Video: Ben Platt & Micaela Diamond on Why Now Is 'The Moment' for PARADE

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

One of the most important groundbreaking musicals of the 20th century is Alfred Yuri and Jason Robert Brown's masterwork parade

Following a critically acclaimed sold-out run, this past fall at City Senators' famed encores

It has come to Broadway under the direction of Michael Arden and stars Ben Platt and Michaela Diamond

And I caught up with all of them here at the Lambs Club leading up to their opening night

It's great to be sitting with both of you. Tell me what parade means to both of you personally

Oh, my. It's a big question to start with. It's a big question. Yeah. I mean, we're both musical theater nerds, and speaking personally

it's definitely a show that has been like a gem in the musical theater canon

that I've admired since I was young, particularly as a Jew, and a lover of Jason Robert Brown

I was familiar with, like, pieces of the score growing up, and then slowly as I became a teenager and got older

I got a full picture of the story of the Franks and what the show really was. And it was always on my list of dream parts and dream projects at some point

And I think it's just a very kind of underappreciated musical theater, beloved, hidden gem

Yeah, I mean, I've loved it for so long too. And I think doing it with Ben feels really special

I think that feels like a big part of what parade is to me right now

and it's the first professional production where Leo and Lucille are being played by two Jewish people

And yeah, it just all feels very meaningful. And I think that it's funny, like it's so enjoyable, like singing the music and hearing you sing it and hearing our cast

It just feels like I could do it for forever. And I really I don think I would say that about a lot of musicals but I do it so close to my heart And so I just it feels like a dream Yeah Yeah Having Alfred Yuri and Jason Robert Brown in the room with you what was it like during the

rehearsal process? It was wonderful. It just made it feel very immediate

Like sometimes when you do revivals, it can feel like you're kind of dusting off sort of a

relic or, um, just trying really to recreate. But having the writers present allowed us to feel like we were finding it a new

for ourselves, which isn't to say we're like rewriting any of it, but I think it just the

gravity of putting it back on and the, just the opportunity to have it fall on ears this time

that are really ready to hear it. I think having them in the room kept that responsibility in our minds all the time

Yeah, and I just look up to them so much and they're still both so like, they feel like

they're in the trenches with us too and want to be. and, you know, they're kind of getting a second shot at it in this way

or third or fourth. And I'm, like, honored that they chose us to be in the trenches with, you know

Why do you think this is so perfect for right now? I think for many reasons

I think just in terms of the storytelling and the way that it's written

and the way that the book and the score intertwined, it just feels very contemporary

I think, like, stylistically, as a piece, it was a bit ahead of its time

I mean, Jason and Alfred both won Tony's for their work, so clearly not, you know, some people really got it

But in terms of the audience, I just think in terms of the way that the story is told that's ahead of its time

and people are really ready for that format. And then on top of that, I think, you know

anti-Semitism, as always, is incredibly prevalent and it's kind of on an upshot at the moment

in terms of it's just pulling the blanket off of it and showing people that it's always been there

And I think on top of it, of that people are also ready to embrace some grayness and nuance in regards to that conversation and in regards to you know having the conversation about anti and anti in the same breath and recognizing

that, you know, this oppressive system of white supremacy affects both of these groups in different ways

And I just think that even to have that conversation, just people are a little bit more ready

for that, or at least to start asking those questions. And so I think it's just now is really the moment

So I was going to say similar. I just think it's just such a gray story

And I think if it came any sooner, I don't know if people were ready for anything other than black and white

And I hope that the more we, the more time passes, the more audiences can just sit with their feelings

And I think Michael has done such a great job in little ways of, you know, even down to the lighting of our act one finale

being a kind of like Blair to the audience and then in blackout. So it's like, it is just kind of being like, sit with yourself, you know

Think about it. Definitely affronting, yeah. Let's talk about Michael Arden. Michael Ard has become one of the greatest directors

I mean, what is it like working with Michael in the room when you're all creating together

It's wonderful. Yeah, I love Michael. Yeah, I think we both knew that like, especially when it comes to revivals, he's just really

brilliant at reinvigorating and reimagining and making things feel. contemporary and immediate and like a real reason to see it again and see it in a new light

I thought that way once in this island. I thought that way about spring awakening, which everyone was like, it's so soon. Why are we doing spring awakening again? And I was like

oh, this is why this is, we're hearing the story in a way we've never heard it. And that's so

true for this. But I think, you know, I've known Michael for a long time, been a friend and an admirer

And so the thing that was the nicest surprise to me, just because you don't know this until

you work with the director is like the atmosphere that he creates in the room and like the

closeness and openness within the company and the real care there is for the emotional limb that everybody going out on with this kind of material I think that the focus has really been taking care of us all as people and then as artists which is rare in this community

And so I think he's just very human in that way. And probably also because he was an actor and he really knows what it's like

And on top of that, I think when we're in the rehearsal room and kind of deep in there

in the scenes, like I just love the way he, there's never a stop, there's never an end to these

kind of pieces of playfulness. And he brings so much joy into the love story part of this show

And it makes everything else so much more meaningful and grounded. And he will not stop adding props

He loves a prop. And it makes it easier for an actor because we have the thing

You know, it's like there's nothing bare on our stage, which I love

I just think he's amazing. Finally, this show is bringing so much joy

the audiences, I love your audiences at your show. I mean, you're bringing a lot of young people

who had never been to the theater before, introducing them to this whole new world of live theater

what that means to the two of you. It's amazing. You know, I think I, obviously

theater is my greatest dream and favorite community to be part of

and I think that I feel really lucky that audiences get to come and see something

that there's a real reason to see and that there's a real urgency to see

and a story that's really worth telling, regardless of why you're watching. walking into the theater

So if people, you know, love the share show and they're coming to see this

then I'm thrilled. If they love pitch perfect when they're coming to see this, I'm thrilled

I just think there's nobody that couldn't benefit from seeing this story

I think that I feel so lucky seeing people after the show

be so affected by it. And I just feel like I'm sharing these little gends

of like stories and gifts. And I hope that Leo and Lucy feel honored wherever they may be and yeah how special