LEO FRANK c. 1910–1915. He was lynched at 31 in 1915.
NEW YORK CITY – The producers of the Broadway revival of Parade, winner of the 2023 Tony Award® for Best Revival of a Musical, have announced casting for the National Tour of Parade. The production will run technical rehearsals and have its first public performances at Proctors in Schenectady from Jan.11-17 followed by its official tour premiere at Hennepin Art’s historic Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis from Jan. 21-26.
Joining previously announced Max Chernin (Broadway Revival of Parade) and Talia Suskauer who will play Leo and Lucille Frank will be Griffin Binnicker, Evan Harrington, Ramone Nelson, Jack Roden, Andrew Samonsky, Chris Shyer, Michael Tacconi, Alison Ewing, Olivia Goosman, Jenny Hickman, Oluchi Nwaokorie, Robert Knight, Prentiss E. Mouton (Broadway Revival of Parade), Danielle Lee Greaves (Broadway Revival of Parade), Ben Cherington, Emily Rose DeMartino (Broadway Revival of Parade), Bailee Endebrock (Broadway Revival of Parade), Caroline Fairweather (Broadway Revival of Parade), Trevor James, Sophia Manicone (Broadway Revival of Parade), Trista Moldovan, Ethan Riordan, Brian Vaughn and Jason Simon. William Bishop, Jerquintez A. Gipson, Brianna Javis, Benjamin Magnuson, Jodi Snyder, Eden Witvoet and Jake Ziman will be the swings.
Parade tells a fictionalized account of what had been a real life couple, Leo and Lucille Frank. The newlywed Jewish couple struggled to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of murdering a 13-year-old girl, in his employ, it propels them into a test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. The anti-Semitism of the Atlanta community and Leo’s eventual lynching in 1915 (for a crime that he is considered by many modern scholars to have been innocent of) inspired the creation of the Anti- Defamation League (ADL).
Parade is directed by Tony Award® winner Michael Arden, with book by two-time Tony Award® winner, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Academy Award® winner Alfred Uhry, music and lyrics by three-time Tony Award® winner Jason Robert Brown, and co-conceived by 21-time Tony Award®-winning legend Harold Prince.
