Few productions in American musical theater history can claim as thrilling a debut as Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 The Cradle Will Rock. Mounted by the energetic young team of John Houseman and Orson Welles under the auspices of the New Deal’s Federal Theatre Project, Blitzstein’s searing attack on the evils of unrestrained wealth and power was ready to premiere in New York when the U.S. Government yanked its support and barred the theater doors. A combination of slashed budgets and growing unease with the production’s left-leaning content was to blame. Welles and company seized on a brilliant alternative. Skirting federal and Actors’ Equity restrictions, they found another theater. In lieu of a full orchestra, Blitzstein sat at a borrowed piano on a bare stage and played the entire score alone. The actors sang from seats in the audience, so that technically they were not violating an Actors’ Equity order against participating in an unauthorized performance, and the show went on. Wild cheers erupted from the audience and this renegade opera became the stuff of theater legend. In fact, the scaled-down version has become the norm in most subsequent productions. Rob McGuinness, Jacob Heacock, Daniel Fleming, Louisa Waycott in ‘The Cradle Will Rock.’ Photo by Bayou Elom. Washington’s esteemed IN Series has mounted a rousing new production of The Cradle Will Rock as the kickoff to its new season, entitled “Illicit Opera.” Each upcoming production was censored in its own time. Blitzstein’s work takes place in Steeltown, USA, a company town ruled by the oligarch Mr. Mister. Seeking to suppress a powerful effort to unionize his business, Mister and his wife corrupt nearly everyone in town with menacing threats and handsome payoff. Only the labor organizer Larry Foreman resists Mister’s efforts. There’s no subtlety in Blitzstein’s townspeople. Every one of them is an exaggerated type, from the prostitute Moll and Foreman the organizer to the irreverent Reverend Salvation, the fawning artist Dauber, and the blustering newspaper editor Daily. The wonderfully outlandish costumes by Yvette Pino and Kelly Rakell Foye enhance the cartoonish character of Steeltown’s compromised citizens. The score, however, is a marvel of complexity. Insistently modern and constantly shape-shifting, Blitstein’s composition pays homage to masters like Stravinsky along with American genres such as jazz and blues throughout the show. Alternating solo songs and some spoken word with forceful choruses, the score propels us through the Steeltown saga with a palpable tension that never lets up. The cast of ‘The Cradle Will Rock.’ Photo by Bayou Elom. Shanara Gabrielle directs the talented nine-member cast (Melanie Ashkar, Teresa Ferrara, Cecelia McKinley, Louisa Waycott, Marvin Wayne, Rob McGinness, Daniel Fleming, Jacob Heacock, Daniel Smith). Almost all of them play multiple parts, navigating their quick-changing singing and acting roles with grace and agility. They are accompanied by Music Director and Pianist Emily Baltzer, whose nonstop performance undergirds the production. During a fascinating post-performance discussion, Baltzer noted that her upright piano had been fitted with low-tech thumbtacks and felt pads to provide the combination of warmth and tinniness that she felt the score warranted. Occasionally, however, the voices could not be clearly heard over the accompaniment, blurring Blitzstein’s razor-sharp lyrics. Ethan Sinnott’s handsome set recalls Frank Lloyd Wright’s classic designs from the era. Combining soaring upright panels, geometric floor patterns, and sturdy intersecting metal grids, the set echoes the rhythmic structure of the music itself. It allowed characters to variously surmount, enclose, imprison, or embrace one another as the action moves from scene to scene. With Paul Callahan’s lighting, the stage set effectively spotlights characters for standout solos such as the Moll’s “The Nickel Under Your Foot,” and Ella Hammer’s riveting “Joe Worker,” as well as the vaudevillian duet sung by Mister’s spoiled children, “Spoon Croon.” Marc Blitzstein, a Philadelphian of Russian-Jewish heritage, absorbed a natural sympathy for the working class along with his love of music. He studied with some of the most distinguished musical talents of the era, including Arnold Schoenberg, and was influenced by the successful collaborations of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, to whom The Cradle Will Rock was dedicated. With its clownish characters, strident lyrics, and unequivocal belief in the powers of good and evil, it’s tempting to see this opera as somewhat dated. Nonetheless, look again. The parallels between the 1930s and today’s reboot of totalitarian impulses are hard to miss. The IN Series’ new production is exquisitely timed. Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission. The Cradle Will Rock plays October 12 and 13, 2024, presented by IN Series performing at the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th Street NW, Washington, DC. Purchase tickets ($40–$77) online or by calling 202-204-7763. The Cradle Will Rock also plays October 18, 19, and 20, 2024, at the Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 West Preston St., Baltimore, MD. Purchase tickets ($20–$30) online or by calling 410-752-8558. Cast and creative team bios are here. SEE ALSO: ‘Justice and joy’: Shanara Gabrielle on theater with a social conscience (interview by John Stoltenberg, September 27, 2024) IN Series announces 2024/25 season: ‘Illicit Opera’ (news story, May 27, 2024)