(Radio Iowa) – (Corrects date of the show) – An Iowa native actress is returning to her home state later this month to take the stage as part of the touring Broadway production of the musical, “Parade,” which will have a one-week run in Des Moines, the show’s only Iowa stop. Alison Ewing, who grew up in Mason City, says it’s a love story, a topical tragedy, and more.

“Parade is a beautiful, beautiful musical,” Ewing says, “which has some deep and heavy themes of racism and antisemitism, and Southern patriotism.” Set in Atlanta more than a century ago, it’s the musical dramatization of the trial, imprisonment, and lynching of a Jewish American man. Ewing is playing the role of Sally Slaton, who’s married to the governor of Georgia.

“He and I kind of represent the good people,” Ewing says. “She is a cut and dry, sort of wonderfully honest woman who helps her husband to do what they feel is the right thing to do in the end, and it feels really great to play a role like that.” The musical premiered on Broadway in 1998 and won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score, while this incarnation won the Tony in 2023 for Best Revival of a Musical. It’s based on a true story from many decades ago, but Ewing says it carries important lessons for today’s audiences.

Alison Ewing and Chris Shyer in Parade (Photo by Joan Marcus)

“It is kind of unbelievable that this show happened in 1913, but yet still the same types of things are happening now,” Ewing says. “It’s just a reminder for us to reflect on why these kinds of things happen, why they’re still happening 100 years later, and why do we need to have this sort of mob mentality?” Ewing lives in New York, and when she’s not on tour, she’s also an audiobooks narrator. While she likely won’t have time during this Iowa visit to stop in Mason City, she says she does plan to seek out someone selling sweet corn from the back of a pickup to share that summer favorite with other members of the cast.

“Parade” runs at the Civic Center of Des Moines from July 29th through August 3rd.