Michael Arden (‘Parade’ director) on the trial of Leo Frank: ‘If we don’t grapple with the trauma… we are bound to repeat it’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“The whole point of the piece to me is that if we don’t grapple with the trauma and the history of our past, we are bound to repeat it,” explains Michael Arden of “Parade.” The director recently earned a Tony Award nomination for the revival of this Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry musical, which tells the true story of the trial of Leo Frank. This tragic tale of antisemitism in America is often left out of history books, putting pressure on Arden’s production to illuminate the details for a contemporary audience. “I think I’m mostly attracted to shows, and stories, that can help people reexamine the thoughts they have,” notes Arden, “the actions they take.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.

The country’s current moment of division and vitriol is an ideal time to investigate the events of “Parade” according to Arden. “We see mob mentality overtaking the rules of justice that we have subscribed to,” he describes, “How can someone salute the American flag but also storm the capital?”

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A similar mob takes justice into their own hands during “Parade,” where Frank is accused of murdering a young girl. Frank is a rarity of the time, a Jewish man in the South, and his other-ness makes him a target regardless of the evidence. It’s easy to find parallels to today’s society, where people are quick to vilify those who they perceive as different. “It’s looking at hypocrisy,” declares the director, “it’s looking at what happens when the traumas and terrors of our past overwhelm what we have decided to do and be as a country.”

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The Broadway production is a transfer of the version from City Center’s Encores!, a program that highlights musical theater scores with scaled back staging. “We’re really focusing on the text and making sure that the story is told through people,” explains Arden, “I think people are our greatest element here.” He praises his cast, which features Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond as the leads (both Tony-nominated) and a slew of Broadway veterans. “Luckily I worked with such an incredible team of actors who not only take care of each other so well, but are constantly digging for a deeper version of the truth,” notes the director.

Arden describes Platt as a performer who is ready to take constant leaps of faith. “He approaches everything with incredible sensitivity and abandon,” says Arden, “I couldn’t ask for both a better leader of a company and a better company member. He’s thoughtful, and yet not precious.” As for Diamond, who gives a powerhouse portrayal of Frank’s wife Lucille at just 23 years old, Arden feels like he gets to support a legend at the start of her career. “I just completely fell in love with her,” he declares, “Her curiosity, her simplicity, and her strength…This is, I guess, how people must have felt when they saw Bernadette or Patti for the first time.”

SEE Ben Platt responds to ‘ugly and scary’ antisemitic protests of Broadway’s ‘Parade’

As each actor makes their entrance in the musical, photographs of the real-life historical figures they play are projected on the upstage wall. It’s an important directorial choice which helps drive home the reality of this story for the audience, by allowing each theatergoer to hold the real person and the actor in their mind at once. “It felt really vital to me,” reveals Arden, “that we support the drama of the play with a parallel reminder to the audience that these people lived and died…this happened.”

“Parade” marks Arden’s third Tony nomination for his work as a director. He was previously nominated for “Spring Awakening” and “Once on This Island.”

PREDICT the 2023 Tony Awards through June 11

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