The JRB News Section http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/ A place to post announcements about site updates, new projects, press coverage, or anything else you don't want to talk about in detail or write about personally in the weblog. en Copyright 2010 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:22:38 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss ANIKA NONI ROSE joins JRB at Birdland in March!
For all four of my shows at Birdland in March, I am being joined by the magnificent ANIKA NONI ROSE, diva of the stage (Tony Award winner for Caroline, Or Change and star of the 2008 revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof), television (star of HBO's The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency), movies (Dreamgirls), and, according to my four-year-old daughter, easily the coolest person that has ever stepped foot in this house (thank you, Princess and the Frog).

Anika's going to be singing a whole bunch of songs, some brand new, some way old, and she will be accompanied not just by the usual Caucasian Rhythm Kings, but by the Brand New Caucasian Horns in their concert debut! That stage is going to be crowded, y'all.

So come git your tickets, people! 7 pm on March 14, 16, 17 & 18. See you there!

Sunday, March 14, at 7 pm
Tuesday, March 16, at 7 pm
Wednesday, March 17, at 7 pm
Thursday, March 18, at 7 pm

She was even in From Justin to Kelly! That's a STAR!

See you in March!
Jason Robert Brown
]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/anika_noni_rose_joins_jrb_at_b.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/anika_noni_rose_joins_jrb_at_b.php news Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:22:38 -0800 A GUIDE TO THE MUSIC ON JRB.COM
from Songs for a New World:

Stars and the Moon, Jessica Molaskey (original cast recording, 1996)
She Cries, Jason Robert Brown (live, 2002)
The River Won't Flow, Brian D'arcy James, Billy Porter, Andréa Burns, Amy Ryder (demo, 1994)
King of the World, Billy Porter (demo, 1994)
Surabaya-Santa, Kristine Zbornik (live, 2002)
The Flagmaker, 1775, Julia Murney (live, 2003)

from Parade:

All The Wasted Time, Brent Carver & Carolee Carmello (original cast recording, 1999)
I Have Something To Say/Special To The New York Herald! (cut from the show) JRB (demo, 1996)
It Goes On And On Evan Pappas (original cast recording outtake, 1999)

from The Last Five Years:

Shiksa Goddess, Norbert Leo Butz (original cast recording, 2002)
Moving Too Fast, Jason Robert Brown (live, 2002)

from Urban Cowboy:

That's How Texas Was Born, Jason Robert Brown (original cast recording, 2003)
Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak, Jenn Colella (original cast recording, 2003)

from "13":

What It Means To Be A Friend, Krista Pioppi (demo, 2004)
"13" Medley: Being A Geek/Brand New You/Thirteen, members of the original Los Angeles cast (radio commercial, 2006)
Being A Geek, Ricky Ashley & Boys (Los Angeles cast recording, 2007)

from The Moneyman:

Coming Home (The Ballad of Michael Milken), Jason Robert Brown, Lauren Mufson (demo, 1996)
The X-Shaped Desk, The Caucasian Rhythm Kings and Orchestra (demo, 1996)
Reborn (The Fallen Angel), Jason Robert Brown (demo, 1996)
Milken On The Floor, The Caucasian Rhythm Kings and Orchestra (demo, 1996)
Money Gonna Make You A Real Man, Jason Robert Brown (demo, 1996)
I Rise, Lauren Mufson, Jason Robert Brown (demo, 1996)
Mexico, The Caucasian Rhythm Kings and Orchestra (demo, 1996)

Assorted other songs:

And I Will Follow, Lauren Kennedy (Songs of Jason Robert Brown, 2003)

Someone To Fall Back On, Jason Robert Brown (Wearing Someone Else's Clothes, 2005)

Chanukah Suite, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, conductor (live radio broadcast, 2005)

In This Room, Lauren Kennedy & Rozz Morehead (studio recording, 2004)

More Than A Hamburger, Alise Wojciechowski (studio recording, 1998)

Theme from Rose's Dilemma, Jason Robert Brown & The Caucasian Rhythm Kings (studio recording, 2003)

Title song from show whose title cannot be disclosed, Nicole Van Giesen (studio recording, 2003)

Goin' My Way, Nicole Van Giesen (studio recording, 2003)

]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/site_updates/a_guide_to_the_music_on_jrbcom.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/site_updates/a_guide_to_the_music_on_jrbcom.php site updates Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:00:00 -0800 "Music of Heaven" sheet music now available online!
I have been getting requests for "Music of Heaven" for thirteen years now, and I am delighted to say that you can now purchase the sheet music online at SheetMusicDirect.com, along with every other song of mine currently in print. Go forth! Enjoy!

Click here to go to SheetMusicDirect.com's Jason Robert Brown feature page!

And check out my new WonderPets episode starting Friday morning!

What's gonna work?
Jason Robert Brown]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/music_of_heaven_sheet_music_no.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/music_of_heaven_sheet_music_no.php news Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:56:10 -0800 Valentine's Day at Notre Dame with JRB
The University of Notre Dame is presenting Parade this weekend at Washington Hall, and either you can go and appreciate the beautiful love story at the center of the show, or you can go and enjoy the lynching. See? Perfect Valentine's Day treat. And if you go on February 14th, the fun keeps coming.

Directly after the 3:00 pm performance of "Parade" on Sunday, February 14, I'll be taking the stage of Washington Hall with my friend, Keith Byron Kirk (oh, he's going to love that picture), to talk about race in the context of the show and of musical theater in general. And Keith knows something about it, since he played Jim Conley in the National Tour of "Parade" ten years ago! Click here for more info on that event. (Incidentally, the Notre Dame production will be using the original touring version of the show, not the new Donmar version, which isn't yet available for licensing.)

But your Valentine's Day isn't over yet! No, it isn't over! Because that night, at 8:00 pm, I'll be doing a solo concert at the Shite Annenberg Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame. And I'll be sure to sing songs both romantic and depressing, often at the same time. Also: tickets are FIVE DOLLARS. WHAT? How am I supposed to make a living like that? You could buy a plane ticket to South Bend, Indiana and see the show and the concert and spend a night in a swank hotel and it would still cost you less than one ticket to Billy Elliott. (I know, I know, what swank hotel in South Bend, Indiana? All right, fine.)

You want to come to the concert, check out the info right here. And I'll see you in Indiana on Valentine's Day!

Pucker up!
Jason Robert Brown

]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/valentines_day_at_notre_dame_w.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/valentines_day_at_notre_dame_w.php news Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:41:27 -0800 Wonder Pets Save The Lovebugs for Valentine's Day! "The Wonder Pets" premieres on Friday, February 12 at 10:00 am. Jason Robert Brown provides music and lyrics for Linny, Tuck and Ming-Ming on a special Valentine's Day episode. Check the listing here, and tune in!

