The announced Chicago booking of the national tour of Parade has fallen through -- due to a routing issue -- taking a prime market off the schedule of the five-month revival of the Tony Award-winning musical.
The Harold Prince-directed musical, about murder, race and anti Semitism in Atlanta in 1913, was to have played the Cadillac Palace Sept. 5-10. Hoped-for dates in Boston (for summer) and St. Louis (Nov. 14-19) have also not materialized, according to a spokesman.
Composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown, who won a Tony for the score, will conduct the tour, which begins June 13-18 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. St. Paul, MN, Memphis, TN, Denver, Green Bay, WI, Seattle, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Dallas will get to see the show that also won Alfred Uhry a Tony for Best Book.
David Pittu, late of the national tour of Titanic, and Andrea Burns, recently of Off-Broadway's Saturday Night, will be Leo and Lucille Frank in the serious-minded, fact-based musical.
Director Prince recreates his 1998-99 Lincoln Center Theater staging. The creative team, including choreographer Patricia Birch and designers Riccardo Hernandez (set) and Howell Binkley (lighting) reunites for the summer-to-fall 2000 tour. The company includes Adinah Alexander (Mrs. Phagan), Ray Aranha (Newt Lee), Kristen Cullen (Mary Phagan), Jeff Edgerton (Young Solider/Fiddlin' John), Donal Grody (Old Soldier/Judge Roan), Rick Hilsabeck (Governor Slaton), Daniel Frank Kelley (Frankie Epps), Keith Byron Kirk (Jim Conley), Randy Redd (Britt Craig), Peter Samuels (Hugh Dorsey), David Vosburgh (Luther Rosser/Floyd MacDaniel), John Leslie Wolfe (Tom Watson). The ensemble includes Anne Allgood, Mimi Bessette, Justin Bohon, Elizabeth Brownlee, Diana Brownstone, David Coolidge, David Dannehl, Sandra DeNise, Peter Flynn, Carla J. Hargrove, Tim Howard, Siri Howard, Jamie Johhson, Raissa Katona, Emily Klein, Corey Reynolds, Greg Roderick, Laura Schutter, Natasha Yvette Williams.
Sound designer is Duncan Edwards, costume designer is Judith Dolan and Clayton Phillips in assistant to Prince.
Reprising their original Broadway roles are Klein as Essie, Edgerton as the Young Soldier, Wolfe as Watson and Aranha as Newt Lee. Original cast members returning in new roles are Alexander as Mrs. Phagan, Redd as Britt Craig and Samuel as Hugh Dorsey.
As of May 31, the Parade tour route includes:
June 13-18: Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA
June 20-25: Orpheum Theatre, Memphis, TN
June 27-July 2: Music Hall at Fair Park, Dallas, TX
Aug. 1-13: Ordway Theatre, St. Paul, MN
Aug. 15-20: Benedum Center (CLO), Pittsburgh, PA
Aug. 22-27: Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, Green Bay, WI
Sept. 12-24: Denver Center Buell Theatre, Denver, CO
Sept. 26-Oct.15: 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle, WA.
Oct. 17-29: Playhouse Square, Cleveland, OH.
An original cast recording of Parade is available on the RCA label.
