Show Synopsis: 
Leo Frank feels out of place in 1913 Marietta, Georgia as an educated Jew, and it's putting a strain on his marriage with Lucille. He is woken in the middle of the night because his African-American night watchman Newt found his teenage employee Mary raped and murdered in the factory he owns. The authorities suspect Newt, who casts the blame on Leo, and the reporter Britt Craig begins a media campaign to make the outraged townspeople suspect him as well. The town prosecutor Hugh Dorsey wants to bolster his conviction record and bribes a factory employee to testify against Leo. He influences a few more townspeople to lie about Leo, who gives a heartfelt speech about his innocence but is found guilty. Leo makes an appeal to the court but it causes further arguments with Lucille, who asks Governor Slaton for help on Leo's behalf. The governor reopens the case, which has been in the news in the northern states because of its questionable process, and many people who testified begin to change their stories. The governor moves Leo to a prison in a different town, even though it damages his personal political career, and the citizens of Marietta are outraged. Leo professes his love Lucille but when she leaves the prison a lynching mob kidnaps Leo and hangs him on a tree in Marietta. Lucille takes comfort in the fact that Leo is with God.

Character:
Mrs. Phagan, a middle-aged mother grieving for the horrifying and widely publicized death of her thirteen-year-old daughter.

Song Context:
Mrs. Phagan testifies in the trial against Leo Frank as she grieves for her daughter.

Fun Facts:
1. This musical was based on the 1913 trial of the Jewish man Leo Frank who was convicted of raping and murdering the teenage Mary Phagan and later lynched. 
2. Jessica Molaskey originated the role of Mrs. Phagan on Broadway. Brown wrote on his personal website of Molaskey that "she brought a deep, rich and always unexpected vocabulary of emotional nuances to the work. It is rare indeed to find a singing actress who is equally strong at both elements; Jessica was and is a very special creature." 
3. The real-life Mrs. Phagan was a single mother when Mary was born, and supported her children by running a boarding house.