This episode is also already available on a new DVD called "Nick Jr Favorites – We Love Our Friends" which is reviewed here and is available at Amazon.com now!

]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/wonder_pets_save_the_lovebugs.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/wonder_pets_save_the_lovebugs.php news Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:07:58 -0800 JRB is Back at Birdland in March!
Tickets are on sale now for the next round of Jason Robert Brown concerts in New York City – I'll be taking the stage of Birdland once again for FOUR NIGHTS, with an expanded band, fantastic singers, and a bunch of new songs from my forthcoming new album!

(When I say "forthcoming," I don't mean "forthcoming soon," I just mean that I'm working on a new album, and someday before my daughter's bat mitzvah I might finish it.)

So come catch me at Birdland, 315 W 44th St in Manhattan, on the following nights (click the link for tickets):

Sunday, March 14, at 7 pm
Tuesday, March 16, at 7 pm
Wednesday, March 17, at 7 pm
Thursday, March 18, at 7 pm

It's gonna be a great run, and I hope you'll be there to join us!

Goodbiden!
Jason Robert Brown]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/jrb_is_back_at_birdland_in_mar.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/jrb_is_back_at_birdland_in_mar.php news Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:31:30 -0800 LA Drama Critics Circle Nominates "Parade" and Awards JRB here.

L.A. Drama Critics Circle Nominees Include Parade, Birkenhead, Strouse, Metcalf and More
By Kenneth Jones
Playbill, 25 Jan 2010

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle announced nominees and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles and Orange County theatre for the year 2009.

The 41st Annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards ceremony, hosted by Jason Graae, will take place on March 22 at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. The co-host will be critic Wenzel Jones.

Awards will be given in 20 categories, honoring excellence in theatre over the past year. Eight special awards will also be given, including an award honoring Kirk Douglas for his lifetime contribution to Los Angeles theatre.

Among the titles nominated in the Production category are Life Could Be a Dream, Munched, No Man's Land, Parade, Stick Fly, The Happy Ones and The Pain and the Itch.

Broadway songwriters Susan Birkenhead and Charles Strouse were nominated for the score to the Broadway-aimed Minsky's.

Broadway and TV actress Laurie Metcalf ("Roseanne," November) was nominated in the Lead Performance category for her work in Voice Lessons.

The 2009 Special Award recipients are:

The Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an outstanding new play will be awarded to Julie Marie Myatt for The Happy Ones. The award is accompanied by an offer to publish and a $1,000 check funded by Samuel French, Inc.

The Polly Warfield Award for an excellent season in a small to mid-size theatre will be awarded to Celebration Theatre. The award is accompanied by a $500 check, funded by the Nederlander Organization.

The Bob Z Award for career achievement in set design will be awarded to Sybil Wickersheimer.

The Angstrom Award for career achievement in lighting design will be awarded to Luke Moyer. The award is accompanied by a $1,000 check, funded by Angstrom Lighting.

The Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theater will be awarded to the Rubicon Theatre Company. The award is accompanied by a $500 check, funded by Disney Theatricals.

The Joel Hirschhorn Award for outstanding achievement in musical theatre will be awarded to Jason Robert Brown. The award is accompanied by a $500 check, funded by David Elzer/Demand PR.

The Milton Katselas Award for career or special achievement in direction will be awarded to Richard Israel. The award is accompanied by a $1,000 check, funded by Camelot Artists.

A Special Award for Lifetime Contribution to Los Angeles Theatre will be awarded to Kirk Douglas.

Awards will also be given in the following categories:

Solo Performance
Danny Hoch, Taking Over, Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

Makeup Design
Ann Closs-Farley, Land of the Tigers, The Sacred Fools Theater Company & Burglars of Hamm in association with Frantic Redhead Productions at Sacred Fools Theater

Puppet Design
Wes Crain, Lena Garcia, Lynn Jeffries, Elizabeth Luce, and Brian White, Gogol Project, Rogue Artists Ensemble in association with Bootleg Theater at Bootleg Theater

The nominees for the 2009 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for theatrical excellence are:

Production
Life Could Be a Dream, David Elzer, Peter Schneider & Crooning Crabcakes, LLC, Hudson Mainstage
Munched, Buzzworks Theater Company, El Centro Theatre
No Man's Land, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Odyssey Theatre
Parade, Center Theatre Group and the Donmar Warehouse, Mark Taper Forum
Stick Fly, The Matrix Theatre Company, Matrix Theatre
The Happy Ones, South Coast Repertory, South Coast Repertory
The Pain and the Itch, The Theatre @ Boston Court and Furious Theatre Company, Theatre @ Boston Court

McCulloh Award for Revival (shows between 1920 and 1980)
Equus, The Production Company, Chandler Studio Theatre
Hair, Chance Theater, Chance Theater
The Browning Version, Pacific Resident Theatre, Pacific Resident Theatre

Direction
Sean T. Cawelti, Gogol Project, Rogue Artists Ensemble in association with Bootleg Theater at Bootleg Theater
Duane Daniels, Munched, Buzzworks Theater Company at the El Centro Theatre
Shirley Jo Finney, Stick Fly, The Matrix Theatre
Marilyn Fox, The Browning Version, Pacific Resident Theatre
Oanh Nguyen, Hair, Chance Theater

Writing
Julie Hébert, Tree, Ensemble Studio Theatre—LA at [Inside] the Ford
Bruce Norris, The Pain and the Itch, The Theatre @ Boston Court and Furious Theatre Company at the Theatre @ Boston Court
Kim Porter, Munched, Buzzworks Theater Company at the El Centro Theatre
Brian Christopher Williams, Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins, West Coast Ensemble at the El Centro Theatre

Writing (Adaptation)
Kitty Felde, Gogol Project, Rogue Artists Ensemble in association with Bootleg Theater at Bootleg Theater
Meryl Friedman, The Wasps, Stinger Productions at The Lost Studio

Music Direction
Brent Crayon, Songs for a New World, International City Theatre
David O, The Wasps, The Lost Studio
Michael Paternostro, Life Could Be a Dream, Hudson Mainstage
Phil Reno, Minsky's, Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Bill Strongin, Hair, Chance Theatre

Choreography
Matthew Bourne, Stephen Mear, and Geoffrey Garratt, Mary Poppins, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh at the Ahmanson Theatre
Ameenah Kaplan, Altar Boyz, Celebration Theatre
Kelly Todd, Hair, Chance Theater

Musical Score
Susan Birkenhead and Charles Strouse, Minsky's, Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Anthony Bollas, Stranger, Bootleg Theater
Erin Kamler, Divorce! The Musical, Hudson Mainstage

