REVIEW: Experiencing 'Parade' in the city where it happened

ATLANTA - As someone who didn’t grow up in Georgia and doesn’t consider themselves a theater buff, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect walking into Parade at the Fox Theatre. I’d heard the basics of the Leo Frank case before — mostly from reading the marker next to Mary Phagan’s grave during an early trip to a local cemetery — but I couldn’t picture how such a heavy, tragic story would unfold on stage, let alone as a musical.

Turns out, Parade doesn’t try to soften the story — and that’s what makes it so unforgettable.

I’m used to musicals with uplifting endings or at least some kind of hopeful resolution. This is not that. What Parade offers instead is something much deeper — a confrontation with history that’s as emotionally raw as it is artistically powerful. The show tells the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent in 1913 Atlanta, who was convicted of the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan and later lynched by a mob after his sentence was commuted.

What struck me almost immediately was the way the show plunges you into the time period. The set rarely changes — a courtroom stage surrounded by seated cast members who silently observe the action — but projected photos, documents, and headlines remind you this all really happened. That choice feels especially heavy in Atlanta, where the echoes of the past are never too far off.

A Story That Still Hurts

From the opening number, you feel a sense of unease. It starts with a young soldier preparing to fight for the Confederacy — a rousing, almost joyful tune that turns chilling once the context clicks. That feeling never really leaves. The music is haunting, beautiful, and uncomfortable all at once.

Max Chernin as Leo Frank and Talia Suskauer as his wife Lucille deliver incredible performances. Their chemistry is quiet but heartbreaking and they are incredible vocalists. 

The choreography also deserves mention. During the trial scenes, testimonies are played out through stylized movement and pantomime. One especially jarring moment shows the prosecutor coercing young girls into testifying against Frank, the courtroom spiraling into slow-motion chaos as Chernin physically transforms into the monstrous version of how others portray him. It’s disturbing, effective, and brutally honest.

Not an Easy Watch — But an Important One

This is not a show you watch to relax — it’s one you sit with, and think about long after the curtain falls. And watching Parade in Atlanta adds another layer of weight. It’s not just a tragic story — it’s this city’s story. The stage may be in Midtown, but the events unfolded just miles away, in Marietta, where you can still find the historical marker near a Waffle House.

One thing I wish the theater had done better – preparing the audience for what they’re walking into. There’s a warning about racism and antisemitism, but no clear mention of the depiction of a child’s murder or the projected images of Leo Frank’s lynching at the end. It’s powerful — but it’s also graphic and potentially upsetting. That kind of content deserves a more specific heads-up for audience members who prefer to avoid such images and topic matter. 

Living History on Stage

What sets this production apart is its refusal to let history fade into the background. Parade isn’t about dazzling effects or catchy numbers. It’s about telling the truth — even when it hurts. Maybe especially then.

Surprisingly, this is the first time that Parade has taken the stage in Atlanta despite the fact that it was written by Atlanta's own Alfred Uhry, who also wrote "Driving Miss Daisy," with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. 

Case Remains Open

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles granted a posthumous pardon for Frank in 1986 after being petitioned by the Anti-Defamation League. However, they did not address Frank's guilt or innocence, granting the pardon based on the State's failure to protect him while in custory.

RELATED: Hundreds of antisemitic messages thrown around Marietta

In 2019, the Fulton County District Attorney’s office announced it would take another look at the Leo Frank case through its Conviction Integrity Unit — basically a modern-day attempt to reassess whether the original trial was fair. But as of now, in 2025, there’s no word on where that review stands or what, if anything, might come of it.

And while many have long believed Frank was innocent, not everyone sees it that way. 

Mary Phagan’s great-niece, Mary Phagan-Kean, is one of several family members who still believe Frank was guilty and has done her own investigative work to prove it. On the other side, most historians and legal scholars continue to argue that Frank was wrongfully convicted — with many pointing to Jim Conley, the janitor at the factory and a key prosecution witness, as the more likely suspect.

That divide — between what some still believe and what others feel history has proven — adds another layer of tension to watching Parade, especially here in Atlanta.

From the Director

Tony Award-winning director Michael Arden traveled to Georgia before rehearsals started to "pay homage" to Leo Frank. He visited the jail where he had been held and then traveled to where he was hanged. Arden says after his visit, he felt a "newfound charge" to tell the larger story of Parade.

According to Arden, the musical is ultimately a story of injustice, something we are now inundated with every day in a way we simply weren’t when the piece originally premiered in 1998. 

Arden says that the immediacy of today’s news cycle, and how it reflects our reality back to us on a constant feed, has forced all of us to reckon with our complicity in ever-present and unfolding tragedy. The unresolved traumas of the American past have led to the abuses of our present, and unfortunately to the legacy that could be our future, according to Arden. And so in telling this story every night, it is his greatest hope that it inspires critical thinking for an audience to actually re-examine the idea that even the most well-intentioned, forward-thinkers can get caught up in great injustice and that the mob has the possibility to form around us, or within us, at any moment.

If you're in Atlanta and you care about history, justice, or what it means when a society turns against its own, Parade is something you need to experience.  There is an 8 p.m. performance April 4; 2 and 8 p.m. performances April 5; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. shows on April 6. Click here for tickets.

And if you want to learn even more about the case, just head to The Bremen museum on Spring Street in Atlanta (there's a free ticket in the show's programs).  Just don’t expect to walk away unchanged.