So the first album I listened to in what seems to be a Saturday morning routine was Parade, an original musical by Jason Robert Brown who won a tony for his score. It's a musical that makes use of a lot of traditional American folk sound as it tells the story of a Jewish guy, Leo Frank, who's framed for the murder of a young girl. While the most heinous antisemitism is the property of Germany and Eastern Europe.. oh, and the mid east. the US doesn't have a perfect history, and the lynching of Leo Frank despite the evidence of his innocence is a pretty dark spot on that history. When Stephen Sondheim, the guy who wrote a musical about assassins decides not to touch your story, it's probably some REALLY off-the-wall subject matter for a musical.
Where the show really excels is in the duets between Leo and his wife. Near the beginning of the show, Lucille is on edge because Leo never makes time for her. Then the stress of his arrest strains their relationship until eventually Leo realizes what he has in Lucille. This, of course, comes right before he's lynched. It's a heartwarming tale for sure.
Another bright spot is the music given to the villains of the piece. While being completely despicable people, they're the characters I'd love to be for the sheer fact of the music they get to sing. A drunken, loser journalist Britt sings an upbeat, jazzy number that celebrates the career advancement possibilities of reporting on the murder of the young girl. Hey, the song's awesome, not the character. There's also the gospel number from service workers who are annoyed that Leo gets sympathy from northerners, when--if he were black--no one would give a second look.
Mostly, though, the music is what you will typically seem to find in modern musicals where it sometimes seems the composer is trying to alienate the listener. On the one hand, you have Stephen Schwartz writing an entire musical of power ballads, and then Jason Robert Brown reacting against that and giving us really strident characters singing music thats more filled with emotion than melody. Most of that music sounds like it's more fun for the performer than for the listener. The emotion is incredible though. There's no beating the devastating final moments as Leo's lynching is juxtaposed with the jubilant parade like the one that opens the show.
Nutshell: the album is totally worth listening to even if more than half the individual tracks don't invite repeat hearings.
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