Lead Performance
Sam Anderson, The Bird and Mr. Banks, The Road Theatre Company at the Lankershim Arts Center
Johnny Clark, Blackbird, VS. Theatre Company at the Elephant Studio Space
Jade Dornfeld, Blackbird, VS. Theatre Company at the Elephant Studio Space
Bruce French, The Browning Version, Pacific Resident Theatre
Jim Hanna, Equus, The Production Company at The Chandler Studio Theatre
Deidrie Henry, Coming Home, The Fountain Theatre
William Dennis Hurley, Shining City, The Fountain Theatre
Michael Kostroff, The Producers, Musical Theatre West at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center
Alan Mandell, No Man's Land, Odyssey Theatre
Laurie Metcalf, Voice Lessons, Zephyr Theater
Darin Singleton, The Unseen, The Road Theatre Company at the Lankershim Arts Center
Samantha Sloyan, Munched, Buzzworks Theater Company at the El Centro Theatre

Featured Performance
Hugo Armstrong, Land of the Tigers, The Sacred Fools Theater Company & Burglars of Hamm in association with Frantic Redhead Productions at Sacred Fools Theater
Chuma Gault, Tree, Ensemble Studio Theatre—LA at [Inside] the Ford
P.J. Griffith, Setup & Punch, The Blank Theatre Company at the 2nd Stage Theatre
Andrea Hutchman, Munched, Buzzworks Theater Company at the El Centro Theatre
Heather Lee, No Way to Treat a Lady, Colony Theatre
Sally Smythe, The Browning Version, Pacific Resident Theatre
Greg Watanabe, The Happy Ones, South Coast Repertory
Jacqueline Wright, Tree, Ensemble Studio Theatre—LA at [Inside] the Ford

Ensemble Performance
Hair, Chance Theater
Hunter Gatherers, Furious Theatre Company at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre
Life Could Be a Dream, Hudson Mainstage
Our Mother's Brief Affair, South Coast Repertory
Stick Fly, The Matrix Theatre
The Pain and the Itch, The Theatre @ Boston Court and Furious Theatre Company at the Theatre @ Boston Court

Set Design
John Iacovelli, Stick Fly, The Matrix Theater
Jeff McLaughlin, A Skull in Connemara, Theatre Tribe
Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, Treefall, Rogue Machine at Theatre/Theater

Lighting Design
Lap-Chi Chu, Our Mother's Brief Affair, South Coast Repertory
Haylee Freeman, Gogol Project, Rogue Artists Ensemble in association with Bootleg Theater at Bootleg Theater
David Lander, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
Dan Weingarten, Stranger, Bootleg Theater

Costume Design
Gregg Barnes, Minsky's, Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Ann Closs-Farley, Land of the Tigers, The Sacred Fools Theater Company & Burglars of Hamm in association with Frantic Redhead Productions at Sacred Fools Theater
Shigeru Yaji, Peace, The Getty Villa

Sound Design
Ron Klier, Blackbird, Elephant Theatre Lab
John Nobori, Gogol Project, Rogue Artists Ensemble in association with Bootleg Theater at Bootleg Theater
Ken Sawyer, Dracula, Noho Arts Center

CGI/Video
John MacDonald, Hair, Chance Theater
Brian White, Gogol Project, Rogue Artists Ensemble in association with Bootleg Theater at Bootleg Theater

Fight Choreography
Brian Danner, Macbeth, Theater Banshee
Victor Warren, Stranger, Bootleg Theater

*

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle was founded in 1969. It is dedicated to excellence in theatrical criticism, and to the encouragement and improvement of theatre in Greater Los Angeles.

For tickets, visit LADCC's website, at www.ladramacriticscircle.com.
]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/la_drama_critics_circle_nomina.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/la_drama_critics_circle_nomina.php news Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:49:45 -0800 LA Times: Top 10 Theater 2009 (12/15/09) here for Charles McNulty's photo essay on the best theatre in California in 2009.

And included in the list, this blurb about Parade:
The Donmar Warehouse's scaled-down version of Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry's 1998 musical about the execution of injustice done to Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager dubiously convicted of the rape and murder of a teenage employee, featured a top-notch cast led by T.R. Knight and Lara Pulver. The material is admittedly very stark for a musical, but Brown's Tony-winning score lent an astonishing degree of moral nuance and color.


On to 2010!]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/la_times_top_10_theater_2009_1.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/la_times_top_10_theater_2009_1.php news Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:43:34 -0800 A JRB/Sheet Music Direct Last-Minute Holiday Special!
Last month, Sh-K-Boom released a new version of the Original Cast Album to "13", featuring the entire Broadway score, two previously unreleased JRB demos, nine karaoke tracks, and - the most exciting part, as far as I'm concerned – two songs that have been added to the show in its new licensed version. Those two songs, "Being A Geek" and a revised version of "Opportunity", were both newly recorded by the Broadway cast for this album, and they sound awesome!

You can check out the new album on iTunes by clicking here or you can go to the Sh-K-Boom website and gaze at it admiringly there.

Now here's the really cool part: When you're sitting in your house listening to those karaoke tracks, drinking hot chocolate and watching the sparks from the fireplace set your carpets ablaze, you may wish to sing along. And it might help, in those instances, if you had the sheet music. Well, now you can go online and get that sheet music!

Sheet Music Direct is running a fantastic promotion. If you buy the sheet music to "Being A Geek" or "Opportunity" at full price, you get 25% off EVERY OTHER JRB title. There are over 50 songs of mine available for download right now, and they're all just $2.99 apiece once you buy "Being A Geek" or "Opportunity." (Incidentally, those two songs are only available digitally – they're not in print anywhere else!)

Here's how it works: Go to the Jason Robert Brown feature on SheetMusicDirect.com, and start shopping. Put as many songs in your shopping cart as you want. Then, when you're checking out, after you put in all your payment information, you'll see a place to enter a promotion code. Just type in JRB1 (that's a numeral 1, not a lowercase L), and your discount will be applied to every Jason Robert Brown song in your order!

It's basically Buy-3-Get-1-Free!

And while you're there, look around on SheetMusicDirect.com, you'll find lots of fantastic music just waiting to be downloaded (legally!), printed out, and played inaccurately!

So go, listen, buy, and have a fantastic "13" holiday season. Thanks so much for all your support, and I'll see you in 2010!

You're the epitome of charm and grace!
Jason Robert Brown]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/a_jrbsheet_music_direct_lastmi.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/a_jrbsheet_music_direct_lastmi.php news Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:56:59 -0800 Review: "Parade" (New York Times, 10/14/09) here. His review for the original production (for Variety) can be found here.

