With singing, dancing and labor politics too controversial for the 1930s, "The Cradle Will Rock" will open the 2005-06 theater season at Cornell University's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Shows are Sept. 15-17 and 22-24 in Kiplinger Theatre.

"You're not going to get a chance to see this in many places; not to the scale we're doing," said David Feldshuh, artistic director of the Schwartz Center and the show's director.

A unique and historically important musical, "The Cradle Will Rock" has been produced 132 times since the 1930s, including a production at Risley Theatre on campus in 1999.

"It's not a well-known musical, and it has its own challenges," Feldshuh said. "It is a remarkable piece in both its capturing of the hunger of the times [and] in the juxtaposition of agit-prop and vaudeville and broad comedy and blatant theatricality."

The musical, its composer Marc Blitzstein and the forces that shut it down on its opening day in 1937 were the subject of a 1999 Tim Robbins film of the same name, starring Hank Azaria, Emily Watson, Ruben Blades and John Cusack.

"It was described initially as a 'labor opera,' and I think it is a pure opera, because you have people speaking in pure rhythm most of the time," Feldshuh said. The set is a huge industrial warehouse, with a window serving as a projection screen and a three-piece orchestra on piano, string bass and percussion.

"It's a smorgasbord of different styles and textures; it mixes high comedy with mass protest theater," Feldshuh said. "I think it was meant to catalyze awareness of the struggles of labor and the middle class for recognition. It's very much about the struggle of the middle class, about who has the power and who is being denied that power."

Feldshuh said the themes relate to labor issues today, nationally, locally and at Cornell. "I think if Blitzstein were alive today he would say, 'What else is new?'" he said.

The cast of 33 comes from all over the Cornell community -- "people who've never worked with us before and we're happy to have with us. I went for that because Cornell has a tremendous number of very skilled singers," Feldshuh said.

An early fall production is best for staff and students to devote the time to rehearsal and production -- in this case, six days a week, for four to six weeks, Feldshuh said.

"That's a tremendous degree of commitment, as much as one of the major sports teams here," he said. "We aspire to do our absolute best, with people who are dedicated and skilled and enthusiastic and spontaneous and open and have senses of humor. You need these qualities to put together a cast."

Schwartz Center season

Upcoming Schwartz Center mainstage shows this season, presented by the Cornell Department of Theatre, Film and Dance:

• Sept. 15-24: "The Cradle Will Rock," a 1930s labor musical.
• Oct. 19-30: "Comic Potential," Alan Ayckbourn's play about robots becoming television actors. Patrick Rameau, Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" last spring, will star.
• Nov. 17-Dec. 3: "Othello" by William Shakespeare, directed by Broadway veteran Bob Kalfin.
• Feb. 1-12: 2003 Tony Award nominee "Vincent in Brixton" by Nicholas Wright, a fictionalized look at Van Gogh's youth in London.
• Feb. 15-25: "Metamorphoses," by Mary Zimmerman, is "Ovid stories told in 3,600 gallons of water," artistic director David Feldshuh says. (A pool will be built for the show in Class of '56 Flexible Theatre.) "It's an exquisitely beautiful play, both visually and in its text," including the legends of King Midas, Cupid and Aphrodite.
• April 27-May 6: "The Skin of Our Teeth," Thornton Wilder's classic suburban satire, with guest director Kent Stephens of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre.
• Dance Series performances: Orissa Dance, Sept. 29; Cornell Dance Concert 2006, March 9-12; and Merce Cunningham Dance Company, March 15-16.

Advance single ticket prices for theatre shows are $8 and $10. Various subscription options are available, ranging from two dance concerts to all nine shows. For tickets or more information, call (607) 254-ARTS or visit http://www.arts.cornell.edu/theatrearts.