
'Parade' review — Ben Platt leads a first-rate cast in this dark, gripping revival
Read our five-star review of Parade on Broadway, starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre through August 6.
This website uses cookies. If you continue to use the site, your agreement will result in cookies being set.
After an acclaimed run at New York City Center, Jason Robert Brown's Parade came to Broadway, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical Revival and Best Direction of a Musical. Get Parade tickets on New York Theatre Guide, and see Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Tony Award nominee Micaela Diamond in the starring roles.
The current production of Parade first went up off Broadway in 2022, as part of New York City Center's Encores! program presenting rarely revived musicals. The 2023 transfer marks its first Broadway revival since its 1998 premiere, when Parade played for just over two months. It was a short, but lauded, run, with Parade receiving nine Tony Award nominations. The show won two, for Best Book of a Musical (for Alfred Uhry) and Best Original Score (for Jason Robert Brown).
Parade is the only musical the two wrote together. Uhry is best known for writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Driving Miss Daisy, which was staged for the first time on Broadway in 2010 with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones.
Parade was Brown's first Broadway musical, and he has composed four others since: 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon in Vegas, and most recently, Mr. Saturday Night starring Billy Crystal. He is also known for the Off-Broadway musical The Last Five Years, which is regularly revived across the U.S. and the world.
The Parade musical dramatizes the real-life trial, imprisonment, and ultimate lynching of Jewish American factory manager Leo Frank (Platt). In 1913, Frank was accused of raping and killing a 13-year-old female worker at his Georgia factory. The musical explores how local and national press sensationalized the trial, the anti-Semitism the trial and its coverage incited, and how the ordeal — especially since Frank was, likely, falsely accused — affects Frank and his family.
Ben Platt is an actor best known originating the title role of Dear Evan Hansen, for which he won a Tony in 2017 at 23 years old. Until 2022, he was the youngest solo actor to ever win the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Myles Frost, who won for MJ at 22, has since claimed the record). Platt is also known for his screen roles in the Pitch Perfect film series and on the Netflix show The Politician; Parade on Broadway marks his first return to the big stage since Dear Evan Hansen.
His role as Leo Frank earned him a 2023 Tony Award nomination alongside Micaela Diamond as Lucille Frank. The show earned an additional three nominations, including Best Musical Revival and Best Direction of a Musical for Michael Arden.
Tickets to Parade in New York are on sale now.
Get tickets to Parade on Broadway, or sign up to receive our latest news and show alerts.
2hr 30min (incl. intermission)
February 21st, 2023
August 6th, 2023
Musicals, Broadway
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
By: Alfred Uhry
Songs by: Jason Robert Brown
Director: Michael Arden
Choreography: Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant
Cast list: Ben Platt (as Leo Frank), Micaela Diamond (as Lucille Frank), Alex Joseph Grayson (as Jim Conley), Sean Allan Krill (as Governor Slaton), Howard McGillin (as Old Soldier/Judge Roan), Paul Alexander Nolan (as Hugh Dorsey), Jay Armstrong Johnson (as Britt Craig), Kelli Barrett (as Mrs. Phagan), Courtnee Carter (as Angela), Eddie Cooper (as Newt Lee), Erin Rose Doyle (as Mary Phagan), Manoel Felciano (as Tom Watson), Danielle Lee Greaves (as Minnie McKnight), Douglas Lyons (as Riley), Jake Pedersen (as Frankie Epps), Florrie Bagel (as Nurse), Stacie Bono (as Sally Slaton), Max Chernin (as Mr. Turner), Emily Rose DeMartino (as Essie and others), Christopher Gurr (as Luther Rosser/Mr. Peavy), Beth Kirkpatrick (as Nina Formby), Ashlyn Maddox (as Monteen and others), Sophia Manicone (as Iola Stover), William Michals (as Detective Starnes), Jackson Teeley (as Officer Ivey), Charlie Webb (as Young Soldier)
Design: Dane Laffrey
Costumes: Susan Hilferty
Lighting: Heather Gilbert
Sound: Jon Weston
Other info: Projection design by Sven Ortel, music direction by Tom Murray, hair and wig design by Tom Watson
Read our five-star review of Parade on Broadway, starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre through August 6.
Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, both 2023 Tony nominees, talk about their experiences portraying Leo and Lucille Frank in the first Broadway revival of Parade.
Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry's Tony Award-winning musical is based on the true story of Leo Frank, a factory manager who was charged with a heinous crime in 1913.
Following a sold-out run at New York City Center, the first major New York revival of this epic, dramatic musical comes to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre through August 6 only.