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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 03, 2019
THEATER: "THE CRADLE WILL ROCK" PUTS
YOU TO SLEEP
THE CRADLE WILL ROCK * 1/2 out of ****
CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY
Our New Gilded Age is surely the perfect time to resurrect Marc
Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock. But time is not kind to agitprop in
general or this pamphlet of a show in particular. Like me, you may
long to be roused, ready to look for the union label, mount the
barricades and get fired up over injustice. But a lack of drama,
character or story leaves nothing here but long speeches and short
sketches. Worse, the fatal lack of melodies for the handful of songs onhand won't even let you walk out humming a catchy tune. Is harmonytoo bourgeois?
It's a landmark show, of course, whose premiere (directed by Orson
Welles!) proved electrifying for how it was performed (rather than the
show itself). That story is so famous it inspired a so-so film about it byTim Robbins. This "play in music" (a musical ain't serious enough, I
guess) was the first in Broadway history to garner an original cast
recording. And now I know why -- despite all this laudable backstory--the show itself is rarely performed.
We begin with a desperate woman on the streets, ready to sell herself
for half a buck. But the man Mol solicits says that's too much. What's a
human's body worth? Not much more than a human's dignity,
apparently. A cop breaks up this sad affair, only to pressure Moll (LaraPulver, who played the woman from Sherlock ) into having sex with
him. She refuses, he tosses her into the clink and a passel of local
dignitaries are bundled into jail as well. They're anonymous members
of the Liberty Committee, middle-class toadies who do the bidding of
Mr. Mister in "Steeltown, U.S.A." This already sounds like more plot
than we're given: everyone is a type, a cardboard cutout for damningMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (31)
► June (1)
► May (9)
or praising and no one is better at both than Larry Foreman (Tony
Yazbeck), the man urging workers to unite so they can stand up for
decent wages and safe working conditions.
Foreground Lara Pulver, Tony Yazbeck
Photo by Joan Marcus
A mock trial ensues, with little vignettes depicting doctors, educators,
religious leaders, artists and anyone else you can name knuckling
under to Mr. Mister (David Garrison) out of avarice or fear. Thatmanipulator showers the stage with so much cash, you feel half the
show is spent with people on their knees scooping up piles of dough.
Frankly, times are so hard and the bills on display so realistic looking,I was half tempted to join them.
Speeches can be entertaining and informative. Not The Cradle Will
Rock, which states the obvious in as obvious a fashion as possible and
then restates it again for good measure. Director John Doyle does
exactly what one would expect -- he directs fluidly and simply, with oildrums stacked up or slapped down to serve as seats, while the castmoves about and enacts their various fables. Seemingly everyone can
play the piano located near the back of the stage, so thank god there
are no union rules insisting they can't each pitch in when needed.
The actors are mostly capable and do what they can. Rema Webb
garners the only applause of the night for a song, thanks to her strong
voice; Garrison's icy exterior matches the icy heart of Mister and
Eddie Cooper offers about ten shades of conflicted in each scene heinhabits.
Pulver and Yazbeck get the bulk of attention. She proves very
appealing, even though her would-be sex worker is quickly reduced to
the sidelines, watching others act out their falls from grace while she
looks hopefully towards the future. Yazbeck however is quite stirring
as first a broken man and then the rabble-rousing union organizer
Foreman. Blitzstein gives him nothing but speechifying but that
speechifying can be damn persuasive in the right hands. Yazbeck is
fiery, funny, moving and shakes up the evening as much as he can. He▼ April (10)
THEATER: "INK" STAINED
WRETCHES GET THEIR
DUE
THEATER: "TOOTSIE" IS A
DRAG
THEATER: "ALL MY SONS"
LACKS A FAMILY
THEATER: 'HADESTOWN"
FINDS HEAVEN ONBROADWAY
THEATER: "BURN THIS"
BARELY SMOLDERS
THEATER: THE PAIN OF "THE
PAIN OF MYBELLIGERENCE"...
THEATER: QUESTIONING
"SOCRATES"
THEATER: "OKLAHOMA!" IS
OK THE SECOND TIMEAROUND!...
THEATER: LESS IS MORE AT
"MRS. MURRAY'SMENAGERIE"...
