Ben Platt starring as Leo Frank in the Broadway revival “Parade.” Photo: YouTube screenshot.

Tony award-winning actor Ben Platt took to social media to address antisemitic protesters who gathered on Tuesday night outside the first preview performance of the Broadway revival of Parade, which is about the true story of Jewish businessman Leo Frank who was lynched in Georgia in the early 20th century.

The Jewish actor, who plays the lead role in the Broadway musical, condemned the “ugly actions of a few spreading evil” outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City.

In a video shared on Twitter from the scene, one protester asked patrons standing outside the theater on Tuesday night, “You want the truth about who you’re going to see tonight? You’re paying $300 to go f*** worship a pedophile, you might as well know what you’re talking about.” Another is heard saying, “Romanticizing pedophiles, wow, Leo Frank.” According to Broadway World, protesters also chanted, “[Leo Frank is] a Jewish pedophile” while the flier protesters were trying to hand out to patrons referenced neo-Nazi and antisemitic hate groups.

In a video posted on Instagram, Platt, 29, began by saying that the evening was “so wonderful and special” and shared gratitude for the show’s cast and crew members. He continued: “Then 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.”

Platt further criticized the “neo-Nazi protesters from a really disgusting group outside of the theater, bothering some of our patrons on their way in and saying antisemitic things about Leo Frank, who the show is about, and just spreading antisemitic rhetoric that led to this whole story in the first place.”

He added: “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 who gets to tell this particular story and to carry on this legacy of Leo.”

The former Dear Evan Hansen star also thanked those working at the theater who kept audiences and show members “super safe and secure,” adding, “Now is really the moment for this particular piece.”

Leo Frank, was a Jewish businessman who moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to manage his family’s pencil factory. He was convicted of the 1913 rape and murder of Mary Phagan, his 13-year-old female employee, following a trial “that was defined by antisemitism,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. After a review of his trial exposed flaws in the testimonies that ultimately backed Frank’s insistence that he was innocent, Georgia Governor John M. Slaton reduced his death sentence to life in prison. In 1915, a mob, which included many influential community leaders, broke into the Milledgeville, Georgia, prison, kidnapped Frank, and lynched him. The incident spurred the creation of the ADL and only decades later, after pressure from the ADL, the state of Georgia issued Frank a posthumous pardon.

Producers of the Broadway revival of Parade released a statement in response to the situation outside the theater on Tuesday night, saying, “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. We stand by the valiant Broadway cast that brings this vital story to life each night.”

Parade first premiered on Broadway in December 1998. Following a sold-out run at the New York City Center last year, it returned to Broadway on Tuesday night to a sold-out audience. The musical will officially open on March 16.

Watch Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond perform This Is Not Over Yet from the Broadway revival of Parade in the video below.