News Release

‘The Cradle Will Rock’ musical,
movie, talks, coming to UNC

CHAPEL HILL — Unionism, corruption, corporate greed – those were just a few of the themes in 1937 musical "The Cradle Will Rock," a mix of opera and theater that satirized American capitalism.

The lavish premiere of American composer Marc Blitzstein’s tale was closed by government actions just before it was to open on Broadway. But Blitzstein, director Orson Welles and producer John Houseman saw the project to the stage on schedule, creating theater history and championing freedom of expression.

Friday (Dec. 2) through Dec. 6, students and faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will perform the work in the historic Playmakers Theatre on Cameron Avenue.

Members of the student groups Department of Dramatic Art: Mainstage and UNC Opera Theater will star in the show. Dr. Thomas Warburton, Distinguished professor of music, will portray Blitzstein, who appeared on stage alone, narrating and playing piano, for that first production in 1937.

Related events on campus today through Thursday (Nov. 29-Dec. 1) will be sponsored by the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence and the music, dramatic art and history departments.

"The semester-long work of putting this show together has certainly been extremely beneficial for me and the music students," said music professor Dr. Terry Rhodes, who directs the opera theater.

"We’ve had the opportunity to work with the incredibly talented and creative director Julie Fishell, and to learn from the wide palette of strengths which the drama students bring to the table. The level of detail which has been asked of all of us will ultimately shine through in passionate and spontaneous performances."

Fishell, adjunct assistant professor of dramatic art, directs Mainstage. She noted that actors and musicians in the 1937 premiere joined Blitzstein, contributing their parts from the audience.

"It was indeed ironic that this production took place against direct orders from the actor’s union, producer’s union and musician’s union," she said. "The pro-union worker’s opera was performed without the blessing of any union sponsorship, making clear the artists’ devotion to express (themselves) at great personal cost."

Soon afterward, students at Harvard performed "The Cradle Will Rock," with a young Leonard Bernstein at the piano. It played on Broadway in 1964; a film on the musical and its first production was made into a movie in 1999.

The UNC performances will be at 8:15 p.m. Dec. 2-5; 4 p.m. Dec. 5; and 5 p.m. Dec. 6. Tickets, $5 each, will be available at the door starting one hour before each performance. Admission will be free for PlayMakers’ Repertory Company subscribers, privilege card holders and music and dramatic art department faculty and staff.

Related campus events will be:

• Today (Nov. 29), 4-6 p.m.: "How the ‘Cradle’ Rocked the Boat: Listing to the Left with Composer Marc Blitzstein, the New Deal and Unionization in 1930s America," Kresge Foundation Common Room, Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, Graham Memorial Building. Discussion by faculty members from the history, dramatic art, music and communication studies departments, including Drs. William Leuchtenberg, professor emeritus of history, on Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal; and Frey Distinguished professors Dr. Tim Carter, music department chair, on music by Blitzstein and his contemporaries, and Leon Katz of dramatic art on production history of "The Cradle Will Rock" and the Federal Theatre Project. McKay Coble, dramatic art department chair, will moderate.
  
• Tonight (Nov. 29) 8:15 p.m.: Open dress rehearsal, historic Playmaker’s Theater, with a post-show discussion by Dr. Donald Madison, professor of social medicine, who has taught an honors course on the musical; Dr. Thomas Warburton, Distinguished professor of music; and undergraduate scene designer Christopher Cianci.
  
• Wednesday (Nov. 30) 8 p.m.: screening, 1999 film "The Cradle Will Rock," film auditorium, Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Tom Robbins’ movie examines the art world of the 1930s and tells the true story, with some dramatic license, of composer Marc Blitzstein’s fight to produce the musical "The Cradle Will Rock" in defiance of federal censors. Dr. Kimball King, professor emeritus of English, will lead an introductory discussion.
  
• Thursday (Dec. 1) noon-1 p.m.: "Cradle to Grave: Songs of Blitzstein, Weill and Sondheim," John Lindsay Morehead II Lounge, James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, Graham Memorial Building. Performances by students and faculty from the departments of music and dramatic art, part of the center’s "Thursdays on the Terrace" series.

For more information on the production, visit http://www.unc.edu/depts/drama/Mainstage/cradle.html; for more on related events, visit www.johnstoncenter.unc.edu/events/cradle.htm.

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Music department contacts: Rhodes, (919) 962-2270 or rhodes@email.unc.edu; Glenn McDonald, (919) 962-1039 or gmm@unc.edu
Dramatic art department contact: Julie Fishell, fishell@email.unc.edu; McKay Coble, 843-9813
News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-8595