Cradle Will Rock

Cradle Will Rock is a labor of love produced by the activist actor-filmmaker Tim Robbins, who attempts to capture the mood of despair in depression-era America as well as the new possibilities generated by such New Deal programs as the Federal Theater Project (FTP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Robbins focuses his film on the Orson Welles (Angus MacFadyen) and John Houseman (Cary Elwes) production of Marc Blitzstein's (Hank Azaria) musical Cradle Will Rock, chronicling the struggles of workers in the mythical city of Steeltown. The film culminates with Cradle's controversial 1937 premiere at the New York City Venice Theatre after efforts to cancel the production due to congressional opposition. Defying a ban from Actors' Equity, the performers and Blitzstein complete the show, combining art and reality in a heroic struggle against the forces of greed and censorship. The villain in Robbins's film is the House Committee on

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