October 14, 2009
THEATER REVIEW | 'PARADE'
Sorrow Over an Anti-Semitic Miscarriage of Justice, Rendered in Sotto Voce
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

LOS ANGELES — As one of the bed-hopping interns in the hospital soap opera “Grey’s Anatomy,” T. R. Knight was both nebbishy and adorable, a sad-sack elf who still managed to get the girls, despite the fierce competition from his more square-jawed, bedroom-eyed colleagues. Onstage as Leo Frank, the Jewish factory superintendent wrongly accused of murdering a teenage girl in the musical “Parade,” Mr. Knight remains distinctly nebbishy, but the scope for adorability is severely limited.

This serious-minded, somber show sets to music a true story of such unrelenting grimness that the usual audience-appealing devices of musical theater — heart-seducing melodies, lively dancing, glowing star turns — are deployed in modest doses. You don’t want to be tapping your toes to a sorry spectacle of justice miscarried, particularly one that ends in a lynching.

With a skillful score by Jason Robert Brown and a book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Alfred Uhry, “Parade” received mixed-to-downbeat reviews at its world premiere in 1998, in a production directed by Harold Prince for Lincoln Center Theater. Revived by the powerhouse Donmar Warehouse in London in 2007, directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford, it fared far better critically, and received several Olivier Award nominations.

Michael Ritchie, artistic director of the Center Theater Group here, has imported the Donmar production for the musical’s professional Los Angeles premiere at the Mark Taper Forum, enlisting Mr. Ashford to recreate his staging for the Taper’s small thrust stage, and supplying a sterling cast of American musical-theater veterans.

Davis Gaines, who spent many a year behind the mask in “The Phantom of the Opera,” plays three small roles (still in firm, stentorian voice). Michael Berresse and Charlotte D’Amboise, recently the original Zach and Cassie in the Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line,” are also aboard, along with Christian Hoff, a Tony winner for “Jersey Boys.”

The lush casting pays off handsomely, with all contributing incisive, effective performances, led by Mr. Knight’s focused, uncompromising turn as Leo, opposite an equally fine Lara Pulver (the lone holdover from the London cast) as his devoted, strong-minded wife, Lucille, whose efforts to seek justice for her husband almost succeed in saving his life.

But Mr. Ashford’s sensitive production, beautifully designed by Christopher Oram (sets and costumes) and Neil Austin (lighting), makes the real news here. Known on Broadway primarily as a choreographer (“Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Curtains”), Mr. Ashford broke through as a director with this production in London, and followed it up last summer with an even more rapturously received revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” starring Rachel Weisz, also for the Donmar.

On the vast Vivian Beaumont stage, “Parade” was dark and solemn — as it is here — but also somewhat bloated with self-importance. Scaled down to a more intimate size here, it speaks in a quieter voice and seems less strident in its depiction of the power of anti-Semitism, bigotry and venality in the South of the early 20th century. (The events, based on a real case, take place in and around Atlanta between 1913 and 1915.)

Mr. Ashford signals the Brooklyn-bred, Cornell-educated Leo’s alienation from his Southern surroundings by keeping him forever in isolation, even before he has been convicted and thrown in jail to await his death sentence. Stranded in shafts of gray or sepia light, he always seems to be at an emotional remove from everyone else onstage, even his own Southern-born Jewish wife.

Mr. Knight’s tamped-down performance — trimmed gently in comic inflections that add a small dose of humor — accentuates the qualities that Mr. Uhry did not shy from depicting in his book, and which were said to have contributed to Leo’s conviction. Businesslike, unemotional, slightly ornery and inwardly seething with contempt for the men who persecute him, Leo can bring himself to seek sympathy only in the sober, faltering voice of reason in the song “It’s Hard to Speak My Heart.”

But by the time he finds his voice, it has become obvious that a mania for retribution, combined with suspicion of outsiders, has closed the minds of his persecutors to rational thought.

Small but significant changes to the structure of the show have been made. On Broadway the role of the ambitious reporter covering the case, Britt Craig (Mr. Berresse), loomed a little too large. His drunken solo turn, the closest thing the original version had to a showstopper, has wisely been cut, leaving no seams in Mr. Brown’s score, which mixes character-defining songs in a Stephen Sondheim-influenced style with period pastiche and the occasional soaring ballad.

To temper the depiction of the Southerners as a horde of bigoted jackals or ignorant men and women whipped into a religious frenzy by a Christian publisher (P. J. Griffith), Mr. Ashford resurrects a ghost in an antebellum gown to haunt the proceedings, representing the mournful spirit of the more genteel South. (Admittedly this is a bit hokey, but effective nonetheless.)

Mr. Ashford’s choreographic skill brings a propulsive momentum to the important scene in the second act in which Lucille approaches the governor, hoping to persuade him to reopen the case. A courtly Southern dance becomes a subtle metaphor for the cozy, corrupt political atmosphere that helped lead to Leo’s conviction but might also be manipulated to save his life. (And it’s nice that he’s given the terrific dancers Mr. Berresse and Ms. D’Amboise, who play the governor and his wife, a chance to cut loose, however briefly.)

Still, just as I did when watching “Parade” for the first time a little over a decade ago, I found myself wondering if anti-Semitism, corruption and venality are subjects profitably illuminated by being dramatized as musical theater. Music enhances our emotional responses to theater, but our reaction to the events depicted in “Parade” is mostly revulsion, which doesn’t need much help from an orchestra.

Even the suffering of Leo evokes a muted sorrow, more intellectual than sympathetic, since for much of the show he is depicted as cold, scornful and passive. The authors of “Parade” deserve credit for their fidelity to history and their ambition to probe a painful chapter in the American past, but for me the persecution of Leo Frank is a story that does not gain any greater dimensions by being set to song.

PARADE
Book by Alfred Uhry; music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown; co-conceived by Harold Prince; directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford; sets and costumes by Christopher Oram; lighting by Neil Austin; sound by Jon Weston; musical director, Tom Murray; orchestrator, David Cullen; original London sound design by Nick Lidster and Terry Jardine for Autograph; associate choreographer, Chris Bailey; hair and wig design by Carol F. Doran; associate producer, Neel Keller. A Donmar Warehouse production, presented by the Center Theater Group, Michael Ritchie, artistic director; Charles Dillingham, managing director. At the Mark Taper Forum, 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; (213) 628-2772. Through Nov. 15. Running time: 2 hours 38 minutes.

