Moran (CFM contractor, conductor), Tyrone Phillips (assistant director), Mallory Jane Bass (assistant stage manager), Mary Ann Anane (dramaturg intern), Michael Brosilow (photos)

Tags: 17-0546, Alfred Uhry, Bobby Kennedy, Brianna Borger, Caroline Heffernan, Catey Sullivan, Chicago musical theater, Chicago Theater, Christine Binder, Colette Todd, Curtis Bannister, David Castellanos, Derek Hasenstab, Devin DeSantis, Ericka Mac, Eunice Woods, Gary Griffin, Harold Prince, Jake Nicholson, Jason Robert Brown, Jeff Parker, Jonah D. Winston, Jonathan Butler-Duplessis, Kevin Gudahl, Larry Adams, Leryn Turlington, Lindsay Marion, Mallory Jane Bass, Mara Blumenfeld, Mary Ann Anane, Matt Deitchman, McKinley Carter, Michael Brosilow, Michael Mahler, Michael Potsic. John Ruess, Nick Graffagna, Nick Moran, Nicole Michelle Haskins, Patrick Andrews, post, Ray Nardelli, Scott Davis, Scott Dickens, Tyrone Phillips, Writers' Theatre, Zoe Nadal

Category: 2017 Reviews, Catey Sullivan, Jason Robert Brown, Musical, Video, Writers' Theatre, YouTube