Opera Saratoga to host film screening
ALBANY, N.Y. >> Opera Saratoga has announced that tickets are now available for the March 18 screening of Tim Robbin’s film, “Cradle Will Rock,” at the Palace Theatre at 19 Clinton Ave. The screening will take place at 2 p.m. Tickets are free, but advance registration is required at operasaratoga.com.
Presented in partnership with The Palace Theatre as part of Opera Saratoga’s Saratoga Sings! program, the screening of “Cradle Will Rock” anticipates the Opera Saratoga’s new productionm which will be presented in July.
“The ‘Cradle Will Rock’ was shut down on its opening night by the government in an act of censorship because the pro-union plot was feared to be too radical,” said Opera Saratoga Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson. “The Works Progress Administration - the federal agency that oversaw the Federal Theatre abruptly canceled the production and sent armed guards to keep any costumes or sets from being removed from the theater. Actors’ Equity also barred cast members from performing the show onstage. Undeterred, Blitzstein, John Houseman (the original producer), and Orson Welles (the original director) found another theater and moved a battered upright piano and the cast uptown, along with hundreds of onlookers, so that Blitzstein could sing through his piece for the audience. As Blitzstein launched into the introduction from the piano, Olive Stanton (Moll) stood up in her seat and sang the opening number from the audience. The rest of the cast followed, and one of the greatest stories of Broadway history was born.”
Tim Robbins’ film fictionalizes the true events that surrounded the development of Blitzstein’s politically charged production.
The film “Cradle Will Rock” is a tapestry of interwoven stories: Nelson Rockefeller commissions Mexican artist Diego Rivera to paint the lobby of Rockefeller Center, while Italian propagandist Margherita Sarfatti sells Da Vincis to millionaires to fund the Mussolini war effort. A paranoid ventriloquist tries to rid his vaudeville troupe of communists, and a 22-yearold Orson Welles directs his Federal Theater group in the infamous premiere of “The Cradle Will Rock,” closed down on the eve of its opening by U.S. soldiers.
The screening will take place at 2 p.m. Tickets are free, but advance registration is required at operasaratoga.com.