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Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock (1999) brought Blitzstein's opera back into popular
consciousness. The film is not an adaptation of the play. Robbins' panoramic
screenplay tells the story of Cradle's original production and opening night, weaving
it together with the larger story of the Federal Theatre Project, and the story of
Diego Rivera's Rockefeller Center mural (Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope
and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future -- more on that here,
here, and here; also, read E.B. White's poem "I Paint What I See").
The graceful juggling of multiple narratives, and the dream ensemble cast, elicited
comparisons with the films of Robert Altman. But this movie's clearest antecedent is
E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime -- a kaleidoscopic social and political portrait of an era, in
which fictional characters mingle with historical figures. Doctorow contributed a
dust-jacket blurb to Robbins' published screenplay.
If you talk to people about this movie, or if you read the reviews, you'll find an
astonishing diversity of opinion. It's been loved and hated with great passion, like
Blitzstein's opera. I think it's great.
Considering how much is going on the film -- and the fact that it's not really an
adaptation -- we actually get to see quite a bit of The Cradle Will Rock. There are
beautiful sequences in which Hank Azaria, as Blitzstein, sits at his piano and writes,
and fragments of the play come to life around him. We see the writing process, the
auditions, rehearsals, and opening night, and in all of these scenes there's material
from Cradle, some of it slightly modified to accommodate Robbins' narrative choices.
The allure of the whole Cradle world, of course, rests largely on that legendary
opening night. It is perhaps the greatest theatre story ever told, and like so many
great theatre stories, it cries out to be experienced. This is why so many productions
of Cradle have mimicked the events of its opening -- piano on stage, piano player
narrating, actors rising up out of the audience. It's a thrilling conceit. But on June 16,
1937, it wasn't a conceit; it was practically an act of civil disobedience. Tim Robbins
has said that when he first heard the story of Cradle's opening night, he immediately
envisioned it as the finale of a film. The film's greatest achievement is that it creates
-- and thereby somehow preserves -- that particular night in New York City.
VISIT THE SHOP to read about the Cradle Will Rock DVD, original motion
picture soundtrack, and Tim Robbins' companion book, Cradle Will Rock:
The Movie and the Moment. All of these items, and more Cradle-related
things, are also available for purchase.
consciousness. The film is not an adaptation of the play. Robbins' panoramic
screenplay tells the story of Cradle's original production and opening night, weaving
it together with the larger story of the Federal Theatre Project, and the story of
Diego Rivera's Rockefeller Center mural (Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope
and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future -- more on that here,
here, and here; also, read E.B. White's poem "I Paint What I See").
The graceful juggling of multiple narratives, and the dream ensemble cast, elicited
comparisons with the films of Robert Altman. But this movie's clearest antecedent is
E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime -- a kaleidoscopic social and political portrait of an era, in
which fictional characters mingle with historical figures. Doctorow contributed a
dust-jacket blurb to Robbins' published screenplay.
If you talk to people about this movie, or if you read the reviews, you'll find an
astonishing diversity of opinion. It's been loved and hated with great passion, like
Blitzstein's opera. I think it's great.
Considering how much is going on the film -- and the fact that it's not really an
adaptation -- we actually get to see quite a bit of The Cradle Will Rock. There are
beautiful sequences in which Hank Azaria, as Blitzstein, sits at his piano and writes,
and fragments of the play come to life around him. We see the writing process, the
auditions, rehearsals, and opening night, and in all of these scenes there's material
from Cradle, some of it slightly modified to accommodate Robbins' narrative choices.
The allure of the whole Cradle world, of course, rests largely on that legendary
opening night. It is perhaps the greatest theatre story ever told, and like so many
great theatre stories, it cries out to be experienced. This is why so many productions
of Cradle have mimicked the events of its opening -- piano on stage, piano player
narrating, actors rising up out of the audience. It's a thrilling conceit. But on June 16,
1937, it wasn't a conceit; it was practically an act of civil disobedience. Tim Robbins
has said that when he first heard the story of Cradle's opening night, he immediately
envisioned it as the finale of a film. The film's greatest achievement is that it creates
-- and thereby somehow preserves -- that particular night in New York City.
VISIT THE SHOP to read about the Cradle Will Rock DVD, original motion
picture soundtrack, and Tim Robbins' companion book, Cradle Will Rock:
The Movie and the Moment. All of these items, and more Cradle-related
things, are also available for purchase.
CRADLE
WILL
ROCK
A
FILM
BY
TIM
ROBBINS
WILL
ROCK
A
FILM
BY
TIM
ROBBINS