WITH: Brad Anderson (Officer Ivey/Luther Rosser/Guard), Michael Berresse (Governor Slaton/Britt Craig/Mr. Peavy), Charlotte d’Amboise (Mrs. Phagan/Sally Slaton), Davis Gaines (Old Soldier/Judge Roan/Guard), P. J. Griffith (Officer Starnes/Tom Watson), Curt Hansen (Young Soldier/Frankie Epps/Guard), Deidrie Henry (Minnie McKnight/Angela), Christian Hoff (Hugh Dorsey), T. R. Knight (Leo Frank), Lisa Livesay (Monteen), Hayley Podschun (Iola Stover), Lara Pulver (Lucille Frank), David St. Louis (Newt Lee/Jim Conley/Riley), Rose Sezniak (Lila/Mary Phagan) and Phoebe Strole (Essie).
]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/review_parade_nyt.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/review_parade_nyt.php news Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:38:27 -0800 Review: "Parade" (Hollywood Reporter, 10/5/09) here.

Parade (Theater Review)
By Les Spindle, October 05, 2009 05:25 ET

Bottom Line: Catch it before it passes by.

This brilliant musical by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown eloquently dramatizes a real-life tragic miscarriage of justice that occurred in 1913 in Atlanta: the false conviction and ultimate mob lynching of Jewish factory superintendent Leo Frank, accused of murdering 13-year-old Mary Phagan.

The Mark Taper Forum's triumphant staging feels like a long-delayed vindication of a separate injustice: the inexplicable obscurity of this watershed musical, which evokes the rapturous sweep of grand opera.

Although it deservedly won Tonys for Uhry's literate book and Brown's extraordinary score, the uncommonly dark and challenging 1998 show hasn't gained a foothold in a marketplace dominated by frothy, formulaic fare.

Director-choreographer Rob Ashford unveiled a retooled version at London's Donmar Warehouse in 2007, which he replicates here. It's leaner and more intimate than Harold Prince's slick staging for the original 1998 Broadway production. This affords a richer realization of the show's galvanizing themes: government-supported bigotry against blacks and Jews (shockingly pitted against each other) and the terrifying power of mob rule. Brown's music and lyrics -- which combine ragtime, folk music, patriotic anthems, blues, gospel and more -- profoundly illuminate the personal and cultural calamities recounted here. Celebratory pageantry ironically alternates with bloodthirsty sentiments, driven by the wounded pride of defeated Civil War veterans, still embittered toward the Northern Yankees, as exemplified by Brooklyn-born outsider Frank.

The explosive story is well-served by a magnificent cast. T.R. Knight's musical-theater debut as the beleaguered Leo -- whose eccentricity and social isolationism contributed to the suspicions against him -- is astonishing. Musically and dramatically, his is a knockout portrayal, as intellectually provocative as it is heartbreaking. Complementing Knight's nuanced interpretation is that of lovely voiced Lara Pulver, reprising her London role of Leo's wife, Lucille. Pulver movingly depicts the courage and tenacity displayed by Lucille in seeking justice for Leo. The climactic scenes wherein Lucille and Leo break through emotional barriers in their relationship are electrifying. Of special note in the splendid ensemble are P.J. Griffith's ruthless minister, David St. Louis as two black suspects in the killing, Charlotte d'Amboise as Mary's grief-stricken mother, Christian Hoff as the unprincipled prosecuting attorney and Michael Berresse's double turns as an opportunistic journalist and the self-serving governor.

Christopher Oram's inspired set and costumes and Neil Austin's exquisite lighting capture the faded glory of the old South as well as the story's potent aura of moral anarchy. Tom Murray's music direction is sublime. Here's hoping this shimmering production instigates a renewed interest in this neglected masterpiece.

Venue: Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles (Through Nov. 15)
Cast: T.R. Knight, Lara Pulver, Michael Berresse, P.J. Griffith, Charlotte d'Amboise
Book writer: Alfred Uhry
Composer/lyricist: Jason Robert Brown
Director/choreographer: Rob Ashford
Lighting designer: Neil Austin
Set/costume designer: Christopher Oram
Musical director: Tom Murray

]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/review_parade_hollywood_report.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/review_parade_hollywood_report.php news Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:09:56 -0800 Review: "Parade" L.A. (Variety, 10/5/09) here.

PARADE
(Mark Taper Forum, 739 seats, $80 top)
by Bob Verini

A Center Theater Group presentation of the Donmar Warehouse production of a musical in two acts with book by Alfred Uhry, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, co-conceived by Harold Prince. Directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford. Musical direction, Tom Murray.

Leo Frank - T.R. Knight
Lucille Frank - Lara Pulver
Hugh Dorsey - Christian Hoff
Newt Lee/Jim Conley/Riley - David St. Louis
Old Soldier/Judge Roan/Guard - Davis Gaines
Young Soldier/Frankie Epps/Guard - Curt Hansen
Gov. Slaton/Britt Craig/Mr. Peavy - Michael Berresse
Lila, Mary Phagan - Rose Sezniak
Mrs. Phagan/Sally Slaton - Charlotte D'Amboise
Minnie McKnight/Angela - Deidrie Henry
Officer Starnes/Tom Watson - P.J. Griffith

Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown's "Parade" was 1998's quick-closing Tony winner, widely dismissed as coldly overproduced. Stripped down and stark at the hands of helmer-choreographer Rob Ashford for London's Donmar Warehouse two years ago, it was revealed as a work of extraordinary depth and thematic resonance. Now remounted at the Taper with a dream cast, Ashford's "Parade" appears to be, by any standard, Southern California's production of the year.

Musical theater aficionados have long esteemed Brown's prodigious score, here exquisitely played and sung by a company fully in sync with turn-of-the-century rhythm and melody. But the emotionality comes through as never before in the context of Ashford's economical, human-centric staging.

Wooden furniture is brought on and off; that's it for spectacle. Effects are all achieved through a carefully chosen head turn or a lighting instrument's iris-in to black. Though the 1914 railroading and lynching of factory manager Leo Frank (T.R. Knight) for the murder of little Mary Phagan (Rose Sezniak) is grim musical fodder, Ashford's approach exhilarates with the power of pure theater.

As a courtroom thriller, "Parade" offers more excitement than a dozen "Law and Order's." The prickly, unsympathetic defendant is at the mercy of relentless D.A. Dorsey (a superb Christian Hoff), his spellbinding gestures misdirecting attention from a parade of dubious circumstantial evidence.

Outrage is replaced by anticipation when a principled governor (Michael Berresse, excellent) reopens the case, and recanting witnesses raise hopes of justice, though we're fully aware of Leo's fate. (Writers and helmer are clever enough to leave just a hair of tantalizing doubt about his involvement in little Mary's still-unsolved homicide.)

