THE CRADLE WILL ROCK is the show so outrageous, so dangerous, and so TRUE that it was the only Broadway musical ever shut down by the federal government for its subversive content. This comic morality tale follows the citizens of Steeltown, USA -- Reverend Salvation, Editor Daily, Dr. Specialist, Harry Druggist, and the others -- as they prostitute themselves to the powerful steel magnate Mr. Mister. The New York Times said that The Cradle Will Rock "has qualities of genius . . . It catches fire, it blazes, it amuses and grips the listener." It was the first American musical written from a working class perspective and it laid the groundwork, in its politics and its construction, for later shows as varied as Cabaret, Hair, Pippin, Chicago, Assassins, and Rent. 

New Line's production recreated that famous first night, when the government padlocked Cradle's theatre and the show's audience walked twenty-one blocks uptown to another theatre, picking up hundreds more along the way. The actors' and musicians' unions forbade their members to perform onstage, so many of the actors performed the show from the audience, with only composer Marc Blitzstein onstage at a solo piano.

As part of the event, HotHouse Theatre Company produced It's All True, a play about the original production of The Cradle Will Rock (though it fictionalizes many scenes and uses original songs not from Cradle). The two shows ran in rotating repertory, with audiences being able to see both shows on Saturdays. Also, MediaARTS created a multi-media project around the two shows which was performed live after the theatre performances.