Encore

Reign of the parade

PARADE review by Mary Nemeth

Listen folks, if you want to see what a wealth of young acting and musical talent we have in Brisbane, pop along and see Warehaus Theatre Company’s Parade. Singers of future renown and a 12-piece orchestra made up of Queensland Conservatorium, QUT and University of Southern Queensland students and graduates are musically-directed by artistic director James Dobinson and conducted by Tegan Cumerford, while the whole bright production is in the visionary hands of director Cienda McNamara.

Last year, in staging Stephen Sondheim’s musical Assassins, the company took honours in being the youngest ensemble ever to grace the Performing Arts Centre’s Cremorne Theatre, and their return to that prestigious venue testifies to their determination and worth. Parade is another Broadway hit: the true-story, seriously-themed work about racism and extreme injustice that won 1999 Tony Awards for its music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown and the book by Alfred Uhry.

Parade is not a dirge to the misery human beings can inflict on their own species  -  though that’s certainly a theme. There’s exhilaration in some of the songs and the hope expressed that a young, married man in 1913  -  Leo Frank (played and sung with potent truthfulness by Michael Balk)  -  might stand in American history as a warning to decent people not to let deliberately-fostered prejudice against skin colour or religious faith influence their judgment on matters of guilt or innocence.

On Confederate Memorial Day in the southern state of Georgia (a festival that southerners ironically held to “celebrate” the victory of the enemy Union Army of the north over their right to keep slaves) a heinous crime is committed in the town. It’s the murder of a 13-year-old girl, Mary Phagan (Judy Hainsworth), who was known to have paid a visit for her wages to factory accountant Leo Frank on the evening of her death.

From this fact and a great deal of what later proved to be false evidence  -  and with blatant pressure by members of the reviving Ku-Klux-Klan on public opinion  -  Frank is found guilty at trial. His “real” crime is to be Jewish, while part of the evidence against him comes via white manipulation of black members of the community  -  (Jeremy Youse and Damien Orth in fine acting and vocal style). Frank’s fate is not to be told here  -  it should be seen in a dramatic scene onstage.

There are strong performances from cast members including Norman Doyle as prosecutor Hugh Dorsey, James Dobinson as reporter Britt Craig, Penny Farrow as Frank’s ultimately supportive wife Lucille, Harvest Rain stalwart Jack Bradford and others sadly too numerous to mention.

While really lovely voices ornament the show, the “full gloss” of a Broadway production is understandably somewhat lacking. But realise it or not, we all have cause to be grateful to a group of young people with such promising talent and wise and compassionate hearts.

Warehaus Theatre presents Parade at the Cremorne Theatre to Saturday Jul 29. Tues-Sat (8pm); Matinees Wed & Sat (2pm). Bookings: 136 246.