The long awaited revival of Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s Tony Award-winning musical PARADE as presented in 2013 at Fullerton’s Plummer Auditorium by 3-D Theatricals (3DT) of Los Angeles and Orange County, will once again take a bow at two Southern California main stage theatres beginning June 1 – 10 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts and long-awaited 2018 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.
With a Book by Alfred Uhry (Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winner for DRIVING MISS DAISY) and Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (THE LAST FIVE YEARS), PARADE is a tragic and true story of the 1913 trial of a Brooklyn-born Jewish factory manager Leo Frank who was accused of raping and murdering a 13 year old employee, Mary Phagan. Already guilty in the eyes of those around him, the trial, sensationalized by the media, aroused anti-Semitic tensions in Atlanta and the state of Georgia.
The musical was first produced on Broadway in 1998 and was directed by Harold Prince. Even though it closed after a short stay at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, the musical made a profound impact with the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing…so much so that it won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score (out of nine nominations); and six Drama Desk Awards.
Like New York, voting members of the LA Stage Alliance (a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles), were also deeply touched by 3-D Theatricals ‘production of PARADE; so much so, that it was nominated for fifteen Los Angeles Ovation Awards with
3DT earning four in the large theatre categories of Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a
Musical; Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Best Acting Ensemble in a Musical.
In 2013 the Los Angeles Times wrote… “Exceptional integrity distinguishes “Parade” in
Fullerton. 3-D Theatricals attains a rarefied level of artistry with this arresting, beautifully
appointed take. Director T.J. Dawson, Choreographer, Dana Solimando and Musical
Director David Lamoureux approach the fact-based property and its complex themes — anti-
Semitism, legal malfeasance and political expediency among them — with uncompromising
conviction. 3-D Theatricals’ arresting ‘Parade’ is hard to forget.”
3-D Theatricals’ Executive Producer and Artistic Director T.J. Dawson will again direct the
upcoming revival, supported by key returning Creative Team members David Lamoureux
(Music Director) and Choreographers Dana Solimando and Estevan Valdes.
Broadway’s Davis Gaines, best known to audiences for his portrayal of the Phantom in
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera both on Broadway; and from a record
setting run of performances as the Phantom at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles,
Gaines will portray local court prosecutor Hugh Dorsey in 3DT’s PARADE.
Rufus Bonds, Jr. returns as factory janitor and ex-convict Jim Conley; the role he created
on Broadway and for which he won a 2013 Los Angeles Ovation Award as Best Featured
Actor in a Musical Jeff Skowron (from Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and The Boy from Oz) also returns to recreate PARADE’s pivotal starring role of Leo Frank for which he won
the 2013 Los Angeles Ovation Award as Best Lead Actor in a Musical.
Additional theatre information regarding tickets, individual performance dates and times,
parking and a complete list of ensemble casting will be soon be announced with the majority
of the ensemble also returning from 3DT’s 2013 production
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Photo Credit: 3-D Theatricals (3DT)
www.3dtheatricals.org/season/
Michael Sterling
Publicity and Production