While Leo's fortunes fall and rise, his marriage transformation is scintillatingly dramatized. Lucille (Donmar holdover Lara Pulver) is a Southerner first and a Jew second, Leo a Brooklyn Jew and unwilling transplant ("These men belong in zoos," he sings). His contempt is transferred to her, though he'll do a 180 upon recognizing her tireless efforts in his behalf.

Ashford grants the romance ample room to breathe. Wholly embracing Leo's unpleasant qualities, Knight nails each step in Leo's realization of what Lucille means to him, with Pulver maintaining a proper balance between awareness of his shortcomings and her helpless love. This story arc's believability permits "Parade" a triumphant note notwithstanding its melancholy denouement.

The legal and domestic dramas play out with plangent clarity within Neil Austin's light plot which, for the range of its effects with relatively few instruments, should be studied by pros and academics for years to come. His sculpting of Christopher Oram's solid brown but versatile space -- a wide upper level offering numerous opportunities for simultaneous action and flashbacks -- adds unforced Expressionistic touches reminiscent of the great prewar design pioneers (while adding a subtle hint of yesteryear).

This "Parade" may be most memorable for its handling of the racial and religious clashes at the Frank case's heart. Oram's trompe l'oeil overhead mural, alternately a peeling daguerrotype and color portrait of Southern aristocracy, embodies Uhry's ambivalent view of his native South: absorbed by pride and honor, though founded on an evil legacy not fully erased.

Confederate sweetheart "Miss Lila" (Sezniak again) provides an omnipresent ghostly reminder of the ideals that died at Appomattox. That is, if they ever lived at all.

Ashford's choreography serves this layer of the tale beautifully, from the parodic Jewish wedding dance greeting Leo's conviction to the ominous foot-stompin' yee-haw of a supposedly Christian congregation revving up to fashion a noose.

One can't say enough about Knight and Pulver as mass hysteria's victims, with special mention to its inciters: Charlotte D'Amboise's grieving Ma Phelan, forgiving with a touch of acid; P.J. Griffith's sly, feral preacher; and Curt Hansen as Mary's sex- and vengeance-crazed boyfriend.

David St. Louis executes a breathtaking triple act as a terrified watchman; an urbane butler commenting (with the wonderful Deidrie Henry) on ruling class hypocrisy; and a prisoner defiantly hanging on to his damning testimony. As the chain gang conducts a chilling call-and-response, he slams rocks into a wheelbarrow as if every oppressor's face were imprinted on it.

Sets and costumes, Christopher Oram; lighting, Neil Austin; sound, Jon Weston; original London sound design, Nick Lidster and Terry Jardine for Autograph; orchestrations, David Cullen; production stage manager, David S. Franklin. Opened, reviewed Oct. 4, 2009. Runs through Nov. 15. Running time: 2 HOURS, 45 MIN.

]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/review_parade_la_variety_10509.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/review_parade_la_variety_10509.php news Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:51:27 -0800 Review: "Parade" at the Mark Taper Forum (LA Times, 10/5/09) here.

Theater review: "Parade" at the Mark Taper Forum
Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2009

LeoLucille.jpg
T.R. Knight and Lara Pulver in "Parade." Credit: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times

Jason Robert Brown’s entrancing Tony-winning score for “Parade,” the 1998 musical he wrote with playwright Alfred Uhry (whose book also won a Tony), throws patches of suggestive light on a dark historical episode. Music may be inherently abstract, but Brown’s compositional variety and depth of instrumental feeling imbue supple melodies with moral color.

The distinguishing mark of the Donmar Warehouse’s scaled-down version of “Parade,” which opened this weekend at the Mark Taper Forum, is how well Brown’s musical intelligence is deployed to deepen the implications of this troubling tale. The show is challenging both in terms of subject matter and style. But this freshly conceived production, directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford, is a potent antidote to the jukebox mindlessness running rampant today and an urgent reminder of what contemporary composers are still capable of achieving.

Before going any further, let’s make one thing perfectly clear to theatergoers of a happy-go-lucky bent: This is not the fluffy stuff most musical entertainments are made of. “Parade” grapples ambitiously with the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, the Jewish factor manager who was accused and dubiously convicted of raping and murdering Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old employee. The search to punish the perpetrator of this brutal crime gave rise to a miscarriage of justice, in which noxious prejudices against African-Americans and Jews were set against each other and inconclusive evidence was all that was required to confirm resentments and fears.

T.R. Knight, formerly of the acclaimed TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” portrays Leo, a serious and self-effacing Ivy League-educated New Yorker, who has come to Atlanta to run a pencil factory. Alienated as much by personal temperament as cultural background, he is having an awfully hard time assimilating to his wife’s world, which seems to him a galaxy away from Brooklyn.

“For the life of me, I can’t understand how God created you people Jewish and Southern at the same time!” he yells after she asks him to avoid using Yiddishisms. Unfazed, Lucille (Lara Pulver, a holdover from the Donmar Warehouse production in London) sends him affectionately off to work, even though it’s Confederate Memorial Day and she’d rather have a picnic and watch the parade, a celebratory ritual he considers utterly ludicrous.

From the outset, “Parade” highlights the clash of sensibilities that will inform the way Leo’s fate will play out. His outsider status — directly related in the song “How Can I Call This Home?” — is what puts him under suspicion after the body of Mary Phagan (Rose Sezniak) is discovered in his factory’s basement.

Ashford, the assistant choreographer on the original Lincoln Center Theater production, which was directed by Harold Prince, who co-conceived the musical, walks an interpretive tightrope, especially in the first half. Leo’s nervous demeanor raises legitimate questions about his innocence, yet the case that’s being made against him by the prosecutor, Hugh Dorsey (Christian Hoff), is marred by all sorts of disturbing biases.

Hanging another black man “ain’t enough this time,” says Hugh, who’s sure of Leo’s guilt even though he’s still questioning Newt Lee, the night watchman who found the dead body, and Jim Conley, the janitor who has a lot of holes in his testimony. David St. Louis, equipped with a rich deep voice, plays both of these African-American characters, and this practice of having cast members assume multiple roles seems intended to emphasize patterns rather than individuals.

Uhry’s book doesn’t make it easy for newcomers to the saga to sort out all of the principal figures (for that you might want to check out Ben Loeterman’s film “The People v. Leo Frank," which premieres nationally on PBS on Nov. 2). The ensemble features some outstanding talents — Michael Berresse and Charlotte d’Amboise, who play the governor and his wife, among other parts — but it’s not easy to become well acquainted with anyone in particular.

Compounding the problem is Ashford’s penchant for creating striking scenic pictures that capture broader cultural forces better than they unveil interior struggles. At the end of the first act, Leo and Lucille are hoisted on chairs, a chilling way of foreshadowing the reckless manipulation of the justice system that will end with Leo’s lynching. But the growing intimacy that occurs in their marriage during his time in jail is sketched only in the broadest of strokes.

