In heartbreaking period musical Parade, Raincity Theatre tells true story of an innocent man accused of murder
Director Chris Adams talks non-traditional main characters, historical influences, and the show’s venue: a 114-year-old Gastown bank
Josh Epstein as Leo Frank in Parade. Photo by Nicol Spinola
Raincity Theatre presents Parade at 191 Alexander Street in Gastown from March 21 to April 13 at 8 pm
SINCE ITS INCEPTION in 2018, Raincity Theatre has shown a penchant for producing musicals with atypical lead characters.
Take for instance the Vancouver-based artist collective’s inaugural production Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, about a seemingly normal British hairdresser who’s hiding a horrific string of murders; or 2019’s Company, of which average-Joe bachelor Bobby is the star (legendary American composer Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for both shows). Neither character is particularly charming, nor eye-catching; they don’t save the day, or change people’s lives for the better (certainly not the killer barber, anyhow).
That same trend carries over into lyricist Jason Robert Brown and writer Alfred Uhry’s Parade, Raincity Theatre’s newest production. The musical tells the true story of Leo Frank, an innocent Jewish-American pencil factory manager who is put on trial and lynched after being falsely accused of murdering a 13-year-old employee. Raincity’s co-managing artistic director Chris Adams notes that something extraordinary can come from putting an ordinary character like Leo at the forefront of a production.
“He wasn’t the traditional leading man of a Broadway musical for them to turn this piece into,” Adams tells Stir over a Zoom call before the production’s premiere. “He was a guy who went to work, supported his wife, and tried to create a good life for a potential family. It’s insinuated in the piece that they were trying to start a family, they were looking at having kids. He was not a big, strapping, good-looking guy. He was just your normal everyday man. And I think getting to tell those stories that are not about your traditional sort of leading roles is really interesting for me as a director.”
Adams trained in musical theatre at both the University of Victoria and New York City’s Circle in the Square Theatre School. He has since gone on to direct productions for the Metro Theatre, Renegade Productions, and Kay Meek Youth Conservatory. He was also an instructor at Coquitlam’s Lindbjerg Academy of Performing Arts for eight years, and has produced shows for the likes of MascallDance and Royal City Musical Theatre. All told, he brings a boatload of experience to his role leading Raincity Theatre alongside Nicol Spinola.
Parade director Chris Adams.
Aside from bringing fresh takes on main-character tropes to the stage, the artist collective excels at producing site-specific musicals. Raincity won four Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards for its Sweeney Todd barber shop set created out of a Gastown storefront, and turned a Mount Pleasant building into a Manhattan apartment for Company.
Parade brings audiences back to Gastown from March 21 to April 13—but this time at 191 Alexander Street, a historic bank built in 1910 which was also the site of the company’s 2022 production Cabaret.
“It has really amazing wooden beams that are over 100 years old, a wrought-iron balcony, brick walls, and everything original inside, so it just screams to tell these older tales,” Adams says of the restored building. “Specifically for Parade, we wanted people to walk into the venue and experience that the show starts on Confederate Memorial Day, 1913. And this space lends itself very well to that. It will feel like you’re in the Atlantic pencil factory.”
History plays a huge role in the musical, which is set in 1910s Atlanta, Georgia. Along with the rest of the cast and crew, Adams did plenty of research into the period: the Second Industrial Revolution was underway, child labour in the city was on the rise, and racial prejudice was still present 50 years post-Civil War. All these components are reflected in Ryan Cormack’s set design and Christina Sinosich’s historically accurate costumes.
Though the tone of the piece is often sombre, Adams and choreographer-producer Spinola strive to mix moments of laughter into everyone’s day (and into the show, which has pockets of humour and romance in store for audiences). Raincity’s production of Parade is based on a smaller version that toured to London rather than the 40-person Broadway show, which means they’re working with a more intimate ensemble of 20. Leading the pack as Leo is Vancouver-based actor Josh Epstein, who Adams says was “born to play” the role.
“This show is a window into the past, into a time that we wish was over,” the director reflects. “Unfortunately for where we stand in 2024, there is still racism, there is still anti-Semitism, there is still classism. And unfortunately the show shows us all of that, and it shows us that the world still has a lot of work to do. But there are hopeful moments, there are peaceful moments. There are moments in life that are worth living, and worth fighting for.” 
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