By Juliet Wittman Tuesday, Oct 18 2011
Arts
Although rare, there were once American musicals that talked about politics and even acknowledged that poor people existed. Bertolt Brecht was their father. Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, written in 1937, was a fable about workers and corporate greed so outspoken that the House Un-American Activities Committee tried to shut it down; 1957′s Fiorello dramatized New York mayor LaGuardia’s reformist efforts and his support for factory workers. These days, though, Cradle is looked on as a historical oddity, and despite a killer score, Fiorello doesn’t get produced. This is a shame, because I’d really like to go to the theater some night and hear a group of operatives comparing “Politics and Poker”: “If politics seems more predictable/That’s because/Usually/You can stack the deck.” Or strikers singing: “Must we sew and sew/Solely to survive/So some low so-and-so can thrive?/No!/He’ll fry in Hades if it’s up to the ladies/Waistmakers Union Local 25!”
Slow Dance With a Hot Pickup isn’t a rabblerouser like Cradle, and it doesn’t have the overriding wit of Fiorello, but it is an engrossing and intriguing show about real people in desperate circumstances, and it most definitely has its heart in the right place. This is a completely original work by John Pielmeier, who wrote Agnes of God, and composer Matty Selman; this production at Boulder’s Dinner Theatre is being presented as a workshop in preparation for a national tour, so the show is still fluid. It’s also a big risk for BDT, whose clientele tends to expect old chestnuts and family-friendly outings. (more…)