Weekly Kibbitz
A revival of “Parade,” a musical about the 1915
lynching of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank,
will arrive on Broadway this spring, following a
successful seven-performance run last November.

Ben Platt, the Jewish Tony-award winning actor
who originated the title role in the Broadway hit
“Dear Evan Hansen,” will star as Leo Frank. Micaela
Diamond will play Frank’s wife, Lucille. Both actors
performed these roles in the show’s New York City
Center run, which received strong notices. Director
Michael Arden will also return.

With songs and a book written by Jason Robert
Brown and Albert Uhry, the musical opened on
Broadway for a short run in 1998. The musical won
Tony awards for Best Book and Best Score.

“Parade” centers on the real-life story of Brooklyn-
born Frank, who managed a pencil factory in Atlanta
where, in 1913, the body of 13-year-old Mary Phagan
was found in a cellar. Despite very little evidence,
Frank was found guilty of her murder and sentenced
to death. In 1915, when his sentence was commuted
to life in prison, he was kidnapped by an armed mob
and lynched.

The case at the time immediately attracted rampant
and sensationalized press, both reinvigorating the
Ku Klux Klan and inspiring the founding of the
Anti-Defamation League.

In addition to centering Frank’s strained marriage,
the show examines the topics of antisemitism and
white supremacy — issues many noted were timely
amid worries about rising anti-Jewish and anti-Asian
hate in New York and elsewhere.

“This show is all about not only antisemitism,
but the failure of the country to protect lots of
marginalized groups, and we’re all feeling that really
intensely right now,” Platt told The New York Times
in October.

While critics have often wondered if “Parade” would
ever attract audiences with its serious message and
grim on-stage events, the New York City Center
performances garnered widely positive reviews.

Wrote Ben Windman in amNY, “on the strengths of
the casting, score and storytelling, this makes for a
gripping and thrilling production.”
“Parade” will begin previews at the Bernard B.

Jacobs Theatre (242 W. 45th St.) on Feb. 21 and
open on March 16.

— Julia Gergely/New York Jewish Week
Leo Max Frank (1884-1915)
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‘Parade’ Revival Stars Ben Platt as Jewish Lynching Victim Leo Frank



local
International Holocaust Remembrance
Day Events in the Philadelphia Area
International Holocaust
Remembrance Day Shabbat
Service and Performance
The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History is hosting a
documentary screening on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
Photo by Barry Halkin/Halkin
Photography Courtesy of "Rebuilt from Broken Glass"
O n Jan. 27, 1945, the Soviet Union’s
Red Army liberated Jewish prison-
ers from the Auschwitz concentration
camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. The day
marked the beginning of the end of the
Holocaust, as many other camps were
liberated in the months leading up to
the end of World War II later that year.

Sixty years later, to acknowledge
the anniversary, the United Nations
General Assembly passed a resolution
declaring Jan. 27 to be International
Holocaust Remembrance Day. The
resolution “urges member states to
develop educational programs that will
inculcate future generations with the
lessons of the Holocaust in order to
help to prevent future acts of genocide,”
according to its text.

In Philadelphia, various organizations
are trying to do their part. Here’s a list
of some remembrance events that they
are holding this year.

Rebuilt from Broken Glass
Thursday, Jan. 26 at 6 p.m.

Weitzman National Museum of
American Jewish History
General Admission: $16
Gratz College and the Weitzman
National Museum of American Jewish
History on Independence Mall are
screening the documentary “Rebuilt
from Broken Glass,” based on the
memoir by Voorhees, New Jersey,
resident and Holocaust survivor Fred
Behrend. Behrend will be there to take
questions after the screening along-
side director Larry Hanover.

Then They Came For Me: The
Legacy of Martin Niemoller
Thursday, Jan. 26 at 6 p.m.

On Zoom
The Philadelphia
Holocaust Remembrance
Foundation and
the Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia’s Jewish Community
Relations Council are hosting a talk
with Professor Matthew Hockenos
of Skidmore College in New York
State about his book on Niemoller,
“The Pastor Who Defi ed the Nazis.”
According to an email from the
foundation, Niemoller was “an early
supporter of the Nazis” who became
“a fascinating example of the capac-
ity for change, growth and personal
refl ection.”
Subscribe to the mailing list on
Holocaust survivor and
Voorhees, New Jersey, resident
Fred Behrend
philaholocaustmemorial.org to fi nd the
Zoom link for the event in the latest
edition. I Remember
Friday, Jan. 27 at noon
On Zoom
The Jewish Federation’s Jewish
Community Relations Council, the
Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance
Foundation and 3G Philly are hosting a
conversation with Rabbi Adi Rabinowitz
Bedein, a Holocaust educator from
Israel, according to a Jewish Federation
email. “The memory of the Holocaust
is facing a serious challenge as it must
remain both relevant and personal, so
that the younger generations will keep
it alive,” the email said.

A link can be found on the Jewsish
Federation’s website at jewishphilly.org.

“At a time when antisemitism and
extremism are both on the rise, remem-
bering the atrocities of the Holocaust
and its victims must not be forgotten
lest we be doomed to repeat it even
more,” said Michael Balaban, the presi-
dent of the Jewish Federation. “Jewish
Federation is off ering two discussions
to help remember those we lost and
what we can learn from the Holocaust.”
Friday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.

Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
KI’s adult and teen choirs will join
with the adult choir of Or Hadash to
perform the music of Theresienstadt.

The Nazi-imposed Theresienstadt
ghetto in Czechoslovakia became
known later on for its remarkable
story about Jewish prisoners who
created, played and danced to music
during their captivity. Richard Bank, a
“second-generation speaker,” as he’s
described on a fl yer for this event, will
also give a talk at KI on Jan. 27.

The Brandywine Singers
Perform James Whitbourn’s
Annelies Sunday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. at Christ
Church Christiana Hundred in
Wilmington, Delaware
Saturday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at Kesher
Israel Congregation in West Chester
Admission: $25
As a recent Kesher Israel Facebook
post explains: “Annelies is a 75-minute
chamber choral work for soprano
soloist, choir and instrumentalists.

The libretto is compiled and trans-
lated by Melanie Challenger from ‘The
Diary of Anne Frank.’ ‘Annelies’ is
the full forename of Anne Frank, now
commonly referred to by her abbrevi-
ated forename.”
Both performances are to commem-
orate International
Holocaust Remembrance Day, according to the
same Facebook post.

Yom HaShoah, Israel’s national holiday
commemorating the Holocaust, comes
annually in the spring on the 27th of
Nisan according to the Hebrew calen-
dar. This year, that date falls on April
17 and 18. Several institutions in the
Philadelphia area are planning events
for that day as well. It is often referred to
as Holocaust Remembrance Day. ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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