Rousing new musical Parade announced for Sydney 2024
Image: Australian Cast of PARADE. Photo: Matthew Chen
The Tony-Award winning musical by Jason Robert Brown, Parade, is coming to Sydney in May next year. The engagement follows the musical’s success in the Broadway Revival in 2023 and a sell-out season in Melbourne.
Parade is a moving production that explores one of the darkest chapters of America’s history and follows an unsolved murder that divided a nation. The original book by acclaimed playwright Alfred Uhry has been adapted for the stage by Brown to deliver the narrative through a colourful and haunting score.
The musical is set in early 20th century Atlanta, Georgia and follows the story of a Brooklyn-raised Jew named Leo Frank who is convicted of murdering 13-year-old Mary Phagan. With the community’s history of racism and bigotry, Frank is condemned by those around him.
Frank is consistently demonised in the press through common anti-Semitic tropes and religious paranoia. Incorrect facts, evidence, and a false testimony determine Frank’s fate, and his only defenders are a governor at risk of being politically ostracised and his Southern Jewish wife.
Portraying Leo Frank in Parade next year will be Sydney-based actor Aaron Robuck. Working as a Cantorial Soloist at North Shore Temple Emanuel in Sydney, Robuck’s performing credits include La Luna, Dear World, and Rags.
“As a Jewish actor, I feel incredibly privileged to be able to be part of the important conversation that this show initiates. I see the ripples of Leo’s story, now 110 years after his death, in my own story and in the world around me,” said Roebuck.
Parade offers critical moral lessons through a daring, innovative, and bold performance.
