SONG OF THE DAY

“Moll’s Song (I’m Checkin’ Home Now)” as performed by Pati Lupone (Original 1985 Cast Recording performed by Acting Company).

WHERE I HEARD IT

Just saw it live and free at Vassar College’s Experimental Theatre, but I’ve owned this 1985 cast recording for years, and have loved The Cradle Will Rock for even longer. I’ve always wanted to get my hands on that original original cast recording from 1938 (the first cast album, mind you), or even the 60’s Jerry Orbach revival, but those recordings are both damn near impossible to find, even on WorldCat, so Patti Lupone in the 80’s will have to do as far as home listening.

If I ever audition for anything again, I may just use this song, and channel me some Patti. God, I wish. Isn’t she incredible in those videos below? Take a look!

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– The Cradle Will Rock is a 1937 musical by Marc Blitzstein.

– Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman.

– The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording.

– The musical is a Brechtian allegory of corruption and corporate greed. Set in “Steeltown, USA”, it follows the efforts of Larry Foreman to unionize the town’s workers and otherwise combat wicked, greedy businessman Mr. Mister, who controls the town’s factory, press, church and social organization.

– The piece is almost entirely sung-through, giving it many operatic qualities, although Blitzstein (as he often did, even in his full-blown operas) included popular song styles of the time.

– Originally set to open at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York in June 1937 with elaborate sets and a full orchestra, the production was shut down due to political pressure within the Federal Theatre Project. The theatre was padlocked and surrounded by security to prevent anyone from stealing props or costumes, as all of this was considered U. S. Government property and could not be used in a for-profit theaterical production. According to The New York Times, “Within three days their theater the Maxine Elliott…was invaded by a dozen uniformed W.P.A. guards bearing strict orders prohibiting the removal of such Government property as scenery, props and costumes.” after receiving a memo prohibiting the performance of the play. The production was targeted by the government because of its leftist politics. The production was forbidden to be performed onstage, with the government threatening arrest to any actor appearing onstage.

– On the spur of the moment, Welles, Houseman, and Blitzstein rented the much larger Venice Theatre and a piano, for a performance on June 17, 1937. They planned for Blitzstein to sing/play/read the entire musical to the sold out house which had grown larger by inviting people off the street to attend for free. Cast members sang their lines from the audience.

– Just after beginning the first number, Blitzstein was joined by Olive Stanton, the actor playing Moll, from the audience. During the rest of the performance, various actors joined in with Blitzstein and performed the entire musical from the house.
Actors sang across the theatre to one another.

– According to The New York Times account, “Persons who heard the opera’s score and extracts last night carried no clear impression except that its theme was that steel workers should join a union.” Poet Archibald MacLeish, who was in the audience, “praised the ‘vitality’ of the Federal Theatre Project.” The success of the performance led Welles and Houseman to form the Mercury Theatre.

– Following the impromptu opening and a brief run at the Venice Theatre (later renamed the New Century Theatre) in July 1937, the production reopened on January 3, 1938, at the Windsor Theatre under the auspices of the new Mercury Theatre Company. It played a total of 108 performances.

– The musical was revived on Broadway on December 26, 1947, at the Mansfield Theater (subsequently moving to The Broadway Theatre) with a cast that included Alfred Drake (Larry Foreman), Vivian Vance (Mrs. Mister), Jack Albertson (Yasha), and original cast member Will Geer (Mr. Mister). The production was directed by Howard Da Silva and played 34 performances.

– The show was revived Off-Broadway in 1964 in a production starring Jerry Orbach (Larry Foreman), Nancy Andrews (Mrs. Mister), and Lauri Peters (Moll), directed by Howard Da Silva. Leonard Bernstein acted as music supervisor. The production ran at Theatre Four for 82 performances. This production won the Obie Award as Best Musical Production and Dean Dittman (who played Editor Daily) won the Obie for Distinguished Performance.

– The Acting Company presented an Off-Broadway production at the American Place Theater from May 9, 1983 to May 29, 1983, directed by John Houseman and featuring a spoken introduction by Houseman, and starring Patti LuPone. This production was done “on a dark stage, decorated only with chairs and Dennis Parichy’s poetic lighting. At dead center is the upright piano, whose expert player, Michael Barrett, delivers the Brechtian scene-setting announcements as Blitzstein once did.” This production was premiered at The Acting Company’s summer home at Chautauqua Institution.

– The show was revived again in 1985 featuring alumni members of The Acting Company, in London’s West End. In this production Patti LuPone reprised her role as Moll and was honored with an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

– The musical was performed shortly after its initial New York production by students at Harvard, with a young Leonard Bernstein narrating from the piano.

– Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, also known as the Fame school, produced the piece in 2007.

– The New School University Student Senate produced The Cradle Will Rock at the Off-Broadway venue, Theatre 80, for a weekend run. The production was part of the first Intercollegiate Collaborative Arts Project (iCAP). iCAP required that students from each of the 8 colleges that comprise The New School be involved in mounting the production.

– In 1999 writer/director Tim Robbins wrote a semi-fictional film recounting the original production of The Cradle Will Rock. The film, entitled Cradle Will Rock (without “The”) blended the true history of Blitzstein’s show with the creation (and subsequent destruction) of the original Diego Rivera mural in the lobby of Rockefeller Center (the Rivera mural was actually destroyed in 1934). Several of the original actors from the 1937 production were included as characters in the film, notably Olive Stanton, John Adair, and Will Geer, while others were replaced by fictional characters. The film’s climax recreates scenes from the original, legendary performance of the show, performed by veteran Broadway performers Victoria Clark, Gregg Edelman, Audra McDonald, Daniel Jenkins, Erin Hill, and Chris McKinney.

– Robbins wrote a book (Cradle Will Rock: The Movie and the Moment, published by Newmarket Press, November 30, 1999, ISBN-13: 978-1557043993) about the original show, his adaptation, and the filming of the motion picture.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Patti LuPone performs “Moll’s Song (I’m Checkin’ Home Now),” “Moll and Gent,” and “Moll and Dick” as part of the Acting Company’s 1985 production of Marc Blitzstein’s labor opera “The Cradle Will Rock” in the 1986 PBS broadcast of the production (part of their “America’s Musical Theater” series):

Bonus! Her other big song, “Nickel Under Your Foot”: