‘Cradle’ Has Strong Work Ethic

There’s a wonderfully naive moment at the end of “The Cradle Will Rock,” as staged at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon.

Hordes of working men and women, fed up with business as screwsual in Steeltown, U.S.A., march down the theater’s aisles, as agitator Larry Foreman (Aaron Hendry, in a galvanizing portrayal of an archetype) exhorts the masses to organize. It’s an echo of Clifford Odets’ “Waiting for Lefty,” a first cousin to Marc Blitzstein’s Depression-era pro-labor musical.

Then, at the curtain call, the characters’ signs saying “FEED THE POOR” and “STOP WPA LAY-OFF” are flipped to reveal a host of new concerns: “MEAT IS MURDER,” and “Stay Out of Our Wombs,” and “KYOTO ACCORD NOW.”

And it works.

It’s too easy to say the stern, single-minded revolutionary spirit of Blitzstein’s 1937 polemic is alive and well, or easily recaptured. The Botanicum production is uneven. Yet it’s engaging, often quite funny and utterly fervent in its commitment to the material.

Will Geer originated the part of venal industrialist Mr. Mister in “Cradle.” Now, a host of his relations have brought it back.

There’s daughter Ellen, who directs and sings “Joe Worker (Gets Gypped)”; son Thad, this version’s Mr. Mister; Ellen’s daughters, Melora Marshall (the prostitute Moll, purveyor of “Nickel Under the Foot”) and Willow Geer-Alsop (Sister Mister); Ellen’s son, Ian Flanders, in the supporting ranks; and, seated onstage in a bright green sweater, clearly enjoying all the rabble-rousing, Herta Ware, Geer’s widow.

The material is at once hugely influential and hugely simplistic. It is, by design, its own leaflet, a call to unionize. In a city ruled by Mr. Mister and his minions, working stiffs like Foreman don’t have much of a chance, but the effort is all.

Listening to the original recording (available on the Pearl label), you hear the zip and crackle that helped put over Blitzstein’s baby. The Botanicum staging doesn’t always move at the proper speed. Some performances, such as Thad Geer’s Mr. Mister, are too obvious in their one-dimensionality, and the staging lacks the needed bumps and buttons at the ends of the numbers.

But it gathers steam and strength as it goes. Besides Hendry’s first-rate Foreman, Marshall’s turn as Moll adds some seasoning and pathos. There’s an especially funny turn from Gillian Doyle as the flighty arts patroness, Mrs. Mister. (At one point she writhes in haughty ecstasy as one of her fawning artistes nibbles at her toes.)

It’s no accident that much of Blitzstein’s underscoring sounds like Virgil Thomson doing “The Perils of Pauline.” It’s music to tie factory workers to railroad tracks by, and the train a-comin’ is none other than the Ruthless Capitalism Express. That music nonetheless retains much of its dissonant, nervously inventive vitality, even when it’s hammering its points home.

The verdant Botanicum setting doesn’t easily suggest Steeltown, or urban suffocation of any sort; it’s more like we’re in the Forest of Arden outside Steeltown. But give in, and before long, the show--led by various Geers--will take it from there.

* “The Cradle Will Rock,” The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. Saturday , July 21 and July 28, 8 p.m.; Aug. 4, Aug. 11, Aug. 18 and Aug. 25, 4 p.m.; Sept. 1 and Sept. 8, 4 p.m.; Sept. 16, Sept. 23 and Sept. 30, 7:30 p.m. Ends Sept. 30. $11 to $20. (310) 455-3723. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Melora Marshall: Moll

Steve Matt: Reverend Salvation

Richard Sherrell: Editor Daily

Tom Allard: Dr. Specialist

Gillian Doyle: Mrs. Mister

Thad Geer: Mr. Mister

Willow Geer-Alsop: Sister Mister

Jeff Wiesen: Junior Mister

Terrence Evans: Harry Druggist

Aaron Hendry: Larry Foreman

Ellen Geer: Ella Hammer

Book, music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein. Directed by Ellen Geer. Set design by Sybil Wickersheimer. Costumes by Rae Robison. Lighting by Aaron Bronsal. Stage manager, Henry Lide. Pianist, Louis Durra. Drums, Ian Flanders. Bass, Tom Allard.