Carol Channing, a Broadway legend who was known for her signature lead role in Hello, Dolly! and continued performing well into her 90s, has died of natural causes at her home in Rancho Mirage, CA. She was 97.
B Harlan Boll, Channing’s publicist, confirmed the news to multiple news outlets. “It is with extreme heartache that I have to announce the passing of an original Industry Pioneer, Legend and Icon – Miss Carol Channing,” Boll said in a statement to Broadway World. “I admired her before I met her, and have loved her since the day she stepped … or fell, rather … into my life.”
A native of Seattle, Channing’s distinctively gravelly enunciation, lanky, energetic frame and carefree laugh marked her many decades in show business. Along with her remarkable 4,500 performances in the title role of Hello, Dolly!, she appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Vamp and Lorelei. On movie screens,...
B Harlan Boll, Channing’s publicist, confirmed the news to multiple news outlets. “It is with extreme heartache that I have to announce the passing of an original Industry Pioneer, Legend and Icon – Miss Carol Channing,” Boll said in a statement to Broadway World. “I admired her before I met her, and have loved her since the day she stepped … or fell, rather … into my life.”
A native of Seattle, Channing’s distinctively gravelly enunciation, lanky, energetic frame and carefree laugh marked her many decades in show business. Along with her remarkable 4,500 performances in the title role of Hello, Dolly!, she appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Vamp and Lorelei. On movie screens,...
- 1/15/2019
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Writer-director Tim Robbins goes all out to recreate a politically potent chapter of Broadway legend, the true story of the rebel Wpa production The Cradle Will Rock — with a dynamic sidebar about Diego Rivera’s provocative mural for the Rockefeller Center. An enormous cast works up the excitement of Depression-era revolutionary theater.
Cradle Will Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1999 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95
Starring: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Jamey Sheridan, John Turturro, Emily Watson, Bob Balaban, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Paul Giamatti, Barnard Hughes, Barbara Sukowa, Gretchen Mol, Harris Yulin, Daniel Jenkins, Steven Skybell, Susan Heimbeinder, Audra McDonald, Leonardo Cimino.
Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier
Film Editor: Geraldine Peroni
Costumes: Ruth Myers
Original Music: David Robbins
Produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher, Jon Kilik, Tim Robbins
Written...
Cradle Will Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1999 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95
Starring: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Jamey Sheridan, John Turturro, Emily Watson, Bob Balaban, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Paul Giamatti, Barnard Hughes, Barbara Sukowa, Gretchen Mol, Harris Yulin, Daniel Jenkins, Steven Skybell, Susan Heimbeinder, Audra McDonald, Leonardo Cimino.
Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier
Film Editor: Geraldine Peroni
Costumes: Ruth Myers
Original Music: David Robbins
Produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher, Jon Kilik, Tim Robbins
Written...
- 8/4/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A. Tillman Merritt, among others. Before graduating in 1939, he made an unofficial conducting debut with his own incidental music to 'The Birds,' and directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein's 'The Cradle Will Rock.' Then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and orchestration with Randall Thompson.
- 8/25/2017
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
My guest for this month is West Anthony, and he’s joined me to discuss the film he chose for me, the 1976 comedy-drama film The Front. You can follow the show on Twitter @cinemagadfly.
Show notes:
Not sure what happened to the audio in the introduction, apologies! The Hollywood blacklist is a term for the treatment of people in the entertainment industry who refused to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee from 1947 to 1960 For a more in depth take on the blacklist, check out the latest season of the phenomenal You Must Remember This podcast WonderCon is a comic book convention that was held annually in Sf until it was cruelly moved to the La area in 2012. Yes I’m still bitter about it. West also recommends the Gabrielle de Cuir directed Thirty Years of Treason by Eric Bentley Among the people famously blacklisted were Lillian Hellman, Lionel Stander,...
Show notes:
Not sure what happened to the audio in the introduction, apologies! The Hollywood blacklist is a term for the treatment of people in the entertainment industry who refused to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee from 1947 to 1960 For a more in depth take on the blacklist, check out the latest season of the phenomenal You Must Remember This podcast WonderCon is a comic book convention that was held annually in Sf until it was cruelly moved to the La area in 2012. Yes I’m still bitter about it. West also recommends the Gabrielle de Cuir directed Thirty Years of Treason by Eric Bentley Among the people famously blacklisted were Lillian Hellman, Lionel Stander,...
