Review: The Cradle Will Rock (Arcola Theatre)

For the Arcola Theatre’s final production at Arcola Street, Artistic Director and founder Mehmet Ergen takes the directorial reigns for a rare revival of the 1936 musical The Cradle Will Rock, which was originally directed by Orson Welles and dedicated to Brecht.

Composer, lyricist and librettist Marc Blitzstein (who was murdered in Martinique in 1963) is best known today for his 1954 adaptation of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, particularly the much misunderstood ‘Mack The Knife’, a song about a serial killer that has somehow turned into an easy listening standard.


While Blitzstein’s contribution to musical theatre was deemed ‘irreplaceable’ by his friend Leonard Bernstein, experiencing a full production of this piece makes it glaringly obvious as to why it has languished in obscurity. The idea of the original production, which was banned from being staged by The House Committee of Un-American Activities, and was performed from various points around the theatre (just not the stage) is a more striking image than anything in the show itself, in spite of the dedicated efforts of the cast (most of whom play multiple roles) and creative team.

New girl in town Moll (instantly identifiable as a lady of the night by her scarlet shawl that leaves one shoulder exposed) who is finding business a little slow is arrested for soliciting and finds herself in jail alongside the highly respectable members of the ‘Liberty Committee’ (who are in fact advocating the very opposite), carrying out the orders of the mysterious Mr Mister. A series of extended sketches that are clearly meant to be bitingly satirical (though I couldn’t explain most of them) follow, with varying success.


Much of the music is conversational, juxtaposed with acapella motifs and vaudevillian style sketches. An argument between and artist and a painter starts off quite amusingly, but goes on for far too long. Many of the political and social arguments embedded in each vignette are not at all clearly expressed, which makes for frustrating viewing. While comparisons generally aren’t helpful, there’s an overwhelming sense of how Brecht and Weill did it all so much better.

The atmosphere is somewhat lightened in the first act with a delightful performance by Adey Grummet as Mrs Mister, the essence of hypocritical matronly respectability, excited by the idea of war so that she can knit socks for the brave soldiers. Josie Benson is an impressive presence as a woman whose brother’s death was the responsibility of the Liberty Committee, but by the time she appears, it’s too late to turn things around. Alicia Davies’s tart is endearingly played, but apart from her solo at the beginning of Act II, she more or less disappears after the opening scenes, denying the piece a real emotional centre. If only The Threepenny Opera had been Arcola Street’s swansong instead.

Written for musicOMH