Cradle Will Rock
At the height of the Great Depression, aspiring singer Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) dreams of getting a job as an actress with the Federal Theater Project (FTP). Playwright Marc Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) is working on his new musical, The Cradle Will Rock, but lacks the inspiration to finish it. While attending a public protest, he is visited by two imaginary figures representing his late wife and the famed German playwright Bertolt Brecht. They encourage him to make the play more relevant to the times rather than an abstract concept.
At the same time, the FTP faces increasing pressure from the federal government, which has begun investigating alleged leftist infiltration of American society through the House Committee on Un-American Activities. The WPA, faced with the threat of losing its budget, cuts funding for all FTP productions, lays off thousands of workers, and orders all ongoing projects, including The Cradle Will Rock, to cease their activities. The local unions for the musicians and actors refuse to let them perform without federal approval, forcing the show to close.
Rather than give in, the show's director, Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and producer, John Houseman (Cary Elwes), set up an improvised performance in a shuttered theater, with Blitzstein as both the cast and the orchestra. As he begins the first song, the other actors suddenly appear in the audience and perform the entire play without setting foot on the stage. The climax then cuts to a sequence showing a group of workers destroying the mural Man at the Crossroads, following a dispute between Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) and Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) over the latter's explicit support for communism.
As the cast and audience break into celebration, a group of former FTP performers stage a mock funeral down the street outside. The movie ends with the procession walking into present-day Times Square, which is lined with billboards advertising Broadway plays.
inspiring