PARADE – 2023 Broadway Cast Recording (Interscope Records).
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Originating from a Broadway production that ended prematurely – after just 84 performances – but then achieved two Tony wins and a further seven nominations, Parade is a show that truly divides audiences.
Its central narrative is based on true events, set in 1913 Atlanta, Georgia and focusing on the story of Jewish factory owner Leo Frank and his wife Lucille. After the death of a young factory girl, Leo is tried and wrongly convicted of her murder following a collection of false and exaggerated evidence against him. Fighting against antisemitic prejudice and the sociopolitical tension of the time, Lucille campaigns for the trial to be reopened and is eventually successful. Despite a reduction in his sentence from death to life imprisonment, Frank suffers at the hands of a lynch mob and is killed, refusing to admit to a crime he did not commit.
With an original score by Jason Robert Brown, the soundtrack incorporates hallmarks of a classic Broadway masterpiece. The exceptionally heart-rending and, at times, chilling details of the story make for an emotionally-laden narrative which is supported by some beautiful ballads at the most poignant moments of the story. ‘How Can I Call This Home?’, impeccably performed in the 2023 version by Ben Platt as New Yorker Leo, conveys the detachment he feels from Atlanta and its people and hints at the core themes of segregation and division at play for the rest of the production.
Similarly, Leo’s last chance to defend himself at his trial – ‘It’s Hard to Speak My Heart’ – captures the desperation of a man trying to save himself not only from a conviction but also the condemnation of his neighbours. The highlights of Platt’s performance are rounded off with a stunning duet with Micaela Diamond as Lucille. Their tumultuous but ultimately triumphant love story is the constant undercurrent to Frank’s – literal and figurative – trials, and peaks with their dedication to each other and hope for the future together in ‘All the Wasted Time’, the night before Frank is devastatingly murdered.
Parade is certainly not an easy watch – or listen – but the range of raw emotions experienced by so many within the story are depicted through Brown’s score with almost tangible precision and truth, catapulting this soundtrack to rightfully-deserved multiple Tony winner status.
Sorcha Exworthy
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