The Story:
Written in 1937 by Marc Blitzstein, The Cradle Will Rock is a music drama. An extraordinary example of socially conscious theatre, Cradle depicts a conspiracy to subjugate workers and their calls for a union uprising. Set in fictional “Steeltown, USA,” Cradle has a disturbing relevance to the issues concerning corruption, capitalism and the many struggles affecting labor today.
Cultural Significance:
The Cradle Will Rock is best known for the events surrounding the play’s opening in 1937. In the context of frequent bloody clashes between unions and corporations of the 1930s, Cradle’s subject matter was politically incendiary. Part of the Federal Theatre Project, a program of the WPA, the play was put ‘on hold’ at the last moment due to “budget cuts,” a move generally believed directly to target Cradle due to its political viewpoint. The efforts of producer John Houseman, director Orson Welles, actors, and the composer to open on time and the audience who witnessed that first performance has become as much a part of the play as the original composition. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times wrote “the show raises a theatregoer’s metabolism and blows him out of the theatre on the thunder of the grand finale.” As Hallie Flannigan, head of the Federal Theatre Project said of Cradle, “the theatre, when it’s good, is always dangerous.”
Our production will recreate the energy that many called the most moving theatrical experience of their lives. We need that energy to motivate us during a political year that promises to be as dangerous as the 1930’s.
Don’t miss being part of this theatrical legend. Or this moment.