Two days after anti-Semitic neo-Nazi protesters targeted the musical “Parade,” Mayor Eric Adams took the stage before Thursday night’s performance to declare the theater “is not a place where hate lives.”
“We have the largest Jewish population outside of Tel Aviv,” Adams told the audience at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.
Adams added, “And when you come out and really cross-pollinate with ideas and culture, that’s the beauty and that’s the symbol of New York City.”
He continued: “When we fill a theater, we send a message out there that this is not a place where hate lives.”
The Tony-winning “Parade” stars “Dear Evan Hansen” actor Ben Platt, 29, and Micaela Diamond, 23, of “The Cher Show.” Both are Jewish Americans.
Set in 1910s Georgia, the Broadway musical is inspired by the story of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank, who in 1913 was wrongfully convicted of raping and murdering 13-year-old employee Mary Phagan.
After his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1915, Frank was kidnapped from his cell and lynched by an anti-Semitic mob.
Following Frank’s murder, evidence from the case pointed to Jim Conley, the factory’s janitor, as the actual killer. Frank was posthumously pardoned in 1986.
Previews for the revival began Tuesday, which drew protests from the far-right white supremacist group the National Socialist Movement.
Jake Wasserman, engagement editor at Jewish media outlet the Forward, shared a video to Twitter of protesters shouting hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric at ticket holders and ticket buyers waiting outside the theater.
“You want the truth about who you’re going to see tonight?” yelled one of the group members. “You’re paying $300 to go f – – king worship a pedophile, you might as well know what you’re talking about.”
“Romanticizing pedophiles, wow, Leo Frank,” shouted another.
“[Leo Frank is] a Jewish pedophile,” a third yelled.
Wasserman also retweeted a photo of the flyers distributed by the neo-Nazis, which slammed the Anti-Defamation League — which was founded in 1913 with the mission “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all” — alleging that it was started “to protect a Jewish child murdering pedophile Leo Frank.”
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ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt addressed the protests in a statement Wednesday: “The vile anti-Semitism on full display outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre last night during a premiere performance of Parade underscores the importance of telling Leo Frank’s story.”
“The irony should not be lost on anyone that these anti-Semitic extremists decided to protest a play that details the true story of the lynching of an innocent Jewish man by an anti-Semitic mob, and used it as an opportunity to spread conspiracy theories and hate,” the statement continued.
Greenblatt’s statement concluded by saying, “ADL locks arms in solidarity with the entire cast and wants to especially thank the producers of the play and Ben Platt for their poignant statements speaking out in the face of hate. Despite the presence of a half-dozen neo-Nazis, New York City will continue to remain no place for hate.”
Platt took to Instagram this week to call out haters.
“I got offstage and was looking at social media, and, naturally, the news of the fact that there were some protesters at our show has spread a lot, and that has kind of [been] the stamp on the evening, in terms of the public perception of the evening,” he said in the video, which has garnered 67,000 likes.
“For those who don’t know, there were a few neo-Nazi protesters from a really disgusting group outside of the theater, bothering some of our patrons on their way in and saying anti-Semitic things about Leo Frank, who the show is about, and just spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric that led to this whole story in the first place,” Platt continued.
“If you don’t know about it, I encourage you to look up the story and most importantly encourage you to come see the show, and it was definitely very ugly and scary, but a wonderful reminder of why we’re telling this particular story and how special and powerful art and, particularly, theater can be. And just made me feel extra, extra grateful to be the one that gets to tell this particular story and to carry on this legacy of Leo.”
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Platt also thanked theater staff for keeping audience members and the cast “super safe and secure” before adding, “Now is really the moment for this particular piece.”
The show’s producers also issued a statement that echoed Platt’s words.
“If there is any remaining doubt out there about the urgency of telling this story in this moment in history, the vileness on display tonight should put it to rest,” the producers told People.
“Parade” is in previews on Broadway with an opening date set for March 16.
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