Parade: Thoughts on the show and its ending...?

[stage_door76]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 2:10am

Perhaps i'm just daft, but who exactly is the murderer at the conclusion of the show? Is the final flaskback sequence with Leo Frank ment to concrete his innocence, or point out the depth of his betrayal and contorted guilty side?

I thought that the guilty one is alluded to be Jim Conley, the one who officially turned evidence against Frank...anyone agree?

Does anyone know the actual facts of the case, or is the show ment to leave you to make your own decision?

Love to hear your opinions on the actual show too. I think it has a relatively weak book, but the score is truly astonishing
:)

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 2:21am

As a religious Orthodox Jew, Leo reciting the Sh'mah as his last words just does it for me every time and turns me to mush. Those words are the foundation of our beleifs and that he still stands strong at the end is amazing. And the fact that it is to the same tune as Old Red Hills is even MORE amazing because of the irony involved.

Akiva

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 2:26am

Leo was pardoned in the 1980's and Jim Conleyy was fingered as the murderer of Mary.
Here is an interesting site on the case.
Leo Frank Page

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 4:41am

I think the creators wanted people to draw their own conclusions from the show-that being said, I know they approached it from the belief that Leo was innocent.

Interesting story: Alfred Uhry, who wrote the book and also wrote "Driving Miss Daisy" among other things, based the character of Miss Daisy on his southern Jewish grandmother, who was actually friends with Lucille Frank! Uhry remembered Lucille coming over to his grandmother's house and she said to him, "Be nice to Mrs. Frank. She's had a very hard life." Rumor has it that Lucille was also pregnant at the time of Leo's murder and miscarried, but I've never found out if that was actually true.

I played Lucille in the show, and the book is very awkward,especially her speeches in Act II about the research she's been doing on the law. I agree. But yes, the score is just astounding. And it is such an important story and case. You might want to check out "The Murder of Mary Phagan", the TV movie of the story made in the 80s-lots of great stars in it: Peter Gallagher, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey-even Cynthia Nixon makes an appearance! Might be tough to find but it's worth it I think. Tells the story from Governor Slayton's POV.

It is a tough show to sit through but I wish more people were willing-I hope that in the future it will be considered a milestone in Broadway musical history.

[sanda]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 2:09pm

I adore the show. The music is so fresh,beautiful and moving. The cast is great, especially Brent Carver's Leo, Carolee Carmillo's Lucille and Jim Conley and the reporter.

This is another cast recording that I love to listen to again and again.

For the question, I don't know who is the real murder but Leo's definitely innocent.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 2:20pm

I remember seeing this just after New Year's eve and going home and just standing in my living room and weeping. I cried from Lincoln Center all the way back to my place on 48th street and didn't stop for over an hour - it affected me so deeply.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 4:02pm

At the end when the little girls says: "Happy Memorial Day" I was wondering if that meant he was not guilty.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 4:07pm

Goth, I've always interpreted that as a declaration of his innocence.

[jacco]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 4:41pm

Me too! Love this score and am still hitting myself I never saw it..... But Amsterdam is far from New York....TOO FAR!

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 4:44pm

Love the score, learned the case in Soc. last year.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 4:49pm

"and am still hitting myself I never saw it"

IMO, as long as you have the cast recording, you have the best of it. I didn't like the Lincoln Center production. I didn't think it was directed very well. It would be great if an Off-Broadway company picked this up.

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 4:56pm

I think the music is absolutely amazing. I have only seen the lincoln center cast on video, but they were FIERCE!

[LilysEye]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 5:04pm

When I was first introduced to the show, I researched it like crazy because I loved it so much. From what I remember: JRB leaves you believing in Leo's innocence because he *was* innocent. The actual murderer confessed his guilt on his deathbed - years after Leo was killed.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 5:23pm

I also researched the show like crazy after getting the CD in 1999. I even went to Atlanta and found a lot of the sites (and graves) related to the story. At one time a lot of my pics from that trip were posted on a Parade fan site. If I recall correctly...the deathbed confession was by Alonzo Mann--a teenage worker at the plant during the time of the murders. Jim Conley confessed the murders to him, but told him he would kill him if he told anyone. Mann kept this secret for years and made it public soon before his death. It was this testimony that led to the pothumous pardon for Leo Frank.

(on a side note....it has been a long while since I read the books on the case so I could be wrong..but I seem to recall that there MAY have been an alleged "deathbed testimony" by Conley as well, but it was dismissed and not taken seriously due to his mental state at the time)

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 10/3/05 at 5:27pm

because of this incident, the ADL was created. who knew!?

[stage_door76]

Posted: 10/4/05 at 3:52am

thank-you all so much for sharing your knowledge!

the score is stunning; complex, emotional and powerful.

to anyone who hasn't seen the show and bases all of JRB's music on "Flying Home" and the title song in "Songs...", Parade shows an entirely different side of his creative ability.

The show will move you in a way unparalleled by any other theater experience. GUARANTEED! It's very unique.