The Jason Robert Brown-Alfred Uhry-Harold Prince musical Parade, which received mixed reviews upon opening at Lincoln Center Theatre's Vivian Beaumont Theatre Dec. 17, 1998, continues to show signs of life. The run, which had a tentative closing date of Feb. 28, is now open-ended. Tickets are now on sale through April 1999, said a press spokesman.
Parade started previews Nov. 12. Prince, director of The Phantom of the Opera and Sweeney Todd, staged the new show, with a book by Uhry, and a score by Brown. Patricia Birch, who worked with Hal Prince on Candide and A Little Night Music, choreographed. Designing the show are Judith Dolan (costumes), Riccardo Hernandez (sets) and Howell Binkley (lighting).
Librettist Uhry won the 1997 Best Play Tony for his The Last Night of Ballyhoo and the Pulitzer Prize and Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy.
Brent Carver (a Tony winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman ) and cabaret songstress Carolee Carmello (Hello Again ) star in the musical, as Leo and Lucille Selig Frank. The real-life Leo Frank case occurred in 1913, when a night watchman discovered the body of a 13 year-old factory girl who had been raped and strangled. Leo Frank, a worker at the Georgia factory, was arrested and convicted of the crime, mostly based on questionable testimony by an illiterate sweeper, and prevailing anti-Semitic feelings in the community. Though the Georgia governor commuted Frank's death sentence (in the process ruining his political career), an armed mob pulled Frank from his prison cell and hung him, amidst much celebration, from an oak tree.
Also featured in the cast of 35 are J.B. Adams as Rosser; Ray Aranha as murder suspect Newt Lee; Rufus Bonds, Jr. as key witness Jim Conley; Don Chastain (Floyd Collins ) as Judge Roan; Jeff Edgerton as Fiddlin' John; John Hickok as Governor Slaton, who commutes Frank's sentence; Herndon Lackey (Kiss of the Spider Woman ) as Hugh Dorsey, the overzealous prosecuting attorney; Jessica Molaskey (Dream ) as Mrs. Phagan; Kirk McDonald (Violet ) as Frankie Epps; Evan Pappas (My Favorite Year ) as reporter Britt Craig; Christy Carlson Romano as Mary Phagen; and John Leslie Wolfe (Passion ) as fanatical publisher Tom Watson. Tickets to Parade are on sale at (212) 239-6200.
