Pashacar said: "PipingHotPiccolo said: "KevinKlawitter said: "Article by Yair Rosenberg - Parade is a musical about anti-Semitism in which the anti-Semites steal the show—and that’s precisely why it works.
He also makes an interesting point that can be related to people feeling Ben Platt's performance is a weaker point - his role is more passive and limited by design."
The Atlantic is the best. This is an interesting spin on this show, but i think a little too forgiving. Uhry couldn't help but relegate the most fascinating characters (Conley, Minnie) to a song or two, and even has the Franks play second fiddle to the American White People. I loved this production, and I think Platt and Diamond are elevating their Jewish characters to the forefront. But as written? Its a fundamental miss for me, the way they open and close the show with the White Supremacists and give each of them their own big song."
Conley and Minnie the most fascinating characters? Why?
I agree with the article: letting the prejudiced Georgians eclipse everyone else is the whole reason the show works."
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with the article's conclusion but watching it (and i think i said this here at the time) i found myself frustrated that we KEPT returning to different racist white men so that they could each give us their perspective. I mean 5-6 White characters get their own moments, on top of the big ensemble numbers for the rest of the White Georgians. It strikes me as a blind spot reminiscent of 20 yrs ago, when that perspective was given a voice louder than others.
And so the Franks get short shrifted -- as so the other characters I mentioned. Conley is given great songs, dont get me wrong (and Grayson runs away with them) but the book barely explores the fact that he, you know, almost definitely did it. And that the cops sorta knew that. And that the Gov was absolutely sure of it which is why he commuted Leo's death penalty.
And I mention Minnie, too, because the book sorta implies the Franks werent overly kind to her, and never explores the impossible position she was put in, how she was bullied into lying, how sorry she later said she was, etc. I'd much rather have heard more from Leo or Lucille, or Minnie, or Conley, or Georgia's sizable Jewish community (another complicated story), than hear old bitter racists pine for the Confederacy.
and i'm guessing if Uhry wrote this play now, we would have heard more from them, because progress. i dont begrudge him for writing like its 1998, but i sure noticed it.
Updated On: 3/24/23 at 09:30 AM
. In his review for NYT, Jesse Green wrote that it began with sex. Just curious if this would be appropriate for a high school history class that has been studying the Leo Frank case.
