Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...The singing varies from solid to exceptional (Nicole Michelle Haskins and Jonah D. Winston are in the latter category), and some scenes are more layered than others. You might discern some risks not taken. But the whole really is very impressive from a narrative point of view - especially a piece of staging that Griffin has put together for the end of Act 1 and that is enough to remind you of the discomforts of history and the rise of clear and present danger to us all."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The superb revival of the musical that opened Wednesday at Writers Theatre should bring a whole new audience to this work which now, perhaps more than ever, evokes some of the more poisonous aspects of American life - from anti-Semitism and racial discrimination, to the rampant corruption of politics, the justice system and the media, to condescending attitudes towards women. As for its timeliness, it should be noted that as I write this review a noose has been found at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and acts of anti-Semitic vandalism have spiked in recent months. The show's vivid dramatization of the notorious 1913 trial of Leo Frank - the Jewish manager of a pencil factory in Atlanta, Georgia, who was falsely accused and convicted of murdering Mary Phagen, a 13-year-old employee - suggests that the more things change, the more they sadly remain much the same."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...The Writers Theatre revival of "Parade," about a Jewish man lynched after he's wrongfully convicted of murdering a 13-year-old girl in 1913 Atlanta, is more than an exquisite production."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown recount these events in their Tony-winning 1998 musical, Parade, getting a powerful-and surprisingly charming-production now at Writers Theatre. Their narrative doesn't start with the trial, though, or the commutation or even the murder. Instead, it reaches back a half century, to the time of the Civil War. The first thing we see is a Georgia boy saying good-bye to the "old red hills of home" before heading off to fight for the Confederacy."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...The entire cast of 15 is first rate. Jonathon Butler-Duplessis is Jim Conley the night janitor (potential real murderer) takes the house down more than once with his fabulous voice. I don’t know why the song list was not in the Playbill-confusing to me. Parade is the final production of Writers Theatre’s 25th Anniversary Season. It is worth the trip and the theatre is fabulous!"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...Alfred Uhry’s disturbing Tony Award winning musical Parade now in an all too rare lush professional production at Glencoe’s Writers Theatre is not an uplifting night in the theatre.It is a thought provoking indictment of America’s cultural heritage, and possibly more suited to be an opera than a musical."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...How fortunate the Chicago “theater scene” is to have Writers Theatre here. This amazing company, under the leadership of Michael Halberstam and Kathryn M. Lipuma, is now presenting the powerful “chamber musical”, “Parade” on its main stage."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...A musical that doesn’t offer its audience a happy ending or provide a fulfilling resolution to the story’s conflict is a difficult pill to swallow and a hard show to sell. Sensitive direction, strong performances, stirring music and a need to remind us of this dark chapter in American history makes Writers Theatre’s production an impressive offering this season. Some audiences will welcome a chance to embrace this cult favorite; others will discover it anew; still other patrons may question its validity as musical theatre. But one thing is certain: Writers Theatre has once again taken a chance by producing a show that’s moving, inspirational and yet, in spite of everything, thoroughly entertaining."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Michael Halberstam at the Writers Theatre has built a large and dedicated audience willing to take on challenging shows, secure in the knowledge that each show will receive top-of-the-line artistic treatment buttressed by an ample production budget. "Parade" may stir outrage and sorrow in the hearts and minds of the viewers but there is honesty and creativity on the Nichols stage combined with a refusal to sugar coat the show with emotional manipulation that makes the evening essential viewing."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended
"...Surrounded by a stellar cast of stage veterans, well traveled Chicagoland favorite Patrick Andrews offers a triumphant performance as unhappily transplanted Brooklyn Jew Leo Frank, an Atlanta pencil factory superintendent railroaded onto death row for the murder of his 13-year-old female employee."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Tying this powerful production together is Griffin's direction, which briskly moves the musical along while foregrounding the show's pertinent messages. Parade is a focused, precise and impassioned production that transcends tragedy to call for perseverance. An acute awareness of each of our roles in America's continually developing history permeates Parade, calling on us to examine what part we want to play in our country's future. There is no happy ending for the Frank family; however, Griffin teases out a sense of closure that empowers Lucille, suggesting that the prejudices of 1913 Atlanta may some day be struck down thanks to the story she has found herself a part of."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...The historical facts behind PARADE leave little room for joy. An egregious miscarriage of justice, Leo Frank’s trial gained national attention, exposed the persistent divide between America’s North and South and resulted in mob brutality. But the show finds its heart in Leo and Lucille’s marriage. A “mousy” and underestimated woman, Lucille defies Leo’s low opinion and asserts herself to save him. Finally, the man discovers who he has married. She grows, Leo responds, and the newfound love between them becomes PARADE’s ultimate reward."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Andrews’ performance is transformative, from his careful evolution of the principled and cold Leo Frank to the menacing pervert he is made out to be during his trial to the vulnerable yet strong man he becomes thanks to his wife’s determination to set him free. Brianna Borger’s (Lucille Frank) exquisite range (“Do It Alone” shook the hall) is only matched by her and Andrews’ stage chemistry, which develops naturally during the performance. This opportune love story, ironically enough, is able to materialize itself in art as a result of the hate crime that results in Frank’s death."
