Word: pianos
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WHEN THE AUDIENCE files into the Old Library, the set for The Cradle Will Rock consists of only one object--an awkward cardboard-like streetlamp. The lights dim to blackness, a jarring piano theme begins, and quite suddenly the streetlamp switches on, illuminating a prostitute leaning against it. It is the first of many delicate and imaginative effects in a double-bill evening that provides more food for thought than most troupes could gracefully handle...
...Cradle Will Rock, the first offering, the duplicity lies in the strange shadows the subject matter casts. Written by Marc Blitzstein in the depths of the depression. Cradle paints the struggles of infant unionism through a severe but jazzy stylization. The single piano hammers in the background as the residents of "Steeltown, U.S.A." battle the manipulations of the inexorable, cigar-chomping "Mister Mister" (David Reiffel). Mister Mister owns the factories and the town newspaper and heads the union-busting Liberty Committee, his wife bribes the preacher to fan war hysteria so steel prices will stay high, while his henchman track...
...play--"simplicity, simplicity, simplicity," in one character's words--is admirably carried out in the play's staging. The stage and props are unembellished, and the action unceremoniously set off from the audience by some well-placed mattresses. The lighting is unobtrusive, and the music--fine accompaniment by piano and harp--is rather low-key for a musical...
...first 90 minutes of the show were a smooth arc of excitement and unapologetic razzle-dazzle: a lyric Try to Remember by Harry Belafonte, a monologue delivered at giddy white heat by Robin Williams ("What excitement backstage-everyone's standing around in little pools of Perrier"), a dingbat piano solo by Dudley Moore, and film clips of such stars as James Cagney, James Stewart and Bette Davis, who then showed up at center stage to greet one another and an S.R.O. audience of 6,000 who had paid from $25 to $1,000 for the privilege of waving back...
...Rescued by a series of inspired recordings with such jazz giants as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Monk eventually achieved both celebrity and steady work. But he remained an enigma. He wore skullcaps and dark sunglasses, and during performances, when the spirit moved him, he would arise from his piano to dance about, tapping his foot to the beat of the music. "Jazz is my adventure," said Monk. "I'm after new chords, new figurations, new runs." Some of his most noteworthy pieces, now part of standard repertory, include 'Round About Midnight, Blue Monk, Hackensack, Epistrophy and Straight...