- 6/2/2016
- by Arik Devens
- CriterionCast
Established in 2013 by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and Sdc Foundation, the Kurt Weill Fellowship helps nurture early-career directors and choreographers by acquainting them with the stage work of Kurt Weill or Marc Blitzstein under the guidance of a master director or choreographer. The Fellowship provides the opportunity to assist or observe a master director or choreographer at work on a production, selected by the Kurt Weill Foundation, of a theatrical work composed by Weill or Blitzstein, including musical theater, opera, operetta, and dance works.
- 2/3/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Just last night, Patti LuPone stepped back into the role that led to her Olivier Award, and being cast as the original Fantine in Les Miserables, in The Cradle Will Rock at 7pm at Broadway's Bernard Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th Street. The one-night concert of Marc Blitzstein's iconic work benefits The Acting Company, which LuPone founded alongside Kevin Kline, John Houseman and Margot Harley. Lonny Price served as musical director. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the special curtain call...
- 5/20/2014
- by Jennifer Broski
- BroadwayWorld.com
Patti LuPone Set to Play 'Moll' in The Cradle Will Rock Benefit Concert for The Acting Company, 5/19
Patti LuPone steps back into the role that led to her 1985 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical as Moll in The Cradle Will Rock on Monday, May 19, 7pm at Broadway's Bernard Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th Street. The concert staging of Marc Blitzstein's iconic work will benefit The Acting Company, co-founded by John Houseman, Cradle's original producer in 1937, who directed Ms. LuPone and a cast of Acting Company Alumni in a revival almost 50 years later. Lonny Price Lincoln Center's Sweeney Todd and Company will direct Michael Barrett Caramoor, NY Festival of Song will again serve as musical director and play the score as he did in the 1980's production. Tickets will go on sale next month information on benefit tickets including dinner with Ms. LuPone and the cast is available from 212-258-3111.
- 3/5/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
This cleverly edited collection of letters reveals an attractive and energetic man. But Bernstein now has a mixed musical reputation – even if West Side Story will live forever
Like many figures eminent in their time through a grasp of the zeitgeist and a powerful personality, Leonard Bernstein's reputation has not worn well. Future generations may wonder why it was Bernstein who conducted the Berlin concerts in December 1989 to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall. He had no connection with Berlin, and had conducted the Berlin Philharmonic only once, in 1979. There was, too, a very obvious candidate in Kurt Masur, the great conductor who had been involved in the Leipzig uprising. But the job fell to Bernstein, who had never even lived in the continent whose unification he was celebrating. No one seemed puzzled: it was a case of the triumph of the overwhelming personality.
That personality is apparent...
Like many figures eminent in their time through a grasp of the zeitgeist and a powerful personality, Leonard Bernstein's reputation has not worn well. Future generations may wonder why it was Bernstein who conducted the Berlin concerts in December 1989 to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall. He had no connection with Berlin, and had conducted the Berlin Philharmonic only once, in 1979. There was, too, a very obvious candidate in Kurt Masur, the great conductor who had been involved in the Leipzig uprising. But the job fell to Bernstein, who had never even lived in the continent whose unification he was celebrating. No one seemed puzzled: it was a case of the triumph of the overwhelming personality.
That personality is apparent...
- 11/28/2013
- by Philip Hensher
- The Guardian - Film News
Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances through July 13 at City Center. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. Opening was last night and you can check out photos from the celebration below...
- 7/11/2013
- by Walter McBride
- BroadwayWorld.com
Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances, beginning tonight at City Center, and running through July 13. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. Check out a first look at the production below...
- 7/10/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. BroadwayWorld brings you just-released highlights below...
- 7/10/2013
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. Check out a first look at the cast photos below...
- 7/3/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series, will play for five performances, July 10-13 at City Center- starring Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Ral Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. The cast and creative team met the press earlier today and BroadwayWorld's Richie Ridge was there to chat with the whole gang. Check out what they had to say and catch a special performance preview below...
- 7/2/2013
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Judy Kuhn, Martin Moran, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose and Henry Stram will star in Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series, playing for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The show will be directed bySam Gold and choreographed by Chase Brock Jeanine Tesori is the Encores Off Center artistic director. Chris Fenwick is the music director. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all and to younger audiences, the majority of tickets are 25.