THEATER: "THE CRADLE
WILL ROCK" PUTS YOU TOSLEEP
► March (5)
► February (1)
► January (5)
► 2018 (33)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (17)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
lights the fuse; unfortunately there's not enough explosive material on
hand to make any noise.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 11:01 PM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home► 2005 (5)
Create Blog Sign In
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 03, 2019
THEATER: "THE CRADLE WILL ROCK" PUTS
YOU TO SLEEP
THE CRADLE WILL ROCK * 1/2 out of ****
CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY
Our New Gilded Age is surely the perfect time to resurrect Marc
Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock. But time is not kind to agitprop in
general or this pamphlet of a show in particular. Like me, you may
long to be roused, ready to look for the union label, mount the
barricades and get fired up over injustice. But a lack of drama,
character or story leaves nothing here but long speeches and short
sketches. Worse, the fatal lack of melodies for the handful of songs onhand won't even let you walk out humming a catchy tune. Is harmonytoo bourgeois?
It's a landmark show, of course, whose premiere (directed by Orson
Welles!) proved electrifying for how it was performed (rather than the
show itself). That story is so famous it inspired a so-so film about it byTim Robbins. This "play in music" (a musical ain't serious enough, I
guess) was the first in Broadway history to garner an original cast
recording. And now I know why -- despite all this laudable backstory--the show itself is rarely performed.
We begin with a desperate woman on the streets, ready to sell herself
for half a buck. But the man Mol solicits says that's too much. What's a
human's body worth? Not much more than a human's dignity,
apparently. A cop breaks up this sad affair, only to pressure Moll (LaraPulver, who played the woman from Sherlock ) into having sex with
him. She refuses, he tosses her into the clink and a passel of local
dignitaries are bundled into jail as well. They're anonymous members
of the Liberty Committee, middle-class toadies who do the bidding of
Mr. Mister in "Steeltown, U.S.A." This already sounds like more plot
than we're given: everyone is a type, a cardboard cutout for damningMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (31)
► June (1)
► May (9)
or praising and no one is better at both than Larry Foreman (Tony
Yazbeck), the man urging workers to unite so they can stand up for
decent wages and safe working conditions.
Foreground Lara Pulver, Tony Yazbeck
Photo by Joan Marcus
A mock trial ensues, with little vignettes depicting doctors, educators,
religious leaders, artists and anyone else you can name knuckling
under to Mr. Mister (David Garrison) out of avarice or fear. Thatmanipulator showers the stage with so much cash, you feel half the
show is spent with people on their knees scooping up piles of dough.
Frankly, times are so hard and the bills on display so realistic looking,I was half tempted to join them.
Speeches can be entertaining and informative. Not The Cradle Will
Rock, which states the obvious in as obvious a fashion as possible and
then restates it again for good measure. Director John Doyle does
exactly what one would expect -- he directs fluidly and simply, with oildrums stacked up or slapped down to serve as seats, while the castmoves about and enacts their various fables. Seemingly everyone can
play the piano located near the back of the stage, so thank god there
are no union rules insisting they can't each pitch in when needed.
The actors are mostly capable and do what they can. Rema Webb
garners the only applause of the night for a song, thanks to her strong
voice; Garrison's icy exterior matches the icy heart of Mister and
Eddie Cooper offers about ten shades of conflicted in each scene heinhabits.
Pulver and Yazbeck get the bulk of attention. She proves very
appealing, even though her would-be sex worker is quickly reduced to
the sidelines, watching others act out their falls from grace while she
looks hopefully towards the future. Yazbeck however is quite stirring
as first a broken man and then the rabble-rousing union organizer
Foreman. Blitzstein gives him nothing but speechifying but that
speechifying can be damn persuasive in the right hands. Yazbeck is
fiery, funny, moving and shakes up the evening as much as he can. He▼ April (10)
THEATER: "INK" STAINED
WRETCHES GET THEIR
DUE
THEATER: "TOOTSIE" IS A
DRAG
THEATER: "ALL MY SONS"
LACKS A FAMILY
THEATER: 'HADESTOWN"
FINDS HEAVEN ONBROADWAY
THEATER: "BURN THIS"
BARELY SMOLDERS
THEATER: THE PAIN OF "THE
PAIN OF MYBELLIGERENCE"...
THEATER: QUESTIONING
"SOCRATES"
THEATER: "OKLAHOMA!" IS
OK THE SECOND TIMEAROUND!...
THEATER: LESS IS MORE AT
"MRS. MURRAY'SMENAGERIE"...
THEATER: "THE CRADLE
WILL ROCK" PUTS YOU TOSLEEP
► March (5)
► February (1)
► January (5)
► 2018 (33)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (17)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
lights the fuse; unfortunately there's not enough explosive material on
hand to make any noise.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 11:01 PM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home► 2005 (5)