ARCHIVED BROADWAY REVIEW
Parade
Reviewed by Brad Hathaway, Online Broadway Correspondent
Played at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center

Parade is a class act with a consistently interesting book, an intriguing score, smashing performances by two name stars and Harold Prince’s talent for constructing scenes that catch the eye and the mind at the same time. Still, it adds up to something less than the whole of its parts. Actually, Parade seems to be a victim of inflated expectations. It was supposed to be great. It is merely good.

Harold Uhry proved he can write warm and affectionate portraits of real people with his first two non-musical plays, "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" – two works that tell us a lot about how the south became the society it is. Here, using the more episodic technique of the musical theater as it is practiced by Harold Prince, he takes us further back to see the south trying to make the transition from the desolation of the civil war to a twentieth century mercantile and industrialized society. As is his want, he does so in a very personal way, examining real people from his family’s past as they cope with real pressures of the defining events of their lives. This time, however, the central characters aren’t family members he knew. This time they are people his family knew before he was born – Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager who was accused, tried and convicted of murdering a young girl in Atlanta before World War I, and the people who were involved in that celebrated case.

Uhry’s fascination with the case comes from his family’s reaction to any mention of the case while he was growing up in Atlanta. They simply refused to talk about it and that silence spoke volumes to this young man. As an adult playwright, he uses the case as a metaphor for the conflict between southern values tied to a past long gone and the fear of what is to replace them.

The songs Frank, his wife and the people of Atlanta sing in "Parade" are the work of Jason Robert Brown making as auspicious a Broadway composing debut as has been seen (heard?) in quite a while. It was not unexpected, however, given the quality of his off-Broadway score "Songs for a New World."

This score is intensely theatrical and is addressed directly to the audience most of the time. Even when the characters are ostensibly singing to each other their words are meant more for the audience’s ears than for the characters’. For the most part, the melodies are in simple support of the meter of the lyrics and, as such, are of help on first hearing in recognizing the patterns embedded in the lyrics to take us beyond the literal meaning of the words. On further hearing there may well be melodies that ingratiate. An overture would have helped the audience absorb some of the songs sooner but I guess overtures are an endangered species on Broadway.

The melodic content gets stronger in the second act as some thematic material is repeated and the two strongest numbers are unveiled. In one Leo Frank and his wife exclaim "This Is Not Over Yet" when the Governor agrees to review the guilty verdict which was rendered at the end of Act I. The other has this couple bemoan "All The Wasted Time" as their love blossoms under the influence of a mutual respect and partnership that had been missing from their marriage before the crime and trial changed their orderly lives.

Unfortunately, the act also contains a number of missteps. One is a song and dance for John Hickok, in the otherwise officious character of the Governor. "Pretty Music" bears all the signs of having been written for a more complex character that has been reduced in re-writes to the point that the song no longer fits. Another second act miss, a quartet called "A Rumblin’ and a Rollin’", may well have been written after the rest of the show when someone remarked that there should be some explanation of the reactions of the black population in Atlanta. It seems like an add-on.

Brent Carver returns to Broadway where he swept most all awards for "Kiss of the Spider Woman." This new performance is just as strong but as different from that one as can be imagined. His Leo Frank is a controlled introvert caught up in events beyond his imagining but he maintains an essential humanity in the face of terminal odds. The progression of his performance has a strong man mature under pressures that would destroy a lesser man. The only misstep in the performance is not his fault. He is required to break character in order to sing and dance a witness’ false account of Frank’s behavior. As the testimony is false so is the song and dance.

Carolee Carmello is back at Lincoln Center where she did "Hello Again" and it is cause for rejoicing. Her Mrs. Frank grows under our eyes from a shallow, withdrawn and vaguely disappointed-with-life wife into a strong, determined, vital person who is a full partner to her mate. Almost all of the transformation comes in the second act although she allows us a preview of the magic to come in her "You Don’t Know This Man" just before Act 1’s trial sequence.

There are riches enough to make this a must-see show during a limited run at Lincoln Center and we certainly can look forward to a wonderful Original Broadway Cast Album. Should a transfer to an unlimited run further down town be contemplated, they would be well served to re-think some of its weaknesses before committing additional millions of dollars to the project. There should be theatrical gold in "The Old Red Hills of Home" (the number that opens and closes the show) but they haven’t hit the mother load yet.

Reviewed by Brad Hathaway
bhathawa@erols.com

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