It’s a case that long-time Georgians know all too well: the 1913 trial of Jewish American Leo Frank, a pencil factory manager who was accused and then convicted of the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan.
The trial serves as the basis for the musical “Parade,” written by Alfred Uhry with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, which will run at the Fox Theatre April 1-6. The show stars Ramone Nelson as Jim Conley, a janitor at the factory and a witness in the case against Frank.
Nelson, who grew up in Lithonia and whose family now lives in Conyers, was looking to go on the road with a show and also for a different kind of role after his Broadway debut in “MJ: The Musical.” He wanted a role that would be thought-provoking and would lead to a conversation afterwards. “Parade” checked all the boxes.
Before he started with the tour in December, Nelson didn’t know much about the real-life case. He decided to do some research.
“These are real people and you want to honor those who walked the earth,” Nelson said. “Knowing that I did not go to school for law, I can only go into the research that is going to help me character-wise, and not trying to play whodunit. For me, it was about what a Black man in 1913 Georgia was about – what did it look like, what were the conditions between these people?”
Conley played a key role in the trial against Frank. After his conviction – a conviction that many historians now believe to be false – Frank was transferred to a prison in middle Georgia. An angry mob later kidnapped and hanged him. The trial caused a lot of antisemitic and racial tensions, and, according to Nelson, the fact that a Black man took the stand was big news for the time.
In 1986, Frank was officially pardoned. Today, many historians believe that Conley may have been the murderer.
“There are lots of layers to the story,” Nelson said. “Conley had a troubled past and was in and out of jail at the time. I saw some interviews with Alfred Uhry in which he was talking about how he could amp up this character. There is complexity to him that Alfred decided to expand upon.”
Nelson said he would never forget reading an interview with Uhry where he mentioned that he wanted to make Jim the “smartest person in the room.”
“[Jim] was going to do what he could to survive, as most people in the show are, especially as a Black man in 1913 Georgia,” Nelson said. “Racism was at an all-time high.”
As both a Black man and a gay man, Nelson is aware of the various kinds of discrimination that exists.
“Black people are still being targeted, and queer people are being targeted, especially Black trans people,” he said. “So it is truly a time as a Black gay man to have a voice for all my trans siblings, to speak up, to let them know that their voice matters. This is not the time to sit back and hide; it’s the time to live unapologetically and authentically.”
Nelson grew up in a sports family, but in middle school started gravitating towards the arts and taking part in theater. By the time he was in high school, he was the lead in a production of “Les Misérables” that won him the Best Actor award at the Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards. From there, he studied at Florida State University and dove headfirst into performing after graduation.
“Parade” was a hit both when it landed on Broadway in 1998 and again in 2023, when a new version starring Ben Platt won Best Revival of a Musical at the Tony Awards. Nelson thinks that at its heart, the musical is a love story between Frank and his wife, Lucille. But he also feels the musical is topical and holds a mirror up to the audience.
“The story was one of the first stories in America of antisemitism, and all of these intolerances stem from the belief that one group is better than another – racism, homophobia, transphobia,” Nelson said. “Especially right now in this administration, this is a time for artists to go to work and share these stories. ‘Parade’ is a mirror of what can happen if we continue in this lane of ignorance and not lead with love and light.”
