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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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)

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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.

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