Conley.jpg
David St. Louis in "Parade." Credit: Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times

Knight and Pulver are faithful to the material in a way that seems commendably realistic. But the writing keeps their characters somewhat opaque, and at several points it occurred to me how much Leo would just detest being in a musical. (Clifford Odets maybe, in a mute walk-on.)

Christopher Oram’s scenic design — a two-tiered set that variously serves as a factory, court house and prison and works nicely with the subdued hues of his period costumes — and Neil Austin’s sublimely atmospheric lighting contribute greatly to the production’s visual panache. What’s more, the staging sounds as good as it looks, thanks to musical director Tom Murray’s dramatically sensitive handling of the nine-person orchestra, of which he’s a member.

Brown has written two songs for the Donmar revival, “Hammer of Justice” and “The Glory,” and cut a couple of others; Uhry has made a number of revisions in the script. Will these tweaks or Ashford’s tighter presentation vindicate the musical for those who found the show distant and impersonal when it was first done? Probably not. But rather than demand that “Parade” conform to more familiar models, let’s just appreciate the grave beauty of its expansive view and celebrate a score that’s determined for a change to make us think.

-- Charles McNulty

"Parade," Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays (Call for exceptions). Ends Nov. 15. $20 to $80. (213) 628-2772 or here.

Alfred Uhry swept though a corridor backstage at the Mark Taper Forum last week, greeting actors dressed in early 20th century garb with a robust “Shalom, y’all!” The Southern Jewish playwright was on hand to offer advice and answer questions for the cast of Parade, the musical about the anti-Semitic lynching of Leo Frank in Georgia in 1913, which failed on Broadway but was later revised for a London production that will now make its United States premiere at the Taper on Oct. 4.

The author regarded the backstage action like a proud parent during this technical rehearsal, as T.R. Knight, who is playing Frank in his first role since leaving “Grey’s Anatomy,” tried out the Brooklyn accent he is perfecting for the show.

“Parade has a deeper meaning for me than anything else I’ve ever done,” Uhry said, settling onto a couch in a dressing room. “I always hoped that it would be revived, but I wasn’t sure that I would live to see it.”

Uhry’s Southern Jewish roots go deep. His German Jewish forbears settled in the environs of Atlanta in the early 1800s. “They were staunch Confederates,” he said. “My grandmother even had an uncle who was a blockade runner during the Civil War, like Rhett Butler.”

But when Leo Frank — who managed a pencil factory owned by Uhry’s great-uncle — was wrongly accused of murdering a teenaged employee and lynched, the family was reminded of their pariah status as Jews in the South.

“Lucille Frank used to play canasta with my grandmother,” Uhry said. “My mother said she would always sign her checks ‘Mrs. Leo M. Frank’ ... But whenever anybody mentioned the Frank case, certain members of the older generation just got up and walked out of the room. I wanted to know why, but my mother was always very evasive. So as soon as I was old enough, I got on the bus, went to the library by myself, and looked it up. After that, I always knew that the Frank case was theatrical, and I hoped I’d be able to write a play about it one day.”

In 1998, Uhry’s musical about the trial and murder of Leo Frank, Parade, premiered at Lincoln Center, with music and lyrics by the then 24-year-old wunderkind Jason Robert Brown. It was the latest of Uhry’s plays, including The Last Night of Ballyhoo, to revolve around Jews trying desperately to assimilate in the South. But the production closed after only 84 performances in February 1998, just a month before Uhry and Brown took home Tony Awards for the musical. The failure of the show, as well as some poor reviews — including one from The New York Times — greatly disappointed its creators.

Then, several years ago, unexpected news came from Rob Ashford, who had served as the show’s assistant choreographer and dance captain. He had been offered a chance to direct at the prestigious Donmar Warehouse in London, and the theater’s artistic director had been enthusiastic when he suggested creating a revised version of Parade. The piece resonated with Ashford, in part, because of his own Southern upbringing in West Virginia — in his case, as a Baptist.

Uhry said he and Brown revised at least 20 percent of the show. The first challenge was adapting the massive production for the 250-seat Donmar; the cast was cut from 36 actors to 15, and the orchestra from 20 to nine musicians. “We needed to come up with a chamber version of the show,” Brown said. “We reconceived it so that it made sense on an intimate scale, rather than sounding like we were apologizing for not having more people onstage.”

A superfluous ballad and at least one other major number was cut from the show, and a new character was added: Minnie McKnight, an African American who had worked as Lucille Frank’s maid, who is virtually forced to testify against Leo in the first act but retracts her statements in the second. The set was redesigned with two tiers to maximize space; and a faded mural embellished with antebellum scenes dominated center stage, like a peeling billboard, which at times would light up as characters from the past came to life.

Most importantly, the revised book and several new songs zeroed in more precisely on the developing relationship between Leo and Lucille, even as his lynching loomed. “I kept the influence of the minimalists, of Charles Ives, and the sense of ostinati, repeating themes, which indicate a marching toward something, an unrelenting ticking of the clock,” Brown said.

Uhry said he hoped to improve on the original production, “which didn’t have quite the element of understanding the Southern character I’d wanted. You didn’t really understand why these people acted as they did, and why they were still so embittered and angry about what had happened to them during the Civil War.”

The rewriting reflected this dangerous atmosphere for the Cornell-educated, Brooklyn-bred Frank; it also explained why violence had erupted after condescending Yankee reporters descended upon the trial.

This intimate new version of Parade opened to excellent reviews in London, and will arrive at the Taper virtually intact save for the cast. On Oct. 6, The Jewish Journal will co-sponsor a pre-show event and performance and on Oct. 14, the new PBS documentary, “The People v. Leo Frank,” will premiere at The Music Hall in Beverly Hills.

Outside Uhry’s dressing room, Knight wears suspenders and brown contact lenses to play Frank, whose bespectacled photograph is embossed on the cover of his script. “Often when you have a tragic tale involving a real person, it’s easy to canonize the character. But this piece didn’t do that,” he said of why he was drawn to Parade. “The piece veers away from melodrama. Leo is presented as flawed, as everyone is. And while certain things detailed aren’t exactly how things really happened, there is a respect for the truth in the piece that is compelling.”

Brown, who is now 39, is also present for rehearsals: “I love being part of this show,” he said. He met his wife, Georgia, during a tour of the original production and the couple’s 2-year-old daughter was on hand as Brown reworked the piece in London. “When I got hired to do the original version, I hadn’t written a single thing, but [the show’s original director] Hal Prince had faith in me. So this prickly Jew in his 20s was suddenly thrown into a world that wasn’t his own. That was exactly the Leo Frank story, and I thought, ‘I get who this guy is…. It’s my hope that for the rest of my life I’ll get to peek in on Parade from time to time.”

