Tonight, Spotlight Theater Company opens the Utah premiere of a musical based on a fascinating, disturbing slice of American history that had impacts far beyond its likely familiarity to most Americans. ---

The 1998 Tony-Award winning musical Parade tells the story of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager in 1913 Atlanta, Georgia, who was convicted of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl. Originally sentenced to death, Frank found his sentence commuted to life in prison after the governor looked into the case -- but the anti-Semitic citizens of Atlanta weren't prepared to let that be the end of the story.

With a book by Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) and music & lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, the musical explores the emotions of a man who knows he's not welcome where he lives, and the events that gave rise to the re-emergence of the Georgia Ku Klux Klan and the creation of the Anti-Defamation League. And Spotlight Theater Company, following up on the summer 2010 production of Jane Eyre, continues to bring compelling lesser-known musicals to the Salt Lake City stage. Performances run today (Oct. 6) through Oct. 15 at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center Black Box Theatre