MTSoc’s glittering parade

“The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and justice.” Really Mr Bentham? We beg to differ, as we think you’ll find that it’s actually Musical Theatre Society’s latest production, Parade!, that will be providing all the moral and judicial foundations we will be needing from now on…

Set in 1913 Marietta, Georgia, Parade! stylistically documents the arrest, conviction and trial of Leo Max Frank, a Jewish-American factory superintendent, exploring and portraying the anti-Semitic undercurrent present at that time in the United States. This is not the form of musical theatre your esteemed reviewers came prepared for. The emotionally poised performances of the leads, the fluidity of the chorus and the brilliant stage choreography all conspired to leave us quivering in awe, struggling to put glitter pen to fur-festooned note pad in order to jot down the five diamante star review this production clearly deserves.

And so, would-be theatre goers, it is at this juncture that your trusty reviewers cannot help but wonder what the outcome would have been for Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce had they attempted to air their dirty laundry under the auspices of Judge Roan (Phil Jackson), or conducted their bickering with the same musical delightfulness as Lucille Frank (Emily Jennings) or indeed, managed to sing and dance to the Charleston with the same deftness as Governor John Slaton (Phil Raymond). After watching Parade!, we are fairly sure it would have been the one that at least one of the guilty parties would have been more than happy with.

Written in collaboration with Fionnuala Ni Dhonnabhain and Severine Marechal.