Broadway veterans Max Chernin and Talia Suskauer will lead the national tour of Michael Arden's Tony-winning revival of Parade as Leo and Lucille Frank. They begin performances in January 2025, but offered Broadway.com an exclusive preview with an in-studio performance of Leo and Lucille's powerhouse duet, "This Is Not Over Yet."
Watch the performance below.
Chernin's past Broadway credits include Bright Star, Sunday in the Park with George and Parade, in which he served as standby for the role of Leo. Suskauer played Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway from May 2022 to March 2023, a role she also played on tour. She made her Broadway debut in the 2019 production of Be More Chill, and is currently starring as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors at Ogunquit Playhouse.
“Max and Talia are extraordinary artists who bring an incredible sense of identity and empathy to their work, rooted in their Jewish heritage," said Arden in a statement. "I can’t wait for audiences across the country to witness the remarkable depth, passion and grace they will bring to their portrayals of Leo and Lucille Frank.”
Parade, which features a Tony-winning score by Jason Robert Brown and a Tony-winning book by Alfred Uhry, is inspired by the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent in Marietta, Georgia, who was accused of murdering 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a factory employee. The show premiered on Broadway in 1998, directed and co-conceived by Harold Prince, and was revived in 2023—starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond as Leo and Lucille—after a successful run at New York City Center in fall 2022.
The 32-week tour will have its official premiere at Hennepin Art’s Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis (January 21-26), after technical rehearsals and early public performances at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, New York (January 11-17). Visit the show's website for the full tour schedule.
Additional casting for the tour will be announced in the coming weeks.