- 6/11/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today, we're featuring Bea Arthur and Hal Linden circa 1981. Arthur's stage roles included Lucy Brown in the 1954 Off-Broadway premiere of Marc Blitzstein's English-language adaptation of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, Yente the Matchmaker in the 1964 premiere of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, and a 1966 Tony Award-winning portrayal of Vera Charles to Angela Lansbury's Mame. She reprised the role in the 1974 film version opposite Lucille Ball. In 1981, she appeared in Woody Allen's The Floating Light Bulb.
- 1/11/2013
- by Walter McBride
- BroadwayWorld.com
A composer and lyricist of enormous innovation and influence, Marc Blitzstein remains one of the most versatile and fascinating figures in the history of American music, his creative output running the gamut from films scores and Broadway operas to art songs and chamber pieces. A prominent leftist and social maverick, Blitzstein constantly pushed the boundaries of convention in mid-century America in both his work and his life.
- 9/25/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
I was saddened to learn this morning that Betty Garrett, the great star of stage, screen, and TV, passed away yesterday at the age of 94 after suffering an aortic aneurysm.
Garrett was one of those rare people — like, say, Jack Valenti — who happened to be a witness to and/or participant in a remarkably high number of historic events of the 20th century. She was a member of Orson Welles’s famed Mercury Theatre company, and was with him on the night that he shook up America with his infamous radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938); she was Frank Sinatra’s leading lady in two of the earliest great M-g-m musical-comedies, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1949) and “On the Town” (1949); her career was greatly hurt by the Hollywood Red Scare after her husband, the Oscar nominated actor Larry Parks, refused to name names before the House Committee...
Garrett was one of those rare people — like, say, Jack Valenti — who happened to be a witness to and/or participant in a remarkably high number of historic events of the 20th century. She was a member of Orson Welles’s famed Mercury Theatre company, and was with him on the night that he shook up America with his infamous radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938); she was Frank Sinatra’s leading lady in two of the earliest great M-g-m musical-comedies, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1949) and “On the Town” (1949); her career was greatly hurt by the Hollywood Red Scare after her husband, the Oscar nominated actor Larry Parks, refused to name names before the House Committee...
- 2/13/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Broadway musical theatre writer who wrote the libretto for Fiddler on the Roof and the screenplay for the 1971 film
Joseph Stein, who has died aged 98, was the last of the great Broadway musical theatre writers coming out of New York revue and television comedy after the second world war. Most famously, he wrote the book, or libretto, for Fiddler on the Roof (1964) and Zorba (1968). "There are no limitations to the subject for a musical," Stein once said, "just as there are no limitations to the subject for a play or a novel. The only limitation that I can see is that it has to have an honesty about the relationship of people to each other."
He cast his net wide, shaping not only the Ukrainian shtetl stories of Sholom Aleichem into the tale of Tevye the milkman and his five daughters in Fiddler on the Roof, but also drawing, perhaps surprisingly,...
Joseph Stein, who has died aged 98, was the last of the great Broadway musical theatre writers coming out of New York revue and television comedy after the second world war. Most famously, he wrote the book, or libretto, for Fiddler on the Roof (1964) and Zorba (1968). "There are no limitations to the subject for a musical," Stein once said, "just as there are no limitations to the subject for a play or a novel. The only limitation that I can see is that it has to have an honesty about the relationship of people to each other."
He cast his net wide, shaping not only the Ukrainian shtetl stories of Sholom Aleichem into the tale of Tevye the milkman and his five daughters in Fiddler on the Roof, but also drawing, perhaps surprisingly,...
- 10/26/2010
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
A.C.T. Young Conservatory (Yc) proudly presents Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by W. D. Keith. Three teenagers living on a tiny island off the coast of Ireland in 1933 dream of escaping the dreary confines of their lives, but no one more so than "Cripple" Billy, a disabled orphan and village outcast. When the local gossip spreads the news that a Hollywood film crew is shooting a movie on a neighboring island, the three teens set sail to try for a role in the film-but Billy embarks on an altogether different kind of journey. This dark comedy by Tony Award-winning Irish writer Martin McDonagh, writer and director of the hit film In Bruges, delivers witty banter, piercing dialogue, and a cast of local characters as genuinely likable as they are imperfect, brilliantly performed by A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory. The Cripple of Inishmaan plays November 6-14, 2009, at Zeum Theater,...
- 11/6/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
After the bold and successful death-row drama "Dead Man Walking", writer-director Tim Robbins goes back to his provocative theatrical roots and commands a star-studded "actors gang" in a provocative, searingly intelligent and uniquely entertaining film. A strong buzz for the main competition entry started with pre-festival screenings and "Cradle Will Rock" might just come up a winner when "the final wind blows" here on Sunday.
