Brooks Ashmanskas, Victoria Clark, Lauren Flanigan, and Malcolm Gets will sing the music of composer Marc Blitzstein at Joe's Pub, Feb. 7, 14 and 21. All performances will be at 8:30 PM.
Blitzstein is the subject of renewed interest of late, primarily owing to the film "Cradle Will Rock," named after Blitzstein's 1937 opera "The Cradle Will Rock." The film dramatizes the controversial first staging of the opera. A production of the Federal Theatre Project, government officials prevented the socialistic work from being performed, forcing the cast, led by director Orson Welles and producer John Houseman, to march to another empty theatre and perform the opera there, sans sets, costumes or orchestra.
Blitzstein is also the author of Regina and Juno.
Ted Sperling acts as the evening's conceiver, director and music director.
Tickets are $20. Joe's Pub is located off the Public Theater, at Lafayette Street in Manhattan. For information, call (212) 239-6200. --By Robert Simonson