Saturday 2 June 2007: Parade at Buck Creek Players
Don't see this play if you have a weak heart or are prone to violent reactions when exposed to injustice - this piece really makes your blood boil. Some of the characters are so smarmy that it is difficult to objectively evaluate the acting that creates them - one is so aggravated by the actions that one does not want to credit the players of the roles.
The play was written by Alfred Uhry (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown), and deals with one of Uhry's recurring subjects - the Jewish community in the south. It is based very closely on actual events.
<SPOILER ALERT>
Leo Frank (Scot Greenwell) was manager of a pencil factory in Atlanta that employed child laborers in 1913. On 27 April that year, thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan (Hillary Larman), one of the workers, was found murdered in the factory. Suspicion fell on Frank because she had been to his office to get paid that afternoon. Hugh Dorsey (Dustin D Podgorski), a politically ambitious prosecutor, relied on perjured testimony and community anti-Semitism to convict Frank of the murder. Frank's wife, Lucille (Claire Wilcher), commenced a campaign to have the conviction reversed, or at least to have the death sentence commuted. She succeeded in the second objective, but after Frank was moved to a minimum security prison, he was seized by a lynch mob and hanged on 16 August 1916. He was pardoned on 11 March 1986, nearly seventy years later.<END SPOILER>
With twenty-nine in the cast (in over thirty roles, plus the ensemble), the script gives many players opportunities to shine, and this cast makes the most of them. The musicians are backstage, but amplified into the house, and a dozen microphones are swapped around among the players, so they are largely able to hold their own against the music. Only Larman is too quiet to make out consistently. By the end of the show my program was littered with checkmarks and plus marks (my code for an honorable mention), though many of these fell on the same players as they shone in one song after another. Checkmarks to D Scott Robinson for direction; John D Phillips for vocal direction; and Nick Herman for musical direction (and piano). Acting/singing checkmarks to: Jim Washington as Newt Lee, the night watchman; John O'Brien as Frankie Epps, Mary's hoping-to-be boy friend; and Carvis Herron Jr as Jim Conley, the janitor whose testimony was most damaging. Double checks to each of Greenwell and Wilcher (Leo and Lucille Frank) (although Wilcher was a bit too stentorian in two places), and triple checks to the vocal ensemble. Honorable mentions to Podgorski (the prosecutor); Christina King (Mrs. Phagan, Mary's mother); Stacey "Jack" Johnson (Governor Slaton); Bernard Würger (Judge Roan); John Sparkman (Tom Watson, an incendiary publisher); Michael Davis (Britt Craig, an alcoholic reporter); and Dane Rogers (Luther Rosser, Frank's incompetent lawyer).
The incongruous title for the piece comes from the fact that the original crime was committed on Confederate Memorial Day, a state holiday in Georgia at the time, and a day on which parades occurred. One wonders (at least I wonder) why this story was made into a musical instead of a straight drama. Maybe the subject matter is too intense for a straight play. As I said, be prepared to be outraged, and take comfort in the fact that courts today are usually more discriminating about what they accept as testimony (and trials get moved when local publicity makes it impossible to seat an impartial jury).
And don't stay away because you don't want to be outraged - it's still possible to admire a few characters in the story, and the production is exceptional. Closes 17 June.
Looks as if JoeB and I saw the same show this time. I might take exception to his characterization of Claire as "stentorian". I would substitute "resolute".
In the field of anachronisms, however, Angela's iron, even if it were an electric one, probably wouldn't have had a teflon plate with steam vents. I saw at least one woman in the audience grab her date's arm and point and giggle.
In the field of anachronisms, however, Angela's iron, even if it were an electric one, probably wouldn't have had a teflon plate with steam vents. I saw at least one woman in the audience grab her date's arm and point and giggle.
Joe U. made sure to point out to me that the wheelchair used was "too modern", to which I pointed out that they had a hard enough time getting THAT wheelchair through the door...if they'd used an "authentic" wheelchair from the time, they'd have had to widen the door!
My favorite moment of this production was when Leo is on the witness stand. Ostensibly he is speaking to the entire courtroom, but by the end of the number, he is looking at Lucille. There was a subtle light change on Claire (I think, unless I was so engrossed that I imagined it), and she gently nodded.
And I thought, "Oh my gosh, I get it!" Fantastic acting from Scot and Claire in that scene and throughout, not to mention brilliant staging, lighting, and direction.
If an entire show can be distilled into a single moment, that was the moment in this show for me.