Loosely based on real events and containing only bits and pieces of Orson Welles' final screenplay published in 1994, "Cradle" is one of the most radical movies ever to be released under the Disney banner (with Spike Lee's latest still to come in the Director's Fortnight) and presents a marketing challenge if it's going to achieve more than just modest success at the box office when it's released later this year.
Extremely democratic in its allotment of screen time, "Cradle" has 13 major characters, about half of which are based on real people. The title refers to Marxist composer Marc Blitzstein's 1936 Workers Progress Administration-sponsored, Federal Theatre Project musical that became a victim of early anti-Communism crackdowns by reactionary politicians in Washington. Several of the songs and some of the scenes are performed in the course of the movie proving this now obscure work still has an infectiously subversive but not doggedly revolutionary spirit.
In Robbins' lively take on the times and characters, Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) is haunted by the specter of Bertolt Brecht as he creates his anthemic but gritty fable of workers and ordinary people joining together to get the attention of the ruling class. Eventually brought together with 22-year-old Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and John Houseman (Cary Elwes), Blitzstein is the passionate author of what amounts to a job to the likes of anti-fascist Italian actor Aldo Silvano (John Turturro) and vagabond Olive Stanton (Emily Watson).
But the film is much more than a recounting of the famous first performance in June 1937 of Blitzstein's "Cradle" that involved changing theaters at the last minute, with actors and crew walking 20 blocks without the many props and some of the cast, who by the actors' union rules were forbidden to perform the play at the new location. Suffice to say, that in the climax the magic of this moment is relived but Robbins achieves an even more compelling result by including a wide range of subplots.
The disastrous collision of art and politics, of truth and ideology, infuses much of the film, but there's a zany spin on just about everything and everyone. Indeed, within this film is a personal competition by the superb cast that is arguably won by Bill Murray playing a fading vaudeville ventriloquist, who falls in love with an anti-Communist Federal Theater employee (Joan Cusack) with an amazing scene where, through his dummy, he sings a surprising tune.
Pressing the argument that the Federal Theater Project is a landmark era in making new and inventive stage works more accessible, overworked Hallie Flanagan (Cherry Jones) has to fight to keep it alive against a firing squad of smug senators. Another kind of advocate and purveyor of priceless masterpieces is a one-time Mussolini mistress (Susan Sarandon) who tries to raise funds for Italy's war preparations from a wealthy industrialist Philip Baker Hall). She also introduces Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) to another of her old comrades Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades).
Robbins goes all the way with the Rockefeller-Rivera conflict, which centers on a mural the Mexican artist creates for the tycoon's office building lobby. The pair embark on a spirited debate about the visionary work, which is reproduced from the photographs taken of the original, and then smashed to bits as it was in real life.
This direct example of conservative capitalists sharing the same intolerant attitudes as the book-burning dictators soon to threaten the world is repetitive given the saga of Blitzstein's creation. But for those who recall the mid-1980s productions of the Robbins-co-founded Actors Gang, this is a widescreen, $35 million-version of those freewheeling, usually wickedly funny stage works in which one was enchantingly unsure what would happen next.
And in his bid to make every scene a "wonderland tour," Robbins succeeds triumphantly with just a few minor quibbles. Macfadyen overdoes the wild mannerisms of a Welles already intoxicated frequently with more than his dawning sense of personal destiny. Plus, the actor's just too small to carry off the illusion. The pacing is also sometimes problematic, with scenes fragmented and sequences interwoven throughout the film. Occasionally one expects a point has been made or it's time to move on only to have the movie seemingly backtrack.
CRADLE WILL ROCK
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Touchstone Pictures
A Havoc production
Writer-director:Tim Robbins
Producers:Jon Kilik, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Director of photography:Jean Yves Escoffier
Production designer:Richard Hoover
Music:David Robbins
Costume designer:Ruth Myers
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marc Blitzstein:Hank Azaria
Olive Stanton:Emily Watson
Hazel Huffman:Joan Cusack
Margherita Sarfatti:Susan Sarandon
Aldo Silvano:John Turturro
Orson Welles:Angus Macfadyen
Tommy Crickshaw:Bill Murray
Diego Rivera:Ruben Blades
Hallie Flanagan:Cherry Jones
Nelson Rockefeller:John Cusack
John Houseman:Cary Elwes
Gray Mathers:Philip Baker Hall
Countess LaGrange:Vanessa Redgrave
Running time -- 133 minutes...
