Book: Alfred Uhry; Score: Jason Robert Brown. At: Bohemian Theatre Ensemble at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets: 773-975-8150 or www.bohotheatre.com; $25-$27. Runs through: Nov. 16
Ten years after Parade made its acclaimed Chicago debut at Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, the 1998 Tony Award-winning musical is back again in the same building courtesy of Bohemian Theatre Ensemble ( BoHo ).
But there have been many changes since Parade last played this location—not only to the remodeled venue now named Theater Wit, but to the show's script and score, too.
Parade dramatizes a dark piece of U.S. history that some people scoff at when they hear it was turned into a big Broadway musical: Jewish factory manager Leo Frank's probable wrongful murder conviction in 1913 and his death at the hands of a Georgia lynch mob the following year. Nonetheless, esteemed director Harold Prince teamed composer Jason Robert Brown ( The Last Five Years ) with playwright Alfred Uhry ( Driving Miss Daisy ) to tackle the project.
Although it flopped at Lincoln Center ( a likely victim of Canadian theatrical syndicate Livent's financial collapse ), Parade has gained many admirers through the years—even if Act I can make you feel like being repeatedly pummeled as Frank is railroaded through the biased Southern courts.
The Bailiwick production showed that Parade could succeed when crowded into an intimate space, which was also confirmed when the show's authors later revised the work in 2007 for licensing via director Rob Ashford's small-scale production at London's Donmar Warehouse. It's this version that BoHo is presenting, which features a new song of political collusion called "The Glory," while also smartly cutting the first "Big News" song of hack reporter Britt Craig.
But with BoHo's Parade, one misses some of the theatrical grandeur of the show since director Linda Fortuanto was so stingy in just casting 15 performers. There is much potentially confusing actor doubling going on, plus instances where you see African-American cast members unlikely adding bodies on stage as parade watchers celebrating Confederate Memorial Day.
Fortuanto's staging is also fairly restrained since she's hemmed in by set designer Patrick Ham's hulking brick buildings ( one of which supports the five-member orchestra ). BoHo's Parade gets the job done dramatically, but it's missing some of the theatrical staging flourishes I've seen in previous productions.
What BoHo's Parade definitely has going for it is the many strongly sung and acted performances all around, in particular the coupling of Jim Deselm and Sarah Bockel as husband and wife Leo and Lucille Frank. Deselm and Bockel show the couple's initial awkwardness, later blossoming into passionate romance once they start rallying around each other through the appeals process.
BoHo's Parade is perfectly respectable in this welcome and intimate staging. But you may have to wait years for opera companies to start staging Parade if you want to see it with all the grandeur and gravity it can also encompass.
