The Cradle Will Rock, the title of Marc Blitzstein's 1937 social- protest musical, now also serves as the name of Tim Robbins's film account of how the show, sponsored by the Federal Theater Project (the theatrical branch of the WPA) and mounted by Orson Welles and John Houseman, lost its stage on opening night when punitive budget-cutting by a hostile and Red-hunting Congress closed the doors of the Maxine Elliott Theater and placed sets and costumes in limbo.