Parade at BCP may be full of depressing moments, however, the staff and cast have pulled off a very pleasing show. This show is carried by Scot Greenwell (Leo Frank) and Claire Wilcher (Lucille Frank) and you couldn't have chosen two finer performaners. Scot's portrayal of Leo Frank is so sincere, real and fresh that you can't help but watch and follow this man through the end of his life. His voice is excellent and powerful. Even up to the end Scot remains calm and accepts his fate. His performance is captivating and very moving. Claire's portrayal of Lucille (Frank's Wife) is heart-wrenching and complex. Her rendetion of "You Don't Know This Man" was the highlight of the show, (beautifully staged by Director D. Scott Robinson) The simplicity of her delivery was unlike anything I had ever seen her do. She truly comanded that moment and moved me completely. The courtroom is another highlight of the show. A very moving and entertaining section. The entire cast did a nice job, too many to mention, but bravo to you all.
My only disapointment with the show was some of the ensemble vocals, as a group they were very well balanced, but when they sang solo's, they weren't as strong as I had hoped. The mic's were also an issue for me. Some of them sounded as if they had never been balanced out. Others were very loud and distracting, while some were very "canned". The scene changes weren't long, but most of them had no underscoring to hide them. The show has a very cinematic feel to it, but it seemed to stop and start and stop and start. There wasn't much flow in Act I as there was in Act II. These of course are minor factors. The major thing that bothered me was the lynching scene. The crowd was very "symapathetic" for a lynching mob, probably a writing issue, but I was very prepared to ball my eyes out after a wonderful scene between Leo and Lucille in the jail, wow, what a powerful scene and song, but when he was lynched, it just kind of fell flat for me.
The end was electrifying. Watching Claire grieve and try to carry on was just heart-wrenching and the surprise at the end was very cool.
As usual, set and lights were extremelly good.
Bravo to all involved. May you run be successful!
RBN
__________________ R. Brian Noffke
Up Next: - Work & School - Directing/LD - "Winnie-the-Pooh" at The Children's Museum - June-August, 2010 -Lighting Designer - "Into The Woods" - Footlite, August, 2010 - Directing "The King & I" - Footlite Musicals - May, 2011
The mic's were also an issue for me. Some of them sounded as if they had never been balanced out. Others were very loud and distracting, while some were very "canned".
RBN
The Mic's were being placed on many different people throughout the show. While I tried to keep the same voice types on the same channels it was not always possible. So I balanced many mics to be use by mutliple people. Certainly not a technique I am used to using and it I guess it showed.
As for level problems in the show, I am sure there may have been a few here and there, but given this was the first time our sound operator had ever run a sound board, he did an admirable job. I perfer to run my designs throughout the run, but I was asked to work JCS first and I worked this show into my schedule to design only.
I designed this show to mostly come from the stage versus last years Spitfire which was 100% mic'd throughout. So I hoped many enjoyed this aspect of the design. It seems to work well for a show like this.
Thanks for everyones input positive or negative. I take each comment seriously and strive to improve on the next show that I design.
Thanks for everyones input positive or negative. I take each comment seriously and strive to improve on the next show that I design.
I think you speak for all of us Don! It has been a thrill to be a part of this production and we all appreciate your support and feedback! Every night when the ensemble runs the opening number, I get goosebumps, and that's after two months of rehearsals!
In the field of anachronisms, however, Angela's iron, even if it were an electric one, probably wouldn't have had a teflon plate with steam vents. I saw at least one woman in the audience grab her date's arm and point and giggle.
The iron actually does not have a teflon bottom...and is from the 1920's. It is the earliest one we could find without going too "archaic." The bottom of the iron may appear to be teflon because of the darkness of the bottom of it due to heavy use. Did you notice that the steam handle and iron handle were wood, too? Not as modern a piece as you may have thought.
__________________
Director The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 by John Bishop
November 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20 at 8:00PM
November 14 at 2:00PM
$10 General Admission
Reservations: 317-823-4761, ext 3 or place them online www.oaklandoncivictheatre.org
Joe U. made sure to point out to me that the wheelchair used was "too modern", to which I pointed out that they had a hard enough time getting THAT wheelchair through the door...if they'd used an "authentic" wheelchair from the time, they'd have had to widen the door!
Again, yes, probably not "exact" in its time period, but where do you find a wheelchair from 1913 on a community theatre budget?
__________________
Director The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 by John Bishop
November 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20 at 8:00PM
November 14 at 2:00PM
$10 General Admission
Reservations: 317-823-4761, ext 3 or place them online www.oaklandoncivictheatre.org
Parade
Linear Mode
