After attending shows at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre throughout her youth, Olivia Goosman is certain that “my younger self is going to be very excited” about performing on its stage.

“I won’t lie; it’s going to be magical,” says Goosman, 20, a Pinckney native and Interlochen Center For the Arts graduate who’s part of the cast of “Parade,” a Tony Award-winning musical that opens on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the Fisher. “I think the Fisher Building itself is so beautiful, and the theater is so beautiful and I’ve seen so many shows there. The Fisher is a pretty big deal, even for people who don’t know too much about theater; they’re like, ‘Oh, wait, you’re performing at the Fisher?!’

“It’s gonna be very surreal.”

“Parade,” meanwhile, is not necessarily the musical that Goosman had in mind for her first national tour. It is not light entertainment, that’s for sure — and certainly provocative. And timely.

“Parade” — which won two Tony Awards for its original Broadway production in 1998 and another pair for its 2023 revival (including Best Revival of a Musical) — sets, to music, the story of Leo Frank, a pencil factory owner in Atlanta who was convicted of raping and murdering a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, raising antisemitic and racist tensions throughout the state. Frank maintained his innocence, and issues with the trial led Georgia Gov. John M. Slaton to commute his death sentence to life in prison — where Frank was kidnapped and murdered by a lynch mob on Aug. 16, 1915.

Frank was pardoned by the state 71 years after his death, and “Parade” makes a case that factory janitor Jim Conley, who testified that Frank had confessed to him, was Phagan’s true murderer.

Goosman, who plays Phagan — and did not know much about the musical or the story it’s based on before getting the role — acknowledges: “I’ve never seen a show like this. It’s really interesting because sometimes I feel like the audience doesn’t know whether they’re supposed to play or cry, honestly. Sometimes there are moments of silence after songs, and that’s really special because that means they’re getting it. You know that the audience understands how sad and heartbreaking this is.”

That said, Goosman still considers “Parade” to be “a beautiful show … some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” And she adds that the entire cast understands its resonance with audiences — for both the original production and the revival — during polarized times.“We’ve talked a lot in rehearsals and throughout the process of how important this story is right now,” she says, “and also the weight of the show and how we kind of let the words and the show hold the weight for us. The story kind of gives itself the gravity without putting ourselves in, like, emotional danger. We don’t want to make ourselves too sad because our main responsibility is to say these lines and sing these songs that are so important and meaningful.”

Having a character that dies early in the production, although Goosman — who’s concurrently studying remotely at the Boston Conservatory — has recurring appearances throughout, is also a unique experience. “It’s very powerful because it makes the audience miss Mary the same way the characters do,” she explains. “My not being there ends up being more impactful than if I was there. I think that’s what is so special about playing her.”

“Parade” gives Goosman a new pinnacle for a career that started when she was 5 years old, after one of her mother’s co-workers noted her interest in singing and dancing and suggested they enroll her with a community theater company as “kind of day care … and I kind of never stopped,” notes Goosman, who made her first appearance playing a mouse in a production of “Cinderella.”

By the time she was 8, she was appearing in professional productions in Howell and Dexter; her father even became the resident sound designer for the latter’s Encore Musical Theatre Company “so we could hang out and spend some time together. Interlochen, meanwhile, was a no-brainer; I knew I was going to do this professionally,” Goosman remembers. “That was a very affirming place to be, and it helped me grow.”

Being part of a national touring company came a bit quicker than she expected, too — but not entirely as a surprise. “I was completely flabbergasted when I got the call,” Goosman explains, “but at the same time I thought: ‘I’m capable. I can do this.’ But it is a whole other beast to do this and to work with the great people who are involved. It’s a crazy thing for my brain to wrap my head around.

“And also working on such an impactful and important show is, like, the coolest feeling in the world.”

Goosman is currently a junior at Boston Conservatory and plans to be back in class in September after the tour ends. But she’ll also have feelers out for other opportunities knowing that “being in it is the best training you can get.”

“I have so many hopes and dreams; I think the greatest dream of all would be to originate a role in a Broadway production, of course, and I’d do another tour again,” she says. “I just want to keep doing this. I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had. … It’s like, seriously, the most magical thing. Every day, going to work is the best part of the day — which I don’t think everyone can say. So I feel very grateful to have that be my life.”

“Parade” runs Tuesday, Feb. 25 through March 9 at the Fisher Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit. 313-872-100 or broadwayindetroit.com.