The Journal’s Oct. 6 event will feature a wine and cheese reception and conversation with Steve Oney, author of “And the Dead Shall Rise” and the chief consultant for the new PBS documentary, “The People v. Leo Frank,” as well as the Hon. Bruce J. Einhorn, past regional board chair and lifetime national commissioner of the ADL. Tickets are $50 for the event and show. For tickets and information, call (213) 972-7513 or visit centertheatregroup.org.

For information about the documentary screening on Oct. 14, to be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Ben Loeterman, call (310) 446-8000. Admission is free, but reservations are required and ID may be requested at the door.]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/revived_parade_marches_across.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/revived_parade_marches_across.php news Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:16:24 -0800 LA Downtown News: "Everyone Loves A Lynching Musical" (9/25/09) here.

Everyone Loves a Lynching Musical
‘Parade,’ Reborn After a Stint in London, Lands in Downtown
by Kristin Friedrich
Published: Friday, September 25, 2009 4:11 PM PDT

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - If a play should be so lucky, it starts Off-Broadway, gets good reviews, puffs up a bit, then bounds over to the Great White Way.

That wasn’t the case for Parade. The show debuted on Broadway in 1998, earned mixed reviews and closed after a couple of months. A few years later, it journeyed to a small theater in London, downsized and divested itself of almost half its cast, and became a hit.

It’s not a typical theater success story, but when a musical’s touchstones are a real-life rape and murder, a doomed love story and a lynching, bets for predictability of fate are off.

The new version of Parade opens at the Mark Taper Forum on Sunday, Oct. 4 (previews began last week). Speaking of second comings, it stars former “Grey’s Anatomy” cast member T.R. Knight. The lead in the musical will be the actor’s first gig after an abrupt TV exodus, and a role very far away from the doe-eyed Dr. George O’Malley.

Knight plays Leo Frank, the superintendent of a Georgia pencil factory who in 1913 was convicted of the rape and murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old employee. (The title Parade is only ironically chipper.)

Frank was a Jew from Brooklyn, a girl was dead, and the trial and appeal process, replete with dueling political agendas and lying witnesses, was a media sensation. In the post-bellum South, a distrust of all things Yankee devolved into unabashed anti-Semitism.

When the outgoing Georgia governor commuted Frank’s death sentence by hanging to life in prison, a masked mob kidnapped Frank from his state prison farm, drove him to the Atlanta suburb where Phagan grew up, and lynched him.

Second Chance

Not surprisingly, neither crowds nor critics were giddy about a lynching musical.

The lackluster New York Times review of the original Broadway show was a distress signal; the bankruptcy of Livent, the company that paid for the musical, was the death knell. Parade survived just its initial run of 85 performances.

But there was resonance in both the book, written by Alfred Uhry (winner of a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award for Driving Miss Daisy), and in the music and lyrics, penned by Jason Robert Brown.

When Brown wrote the music in the late 1990s, he was still green; Parade was his first Broadway project. He was hired by producer and director Harold Prince after Stephen Sondheim dropped out. Though he didn’t know about the Leo Frank case going into the project, he was a quick study, and the grim subject matter didn’t faze him.

“Writing is hard. Comedy is just as hard to write as drama,” Brown said last week. “Everyone has said, ‘How could you write a musical with a lynching?’ But I grew up on Sweeney Todd and West Side Story and Miss Saigon. There’s no reason a musical can’t have sadness.”

Despite the reviews, Uhry and Brown went on to win Tony Awards for the Broadway Parade. Meanwhile, Brown’s wunderkind composer status grew. (His resume now includes The Last Five Years, 13 and Songs for a New World.)

Brown’s star wasn’t the only one rising. The Broadway show’s assistant choreographer, Rob Ashford, was becoming one of theater’s most in-demand choreographer-director hyphenates. With a track record in London, Ashford brought the show to the Donmar Warehouse and led the charge toward a tighter, more economic production.

This time around, Ashford would choreograph and, for the first time, direct. He brought to the new version his imprint — movement that seems to spring naturally out of the action. Songs were added and the casting was reconfigured, with many actors playing several roles.

“It’s 85% the same, but that 15% that’s changed — Alfred and I got to complete different impulses,” Brown said. “So it wasn’t so much a victory lap as it was a chance to revisit certain things.”

One thing Brown said he lost in the course of writing the Broadway show was a sense of the real South. So he and Uhry strove to show London audiences how hard life was in the post-Civil War era.

“The Southerners were victims of a terrible time,” said Brown. “They lost their homes, they had lost a war. That’s uncommon to most Americans. I think that was something that had gotten elided, that I got to dig back into. So now there’s something elegiac about the show.”

With a second chance, the reviews were admiring, and people started talking about the lynching musical all over again.

Outsiders Come In

The English-born Lara Pulver is the only actor from the Donmar run who has come over for the Taper show. She plays Lucille, Leo Frank’s loyal wife — and there aren’t many Southern belles more long-suffering. In the play, Lucille and her husband really only connect with each other after he is locked up, and pre-lynching incarceration isn’t an optimal time for romance.

Pulver also wasn’t familiar with Leo Frank prior to the job. Like Brown, who said he borrowed layering and momentum techniques from early 19th century composer Charles Ives, Pulver had her own bag of tricks with which to channel the Old South.

“I watched old films: Streetcar, Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird,” she said. “Any film with those strong Southern women. I make a scrapbook and collect pictures — pictures of clothes and people, pictures of the kinds of cotton fields Lucille would have looked out onto. Anything that remotely sparks my imagination.”

Unlike Brown, who doesn’t consider a gritty musical more difficult to write than lighter fare, Pulver said the Parade role is a tough one.

“I remember when I did it in London, I never slept so much in my life,” she said. “But I came to terms with it. When it’s a piece of history that you’re trying to portray, you can’t be anything but honest. The result is that it’s gut wrenching.”

Both Pulver and Brown are excited about their TV star colleague, whom they say mentions TV and “Grey’s,” well, never. Yet despite his past and his newness to the role, or maybe even because of it, he seems to be landing the part of Frank.

“I think T.R., in some ways, he feels like an outsider, which works very well for the piece because Leo Frank is such an outsider,” Brown said. “I think he stands outside the company and watches these tremendously gifted theater performers, although he could count himself among them.”

Parade runs through Nov. 15 at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 628-2772 or centertheatregroup.org. ]]> http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/la_downtown_news_everyone_love.php http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/news/news/la_downtown_news_everyone_love.php news Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:41:54 -0800