A MOST DANGEROUS MAN by Greg Pliska and Charles Morey is a music-theatre piece on the 20th century American Labor movement told through the life story of Walter Reuther, longtime leader of the United Auto Workers. It is inspired in part by the great “Detroit Industry” frescoes created by Diego Rivera and envisions using those images juxtaposed with archival photographs and those of present day, post-industrial Detroit as a central theatrical metaphor.
The Drama: Walter Reuther was a singular figure in the American Labor movement. His story is that of the American workers’ fight for dignity, economic justice and progressive ideals that form the core values of the American experiment. A man of uncompromising integrity and commitment, Reuther was threatened and beaten; he survived a kidnapping attempt and a shooting. With equal fervor he fought determined anti-union factory managers and mob bosses, while surviving multiple internecine battles within the Labor movement itself. Unique among industrial labor leaders, Reuther took a strong and militant stand in favor of the Civil Rights movement and marched with Martin Luther King at Selma. By the early 1960’s Reuther’s position and that of the UAW had become almost un-assailable. But with successful growth came the inevitable calcifying effect of institutionalization and bureaucratization, the impossible-to-resist lure of a seat at the table in the rooms of power and privilege. Walter Reuther’s crisis of conscience, the dramatic fulcrum of his life comes in the tumultuous days of March-August 1968, from LBJ’s stunning announcement not to run for a second term, to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., to the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, culminating in the Chicago Democratic National Convention and the “Days of Rage.” These were the times that challenged Reuther to recommit himself to the fundamental values that had shaped his life. The painter Diego Rivera is a non-realistic presence throughout, serving as both Reuther’s conscience and that of the piece itself. This is a story of particular resonance today as we watch the opening days of a Presidential Administration that would seem dedicated to the final eradication of those progressive values that not only fueled the Labor Movement in its early struggles, but are the very stuff of real American exceptionalism.
The Set Projections will be integral to the production. Images of Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” juxtaposed against archival photographs from the labor movement and present day images of post-industrial Detroit. (Note: Rights to the theatrical use of the visual imagery are yet to be obtained.) Realistic scenery will be minimal, only those elements necessary to action.
The Music This story is ripe with opportunities for musical-theatrical expression. The energy of the laborers, the dynamics of collective action, the rhythmic pulse of the factory, the electric tension of the strike and the specific high and low points of Reuther’s personal life—all these inspire powerful and evocative musical ideas. We envision a musical journey that contrasts the power and simplicity of the great labor songs of the early 20th Century with the complexity and drive of the factory, the dissonance and tension of the greater struggle. Intimate moments from Reuther’s life will balance grand ensemble moments. We envision a relatively modest ensemble of perhaps eighteen singers and an orchestra of ten, with the goal of creating a music-theatre piece of reasonable production costs that still conveys the epic scope of the underlying story.