Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 Parade Diverges: The 1998 Broadway and 2007 London Productions and Their Critical Receptions Julie L. Haverkate Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE & DANCE PARADE DIVERGES: THE 1998 BROADWAY AND 2007 LONDON PRODUCTIONS AND THEIR CRITICAL RECEPTIONS By JULIE L. HAVERKATE A Thesis submitted the School of Theatre in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008 Copyright © 2008 Julie L. Haverkate All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Julie L. Haverkate defended on 19 March 2008. ______________________________ Natalya Baldyga Professor Directing Thesis ______________________________ Mary Karen Dahl Committee Member ______________________________ Tom Ossowski Committee Member ______________________________ Fred Chappel Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Much of thesis would not have been possible without the support of Jason Robert Brown. For his infinite patience with my constant barrage of emails and questions, his willingness to meet with me, and his candid discussion of his own work, I offer my warmest and most sincere thanks. Beyond even that, and most importantly, I genuinely thank him for his continuing contributions to the art form for which we both feel so passionately. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………....v INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 1. PARADE ON BROADWAY .....................................................................................................16 2. THE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE BROADWAY PRODUCTION.................................33 3. PARADE IN LONDON .............................................................................................................45 4. THE CRITICAL RESPONSE TO THE LONDON PRODUCTION…………………………62 EPILOGUE....................................................................................................................................78 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………………81 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................82 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………………………………….89 iv ABSTRACT During the 1990s, a sudden outpouring of new musical talent flooded both Broadway and off-Broadway. Dubbed at the time by both critics and scholars as creating New Theater Music, these challenging composers were and continue to be drawn to atypical and less outwardly joyful material and possess affinities for atonal chords and complex harmonies, placing them more in the company of Sondheim than of Schwartz. This group includes such artists as Adam Guettel, Michael John LaChiusa, and Jeanine Tesori, and when Parade premiered on Broadway in 1998, its composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown was listed among the impressive group of up-and- comers thought to be continuing the trajectory of the American musical in the Sondheimian vein of darker, challenging, and more operatic works. Using Parade as a case study of these New Voices, this thesis explores this particular musical in both production and in critical reception. The purpose of the production analyses of both the Broadway and London premieres is to demonstrate specifically how this musical has (or has not) worked onstage to engage audiences both intellectually and emotionally, as well as its potential to do so in the future. The analyses of the critical receptions that follow then work to further demonstrate how Parade, and these two specific productions, worked (in)effectively to engage audiences, as well as to reveal any gaps, biases, and strengths in the critical analysis itself: elements critics largely focus on or disregard, the language with which they discuss elements of both the musical and its productions, and their distinctions between the productions and the musical itself. Critics shape the way audiences receive musicals through their written opinions, whether they desire to do so or not, and so to better understand the critic is to better understand the review is to better understand the production is to better understand the basic musical form. Parade, an amalgamation of traditional and newer techniques and topics, is ideal for a case study of critical and musical analysis. Critical analyses of its Broadway and London premiere productions provide the perfect opportunity to discover how this musical works to engage audiences, how critical receptions alter over years and miles, and how both production choices and critical reviews affect and aid the continuing trajectory of the American musical. v INTRODUCTION Preface: Who Doesn’t Love a Parade? An extreme injustice occurs: a man is abruptly awakened in the pitch of night and roughly dragged to an isolated area. A formidable group of men hovers menacingly, anxious, yet sure of its duty. “We’re here to carry out the law”: quietly, matter-of-factly, a man steps forward from the shadows. Then, just as quickly and resolutely as the declaration of “guilty” is voiced from a jury of his peers, Leo Frank’s life is blotted out, his body swinging violently from a rope as harsh chimes sound, echoing the wrong that has been done. In 1915, an Atlanta jury found Leo Frank, a Jew, guilty of the murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan. In 1998, when Parade, a musicalization of the Frank case, premiered on Broadway, I was unaware of this new show, but intrigued by other musicals at the time that were rocking Broadway with their “strange” sounds and “controversial” subject matters – musicals such as Rent, Side Show, and Titanic. It was not until the following summer that I was introduced to Parade via the lead character’s musical declaration, “This Is Not Over Yet,” as performed by Brent Carver and Carolee Carmello (Leo and Lucille Frank respectively) on the 1999 Tony Awards. I thought, “Hey, that’s kind of pretty,” and so I bought the original Broadway cast recording, thereby inciting my incessant curiosity about Jason Robert Brown’s musical work and the notorious Leo Frank case. Eight years have passed since Parade’s premiere on Broadway, and my fascination with the musical and its historical subject has grown over that time. In the summer of 2000, I saw Parade’s national touring production, which Brown himself music directed. As I sat fifth row center at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, I looked on an embittered and pained Southern people, and became enveloped by the sounds of the newly industrialized South that were ironically juxtaposed with the lively and patriotic Dixie tunes so popular at the turn of twentieth century America. I was fascinated by the pastiche score that interweaves a variety of rock, gospel, blues, hymnal, and pop, while simultaneously I was confronted head-on by America’s prejudiced past. I sympathized with and grieved for the Franks, knowing full well that Parade’s purpose extended beyond that of a period piece framed by a love story: the musical was commenting on racial prejudice, male obsession with female purity, and media frenzies that result in witch hunts – all of which continue to exist in America to this day. Yet something in the production seemed lacking to me, even then. I felt as though I was watching “The Picture Show” that Frankie so earnestly wishes little Mary Phagan to accompany him to in the musical. Something onstage was causing me to feel as though I was outside of the action, simply observing history. Still, I recognized the import and potential of Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown’s work within the art form. In my research I was startled, but not altogether surprised, to discover that most critics did not react to Parade (the musical, not the production) in the way that I did. They generally found the musical too somber, Brown’s music either “too pretty” for the disturbing topic or not pretty enough in its efficiency, and the topic itself if not altogether inappropriate for a musical, not treated in a proper manner for such a complex issue. As I read through the reviews – all the New York reviews and some from the national tour as well – I became frustrated by many of the criticisms. The critics possessed ideas of what the musical is – how it generally looks, sounds, 1 feels – and because Parade’s premiere production did not appear to fit their definition, they primarily labeled the musical itself ambitious but ineffective, or sometimes just plain bad. One of the most interesting critiques to me was that Parade is unpleasurable or unenjoyable, and I noticed that Brown was in the company of many other new composers whose challenging works were often viewed similarly and negatively through this lens of pleasure. The purpose of this thesis is threefold. I will analyze Parade’s two major productions, demonstrating the ways in which this seemingly difficult musical can work to engage audiences in multiple ways. I will follow these production analyses with analyses of their critical receptions. In doing so, I will generally be addressing what I see as a lack in serious criticism of musical theatre. More specifically, my analyses of the two radically different directorial approaches to Parade will demonstrate