{"id":75079,"date":"2023-06-10T21:29:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T02:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=75079"},"modified":"2023-06-10T21:30:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T02:30:29","slug":"the-cast-of-broadways-parade-says-kaddish-before-each-show-says-star-micaela-diamond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/the-cast-of-broadways-parade-says-kaddish-before-each-show-says-star-micaela-diamond\/","title":{"rendered":"The cast of Broadway\u2019s \u2018Parade\u2019 says Kaddish before each show, says star Micaela Diamond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JACKIE HAJDENBERG<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Eight times a week, audiences at Broadway\u2019s \u201cParade\u201d see the curtain rise on a retelling of an act of antisemitism. What they don\u2019t see is the Jewish ritual that comes first.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_75080\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75080\" class=\"wp-image-75080 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75080\" class=\"wp-image-75080 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/The-company-of-PARADE-Joan-Marcus.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-75080\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cast of &#8220;Parade.&#8221; (Photo by Joan Marcus)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In an essay for The New York Times, 23-year-old star Micaela Diamond writes that before almost every performance, the cast members stand in a circle and say the Mourner\u2019s Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an expression of community as we tell this hard story,\u201d writes Diamond, who plays Lucille Frank, the wife of Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the only prayer recited every night: Ben Platt, playing Leo Frank, recites the Shema just before he is killed by a lynch mob, in the final moments of a musical dramatizing his 1913 arrest and 1915 murder. The historical consensus is that Frank was innocent of the rape and murder charges against him.<\/p>\n<p>In her essay, Diamond shares what she has learned from playing Lucille Frank, to whom she feels connected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can relate to Lucille \u2014 her Jewishness, her lack of Jewishness, her insistence on assimilation,\u201d Diamond writes. \u201cThere are so many parts of my identity that feel more at the forefront than my Jewishness, like being an actor, being queer, being a good cook. \u2026 Yet our identities are as nuanced as our roots are indelible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People like Lucille Frank considered themselves \u201cSouthern first, American second, Jewish later,\u201d according to Alfred Uhry, the writer of \u201cParade.\u201d But in her essay, Diamond notes that order doesn\u2019t matter to antisemites \u2014 and she had seen it for herself.<\/p>\n<p>On the opening preview night of the \u201cParade\u201d revival in February, neo-Nazis rallied outside the Bernard Jacobs Theatre.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA play that was meant to be a revival of a century-old story suddenly had contemporary implications,\u201d Diamond writes, echoing Platt\u2019s take offered on Instagram that night. \u201cIt was a haunting reminder of this story\u2019s immediacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Diamond also notes the connections between antisemitism and anti-Black racism in the story of Leo Frank and today. \u201cParade\u201d offers a condemnation of a criminal justice system that \u201cfails to protect all of those without power\u201d by pitting Black people and Jews against each other, she writes, pointing to how the Frank family\u2019s Black housekeeper is urged to testify against Leo Frank with evidence fabricated by the prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we refuse to embrace our inherent otherness \u2014 the parts that make us definitively Jewish Americans \u2014 we forget our common struggle with other marginalized people,\u201d Diamond writes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParade,\u201d which is set to run until at least early August, is up for six Tony Awards this weekend, including best actor for Platt and best actress for Diamond.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The%20cast%20of%20Broadway%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%98Parade%E2%80%99%20says%20Kaddish%20before%20each%20show%2C%20says%20star%20Micaela%20Diamond\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7122],"tags":[9912,6798,7075,13164,2932],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75081,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75079\/revisions\/75081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}