Loosely based on real events and containing only bits and pieces of Orson Welles' final screenplay published in 1994, "Cradle" is one of the most radical movies ever to be released under the Disney banner (with Spike Lee's latest still to come in the Director's Fortnight) and presents a marketing challenge if it's going to achieve more than just modest success at the box office when it's released later this year.
Extremely democratic in its allotment of screen time, "Cradle" has 13 major characters, about half of which are based on real people. The title refers to Marxist composer Marc Blitzstein's 1936 Workers Progress Administration-sponsored, Federal Theatre Project musical that became a victim of early anti-Communism crackdowns by reactionary politicians in Washington. Several of the songs and some of the scenes are performed in the course of the movie proving this now obscure work still has an infectiously subversive but not doggedly revolutionary spirit.
In Robbins' lively take on the times and characters, Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) is haunted by the specter of Bertolt Brecht as he creates his anthemic but gritty fable of workers and ordinary people joining together to get the attention of the ruling class. Eventually brought together with 22-year-old Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and John Houseman (Cary Elwes), Blitzstein is the passionate author of what amounts to a job to the likes of anti-fascist Italian actor Aldo Silvano (John Turturro) and vagabond Olive Stanton (Emily Watson).
But the film is much more than a recounting of the famous first performance in June 1937 of Blitzstein's "Cradle" that involved changing theaters at the last minute, with actors and crew walking 20 blocks without the many props and some of the cast, who by the actors' union rules were forbidden to perform the play at the new location. Suffice to say, that in the climax the magic of this moment is relived but Robbins achieves an even more compelling result by including a wide range of subplots.
The disastrous collision of art and politics, of truth and ideology, infuses much of the film, but there's a zany spin on just about everything and everyone. Indeed, within this film is a personal competition by the superb cast that is arguably won by Bill Murray playing a fading vaudeville ventriloquist, who falls in love with an anti-Communist Federal Theater employee (Joan Cusack) with an amazing scene where, through his dummy, he sings a surprising tune.
Pressing the argument that the Federal Theater Project is a landmark era in making new and inventive stage works more accessible, overworked Hallie Flanagan (Cherry Jones) has to fight to keep it alive against a firing squad of smug senators. Another kind of advocate and purveyor of priceless masterpieces is a one-time Mussolini mistress (Susan Sarandon) who tries to raise funds for Italy's war preparations from a wealthy industrialist Philip Baker Hall). She also introduces Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) to another of her old comrades Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades).
Robbins goes all the way with the Rockefeller-Rivera conflict, which centers on a mural the Mexican artist creates for the tycoon's office building lobby. The pair embark on a spirited debate about the visionary work, which is reproduced from the photographs taken of the original, and then smashed to bits as it was in real life.
This direct example of conservative capitalists sharing the same intolerant attitudes as the book-burning dictators soon to threaten the world is repetitive given the saga of Blitzstein's creation. But for those who recall the mid-1980s productions of the Robbins-co-founded Actors Gang, this is a widescreen, $35 million-version of those freewheeling, usually wickedly funny stage works in which one was enchantingly unsure what would happen next.
And in his bid to make every scene a "wonderland tour," Robbins succeeds triumphantly with just a few minor quibbles. Macfadyen overdoes the wild mannerisms of a Welles already intoxicated frequently with more than his dawning sense of personal destiny. Plus, the actor's just too small to carry off the illusion. The pacing is also sometimes problematic, with scenes fragmented and sequences interwoven throughout the film. Occasionally one expects a point has been made or it's time to move on only to have the movie seemingly backtrack.
CRADLE WILL ROCK
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Touchstone Pictures
A Havoc production
Writer-director:Tim Robbins
Producers:Jon Kilik, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Director of photography:Jean Yves Escoffier
Production designer:Richard Hoover
Music:David Robbins
Costume designer:Ruth Myers
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marc Blitzstein:Hank Azaria
Olive Stanton:Emily Watson
Hazel Huffman:Joan Cusack
Margherita Sarfatti:Susan Sarandon
Aldo Silvano:John Turturro
Orson Welles:Angus Macfadyen
Tommy Crickshaw:Bill Murray
Diego Rivera:Ruben Blades
Hallie Flanagan:Cherry Jones
Nelson Rockefeller:John Cusack
John Houseman:Cary Elwes
Gray Mathers:Philip Baker Hall
Countess LaGrange:Vanessa Redgrave
Running time -- 133 minutes...
- 5/19/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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