Experience the Raw Emotion and Historical Significance of Parade: Slow Burn Theatre’s Gripping Revival of the Award-Winning Musical at the Broward Center Highlights Timeless Themes of Justice and Human Resilience.

February 8th, 2025

Slow Burn Theatre Company presents a moving production of the musical Parade at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

The musical, featuring a book by Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy, Mystic Pizza, Robber Bridegroom) and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (Bridges of Madison County, Songs for a New World, Honeymoon in Vegas) premiered on Broadway in December 1998 and won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score. Its 2023 Broadway staging, starring Ben Platt, was nominated for six Tony Awards, winning two, including Best Revival of a Musical.

The musical dramatizes the 1913 trial of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank, who was accused and convicted of raping and murdering a thirteen-year-old National Pencil Company employee, Mary Phagan. The trial, sensationalized by the media, aroused antisemitic tensions throughout the state of Georgia. When Frank’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1915 by the departing Governor of Georgia (John M. Slaton), Leo Frank was transferred to a prison in Milledgeville, Georgia. There is a group of 28 men, mostly of whom were prominent citizens, formed a “Vigilance Committee” committed to seeking their own form of justice.

The lynching party seized and kidnapped Frank; taking him back to Phagan’s hometown of Marietta, Georgia, where he was hanged from an oak tree. The consensus of researchers on the subject is that Frank was wrongly convicted, and that Mary Phagan most likely died at the hands of a nighttime, African American factory worker named Jim Conley. Not a single member of the lynching party, which included a former governor of the state of Georgia, was ever charged with the death of Leo Frank. The horrendous and sensationalized events surrounding the investigation and trial led the revival of the defunct KKK and the birth of the Jewish Civil Rights organization, the Anti-Defamation League.

This is the third production of Parade I have seen. One of them was Slow Burn Theatre’s own previous production in 2013. This 2025 production is by far the most cleanly directed and well staged of the three. It is rare that a theatre company gets to take another swing at specific production with the same director at the helm. Whether it is the added years of directorial experience, or the artistic perspective gained from taking a step back, director Patrick Fitzwater has shaped the story with great craftsmanship. Yes, there is the injustice of a corrupt political system born from an “old-boy network”. There are the ripe themes of the unapologetic antisemitisms and racism of the time period that still ring painfully true even today. But the heart of this story is the poignancy of a couple, Leo Frank and his wife Lucille, who learn to redefine themselves amidst the adversity of his trial and imprisonment and rediscover their love for one another. Their bond is even stronger than before, and it is that which somehow makes us able to endure the pain and injustice of his death. In real life Lucille Frank, though widowed at the young age of 27, never remarried – mourning her beloved Leo until she passed away in 1957.

I’ll get my complaints out of the way early. The sound system was not fully on at the top of the opening song, the beautiful “Old Red Hills of Home”. It’s a repeated musical theme and a representative sentiment of southerners who guard their land and traditions long after the Civil War ended. A place where no Yankee and especially no Jewish Yankee like Leo Frank is ever truly welcome in 1913. It’s too important a moment to miss out on. Later in the show microphone issues reappear in songs when soloists like Frank are drowned out by the ensemble, and again when Leo (Justin Albinder) is overpowered vocally by his wife Lucille (Mikayla Cohen). There are also times when the lighting doesn’t seem to quite capture the moment to full advantage. But to be fair there are more moments when the lighting really does beautifully enhance and frame what is going on. And, oh my goodness the ensemble has some glorious sounding moments assisted by the live, 8-piece orchestra led by music director Travis Smith!

Justin Albinder’s voice as Leo Frank seems a bit too reedy at first, but it serves the establishment of his fairly meek character. The growth of his sound as the show progresses matches the growth of his character. There is in his portrayal a nobleness in his refusal to succumb to a hatred of his fellow man, and to cling to his desire to stay by his wife’s side not out of fear but out of love. Mikayla Cohen as Lucille mines the depth of her character, and her journey from pampered Southern housewife to a champion for justice. She has a passion for the role that she reads in her performance.

While Michael Materdomini is a facially inexpressive as Governor John Slaton, and Joel Hunt chews the scenery as Frankie Epps, Landon Summers is convincingly slimy as Tom Watson, and Erick Schark as the manipulative Judge Roan is very watchable. While this production is gifted with some sensitive and talented performance moments, Chaz Rose steals the show as Jim Conley. His voice is rich and warm and soulful. He knows how to use his dynamic range to full advantage. His acting is remarkable. I have watched actors of color have to portray a role immersed in the societal constraints of other time periods. It is not an enviable task. He is totally immersed in his role. His character choices paint a picture of a man governed on the outside but not owned on the inside. There is a memorable sense of knowing irony on his face. I found myself in awe of his performance.

I went to this performance not knowing what to expect as it is not a happy, toe-tapping musical. What a found was a well-directed show filled with heartfelt performances and a thought-provoking, real-life story with message that is still relevant today.

Parade will be appearing through February 23^rd in the Amaturo Theatre at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.  The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located at 201 Southwest 5^th Ave., in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  The show times are 7:30pm Wednesday-Saturday, 1pm Saturdays and 2pm Sundays. Tickets are $72-77 for this production. For tickets or more information please go to www.slowburntheatre.org or call the box office at 954-462-0222.