Parade
Original Broadway Cast Recording
RCA Victor
THE best musical of the season, featuring one of the finest scores of
recent
years, arrives on disc with its dramatic power intact in the splendid
cast album
of Parade.
Composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown and librettist Alfred Uhry
have built
a tragic yet exalting work upon the true story of Leo Frank, the transplanted
Brooklyn Jew railroaded for the murder of young factory worker Mary
Phagan
in 1913 Atlanta.
Brown makes an impressive Broadway debut with this bold and original
score,
bolstered by ever-relevant lyrics. A vivid tapestry of marches, hymns,
blues,
fox trots and wrenchingly emotional ballads, it captures the characters,
setting
and period.
Yet Brown filters it all through a modern perspective, his use of fragmentation
and dissonance lending a touch of Charles Ives. As a songwriter who
honors
theater tradition while pointing the way to the future, Brown could
be the
successor to Stephen Sondheim.
The songs chart the high points of Uhry's taut book, explaining the
social and
historic background that let such a terrible injustice occur. The ambitious
opening, The Old Red Hills of Home, typifies the score. It is first
sung by a
young Confederate soldier as he marches to war, then by the same character
50 years later as he marches in the Confederate Memorial Parade, the
townsfolk joining in a soaring anthem that declares Civil War-era pride
and
enmity are still burning bright.
Leo's introductory number, How Can I Call This Home?, poignantly portrays
his outsider status. His wife, Lucille's, opener, What Am I Waiting
For?,
expresses her frustration as a genteel assimilated Southern Jew in
an arranged
marriage. It Don't Make Sense, the heartbreaking chorale at the dead
girl's
funeral, expresses the populace's anguish and mounting furor, the roots
of the
blind quest for vengeance. You Don't Know This Man is Lucille's eloquent
defense of Leo; Come Up to My Office, the courtroom fantasy in which
Leo
briefly becomes the lecherous devil the prosecution is painting him
as.
This compelling tale's emotional center is the relationship of Leo and
Lucille,
who ironically discover their strength of character and love for each
other in the
midst of this nightmare. They share a moment of exhilarating triumph
in This Is
Not Over Yet, as they learn Leo's death sentence has been commuted.
All the
Wasted Time, the score's climax, is an incredibly moving duet expressing
their
belated yet profound passion.
Brent Carver and Carolee Carmello sing Leo and Lucille superbly, with
power
and unwavering conviction. Evan Pappas' cynical reporter and Rufus
Bonds
Jr.'s wily convict are vivid standouts in the fine supporting cast.
Enthralling
choral work, Don Sebesky's rich orchestrations and Eric Stern's incisive
musical direction enhance the score.
Glowing with intelligence, passion, and uncompromising integrity, Parade
is a
must for all who appreciate the musical as a serious art form. Despite
its brief
run, it already has won this year's New York Drama Critics Award and
Drama
Desk Award as best musical and is a leading contender (with nine nominations)
for the Tonys on June 6.