The Cradle Will Rock
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Cititour.com Review
Are you tired of living in a world where corporate greed reigns supreme, where the working class must fight daily for a decent wage, and where the rich and poor are treated differently? If that’s your point of view, I suspect you’re not alone. More to the point, I suspect John Doyle believes you’re not alone either, which is likely why he is concluding his current season at Classic Stage Company with a solid revival of Marc Blitzstein’s rarely produced “The Cradle Will Rock.”
First seen in 1937, produced under the aegis of the Federal Theatre Project and directed by Orson Welles, this mostly sung-through “agitpropera” is set in the fictional Steeltown, USA, where almost everyone is indebted – literally and figuratively -- to the amoral Mister Mister (a menacing David Garrison). He controls the schools, the newspaper, and even – with the help of his wife (an engaging Sally Ann Triplett) – the arts. His answer to every challenge is money, money, money and he believes everyone can be bought.
There is one exception, though: the passionate union organizer Larry Foreman (the dynamic Tony Yazbeck, doubling equally well as beleaguered shopkeeper Harry Druggist), who is determined to bring the forces of labor together and topple Mister Mister’s empire. Sadly, Blitzstein’s bare-bones script, which owes a debt to Bertolt Brecht in its bluntness, doesn’t quite make the stakes feel high enough, and Foreman comes off more like a symbol than a fully formed flesh-and-blood character. Indeed, that’s true of just about everyone onstage, from unsophisticated streetwalker Moll (a subdued Lara Pulver) to hypocritical preacher Reverend Salvation (a fine Benjamin Eakeley).
Still, the entire cast, which also includes such formidable talents as Ken Barnett, Eddie Cooper, Ian Lowe, Kara Mikula and Rema Webb, works very hard to flesh out their fictional counterparts -- not to mention that almost everyone in the 10-person ensemble plays more than one role, a couple also play piano (the only musical instrument in the show), and the entire piece is performed a capella.
Moreover, Blitzstein’s music can sometimes be engaging, with its echoes of everyone from Kurt Weill to Stephen Sondheim, and his lyrics are often clever and trenchant. But the songs are also a bit one-note, hammering the same points about poverty and powerlessness home over and over again.
Fortunately, Doyle adds enough choreography to make the numbers more than just “park and bark” solos. However, the production, as is the director’s trademark style, definitely falls on the ultra-minimalist side; which has the effect of either forcing audiences to really pay attention to Blitzstein’s words or allowing them to get distracted by their own thoughts.
Admittedly, there has been no better time in recent history than now to re-stage “The Cradle Will Rock.” Nonetheless, as a work of stagecraft, it still feels too much a piece of its time to make the same impact it did 82 years ago.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://www.classicstage.org/shows/2019/03/the-cradle-will-rock/
Cast
Ken Barnett, Eddie Cooper, Benjamin Eakeley, David Garrison, Ian Lowe, Kara Mikula, Lara Pulver, Sally Ann Triplett, Rema Webb, and Tony Yazbeck
Open/Close Dates
Opening 3/21/2019
Closing 5/19/2019
Theatre Info
Lynn F. Angelson Theater
136 East 13th Street
New York, NY 01000
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