"The Cradle Will Rock" at New York City Center Encores! Off-Center

What vintage show could be more timely or topical than “The Cradle Will Rock,” the 1937 musical satire recently revived in concert form by City Center’s Encores! Off-Center series. How auspicious that this legendary musical is inaugurating a series that will be devoted to critically lauded musicals that are deserving of another look but may not have wide commercial appeal. A splendid cast, under the direction of Sam Gold, was assembled to bring to life the ambitiously agitprop composition that its composer, author and lyricist Marc Blitzstein called “a labor opera.”

It is well-known to have caused a furor when it was first presented not necessarily because of its arguably controversial subject matter (unbridled support of the Unions and its denouncement of capitalism) but because of the unorthodox manner in which it was presented to its first audience that got to see it not on a stage as originally planned but amidst them as presented by necessity by the WPA’s Federal theater Project. Much has been written and chronicled about that historic occasion and the musical’s subsequent productions, so I will not go into those details.

What is important is the excitement that has been generated by this concert-styled staging presented for only five days (July 9 through July 13) during which the lucky ones who attended are undoubtedly going to remember it as one of the great theatrical events of the new 2013-2014 theater season. The frame for the story, mostly sung-through, is simple enough with the cast both seated and standing and a little cavorting downstage. Behind them is the raised orchestra under the expert direction of Chris Fenwick. Behind them is a white curtain which reads “In the rich man’s house, the only place to spit is in his face.” Well, that’s what it says!

The story is told from the perspective of individuals among a large group, some of whom are mistakenly suspected of being pro-Union activists, that have been rounded up by the police outside Union headquarters in Steeltown and taken to the local precinct for questioning. The only hitch is that many of them are conservative members of society, either indebted to or under the influence of fervent capitalist Mr. Mister. Prompted by the questioning, there are the bitterly comical flashbacks and the poignantly passionate back-stories of a variety of characters each of whom is defined by Blitzstein’s brittle lyrics and trenchantly melodic arias, many of which often sound as if they evolved from the Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht school of music and drama (not a bad thing).

As expected Raul Esparza is dynamite as Larry Foreman, the incendiary union organizer who locks horns with the equally exciting Danny Burstein as the grisly, bullying Mr. Mister. The rest of the cast, including Eisa Davis, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Marulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram also have ample opportunities to define their admittedly stereotypical but very human characters. The audience at the performance I caught was as revved up by the performances as they were by the politically divisive subject matter. Contemporary theater doesn’t get any more powerful, nor does it get to rock with more energy than does “The Cradle Will Rock.” Considering how audiences must have reacted at the first performance in 1937, we can call this a revival of the Blitzstein spirit but in the spirit of seventy-six years later.