T.R. Knight to Play Leo Frank in L.A. Revival of Parade

Grey's Anatomy and Broadway alum T.R. Knight has signed on to play Leo Frank in Parade at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, according to The New York Times. Rob Ashford, who directed and choreographed the show at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2007, will helm the L.A. production, which will run from September 24 to November 15. 

Based on the true story of Leo Frank, convicted for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in Atlanta in 1913,Parade recounts the press frenzy and public outrage about Frank’s trial, and his wife’s crusade for justice. Amid religious intolerance, political injustice and racial tension, the musical explores the endurance of love and hope against all the odds.

Parade features a Tony-winning score by Jason Robert Brown and Tony-winning book by Alfred Uhry. The original Broadway production opened on December 17, 1998, and ran for 85 performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, directed by Harold Prince. In spite of its abbreviated run, the musical received nine 1999 Tony nominations, including Best Musical, Best Director and Best Actor and Actress for Brent Carver and Carolee Carmello as Leo and Lucille Frank.

As previously reported, T.R. Knight has left his starring role as Dr. George O’Malley in Grey’s Anatomy. Before becoming an original cast member in the hit medical drama in 2004, he appeared on Broadway in Noises Off and Tartuffe and off-Broadway in This Lime Tree Bower, Scattergood (receiving a Drama Desk Award nomination) and Boy. He began his career at the Guthrie Theatre in his native Minneapolis, where he played Tiny Tim at age five in A Christmas Carol and later appeared in Ah, Wilderness! and Amadeus.