Multiple Columbia Affiliates Work on the Broadway Revival of 'Parade'
Following a successful seven performance run at New York City Center in November 2022, Parade is heading to Broadway with several Columbia affiliates aiding the production. Dramaturgy student Cami Rose Hancock serves as the production’s dramaturg and the assistant to book writer Alfred Uhry. Several Adjunct Assistant Professors also take on various artistic roles: Justin Scribner is the show’s production stage manager, Sarah G. Harris is the stage manager, and Manoel Felciano reprises his role as Tom Watson after Parade’s City Center run. Theatre Management and Producing alumnus Joel Glassman ’18 is the company manager. Additionally, Adjunct Assistant Professor Cody Renard Richard, who served as the production stage manager for the show at City Center, has joined the Broadway production’s producing team, and Adjunct Assistant Professor Rachel Sussman and Theatre Management and Producing alumnus David Manella ’18 are co-producers as well.
Parade begins previews at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on February 21, with opening night set for March 16, 2023. The show will play a limited engagement and is set to close on August 6, 2023. The Broadway revival, like the City Center production, is directed by Michael Arden and stars Ben Platt and Michaela Diamond.
Parade follows the true, devastating story of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager in Atlanta, Georgia who was wrongfully accused and convicted of the rape and murder of 13-year-old factory employee Mary Phagan in 1913. The musical, written by Alfred Uhry (book) and Jason Robert Brown (music and lyrics), reveals the antisemitic tensions and hate crimes that arose as Frank’s accusation and conviction hit the spotlight—which ultimately caused Frank’s death, as he was kidnapped from prison by a lynching party and hanged. In the midst of it all, it is also a heartbreaking love story between Leo and Lucille Frank, whose bond deepens even as they’re forced apart by Leo Frank’s conviction and demise.
Parade premiered on Broadway in 1998, under the direction of Harold Prince. The original production won two Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Score. A major revision of the original show premiered at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2007 and was seen at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2009. The upcoming revival is being revised further by Uhry (assisted by Hancock), and will feature edits not seen at City Center last fall. When asked about the show’s move to Broadway, Hancock expressed that the first day of rehearsal “felt like a homecoming, returning to the room with the creative team and many of the cast members from Parade's City Center production. More than anything, it feels gratifying to be a part of bringing this story—which to me is ultimately about remaining resilient in the face of tragedy—to Broadway and knowing that so many more people will get to experience it.”
Tickets for the Broadway production of Parade can be found here.