.that played despite the closing of the theater.
It was a Federal Theater Project production, part of the WPA of the late 1930's.
Great movie, great story based upon true events.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150216/Plot
The film begins with one long tracking shot that focuses on a destitute young woman named Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) who is sleeping illegally in a theater, being awakened and kicked out. The shot continues as she slowly walks down the street following the sound of the song Nickel Under My Foot, which leads her to the building where the song is being played. The camera pans up the side of the building and moves inside where we are introduced to the playwright Marc Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) attempting to write the songs and put together the musical The Cradle Will Rock. Acting as Blitzstein’s conscience/mentors are a vision of his deceased wife and later, an imaginary Bertolt Brecht. Brecht was a radical playwright who stressed the importance of breaking down the wall between the audience and actors, and a fitting character for this story of the production of Cradle Will Rock, which did just that.
The film continues, providing a picture of life in the 1930s where some people wait in endless unemployment lines attempting to get work, while others enjoy their wealth engaging in parties and purchasing expensive works of art. As the musical nears production, the WPA cuts the budget for the FTP, and puts a halt to all new productions. This announcement comes following the House Committee on Un-American Activities’ questioning of many of those involved in the FTP, and the musical itself due to its leftist themes around labor and union organizing. Despite being canceled, the director, Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and producer, John Houseman (Cary Elwes), lead the cast to another theater that they were able to secure at the last minute. The cast is forbidden to perform by their union, so Blitzstein takes the stage alone at an upright piano to perform the show himself, only to be joined by many of the cast members who deliver their lines from the audience. Robbins juxtaposes this final triumphant moment of the theater with images of the destruction of a mural commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) because the artist, Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades), refused to remove the image of Lenin's face from the piece. In tying together stories of labor issues and steel strikes, censorship in painting and theater, and the disparities of wealth and power, Robbins is able to paint a picture of the 1930s that goes beyond simply recounting past events and questions the boundaries between art, power and politics. Furthermore, Robbins attempts to link these issues to the present day through the final shot of the film. The camera follows a mock funeral procession for the FTP as it marches into Times Square only to pan up from this scene to a shot of the high rises and neon billboards that stand there today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_Will_Rock 
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