Playing Leo Frank in Broadway’s ‘Parade’ is ‘tough’

Ben Platt admits it’s a bit unusual to be starring in a Broadway musical about anti-semitism throughout an upsurge of hate crimes in opposition to Jewish individuals.

“It’s unhappy nevertheless it’s additionally actually galvanizing and motivating as a result of it feels actually rapid,” he informed Page Six completely on the Broadway opening of the revival of “Parade” on Thursday night time.

“Usually, while you do a revival, you’ll be able to really feel a little bit of separation from it,” Platt, 29, continued, “however we’ve little to none, which is a tough blessing.”

“Parade” tells the true story of Jewish manufacturing unit employee Leo Frank — performed by Platt — who was convicted in 1913 after being falsely accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old lady.

Frank’s demise sentence was commuted to life in jail by Gov. John M. Slaton in 1915 after he reviewed 1000’s of pages of testimony that severely referred to as into query Frank’s guilt. Frank was subsequently kidnapped from jail by a lynching occasion and hanged from an oak tree.

The musical was rocked throughout previews when a loud group of neo-nazis, dubbed the National Socialist Movement, protested the present.

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“You need the reality about who you’re going to see tonight,” yelled one of many protesters in a video that was posted online. “You’re paying $300 to go f–king worship a pedophile, you would possibly as effectively know what you’re speaking about.”

“Romanticizing pedophiles, wow, Leo Frank,” shouted one other.

Micaela Diamond, who performs Frank’s spouse, Lucille, additionally spoke to Page Six about performing the present throughout these fraught instances.

“I believe Judaism is the oldest racism on the planet and I believe typically due to that we neglect it’s nonetheless right here, whether or not it’s proper in entrance of us with neo-nazis protesting in entrance of our theater or lurking within the shadows, during which Jews are ignored of the dialog.”

Diamond, 23, additionally famous that “it’s actually particular that we’re the primary two Jewish individuals to play these roles as a result of it’s so intrinsically part of the story. I believe it’s actually vital and I really feel fortunate that we had been each solid.”

And Platt says that showing within the present has deepened his connection to Judaism.

“I believe it’s allowed me to embrace no matter Judaism means to me,” the “Politician” alum defined. “Sometimes we really feel if we’re not observant or we don’t maintain kosher or we haven’t been to shul shortly.

“That makes us disconnected from Judaism or not Jew or if the theology isn’t one thing you completely relate to on a regular basis however for me, it’s come to be happy with the cultural and emotional and familial ways in which I really feel Jewish and embrace that.”