Bryan Cranston in All The Way

[foxy]

You may have heard of this actor. He was in a little show called Breaking Bad. So now he's LBJ warts and all. It has a large cast playing a whole cadre of political figures but it's really Bryan's show in what I think is a Tony award winning performance. He's on stage constantly and it's hard to take your eyes off him. The play concentrates on the early months of his first administration after the Kennedy assassination and the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. Powerful stuff. It's a long play but flies along in rapid fire. I learned a lot and I highly recommend it.

[maninsoma]

I never got into Breaking Bad. To me, Bryan Cranston is memorable as Hal, the father on Malcolm in the Middle.

[Cooper]

I also saw this well acted play. I agree with foxy, Bryan Cranston's portrayal of LBJ is excellent and he's the reason for seeing it. His character dominates the show... Play deals with the wheeling and dealing of Washington politics and how the Civil Rights Movement got it's start. Also depicts a good insight into the life of LBJ and his insecurities.. Other memorable roles were those of Hubert Humphrey, Martin Luther King, George Wallace, J Edgar Hoover, and Lady Bird Johnson. Good cast, but again, it's Bryan Cranston who is the real star. There's little humor in this play and it leaves you with a better understand of LBJ.

 

http://allthewaybroadway.com/

[Frankly Rich]

Thanks foir telling us about All The Way. I have tickets to see it and now look forward to it even more. I have my best blue ice ready for that night!

[Cooper]

This is President's Week in NYC and the schools are closed bringing more people out for a Wednesday matinee... TKTS has 2 lines, one for musicals and one for plays. Fortunately, there was no line for this play. Foxy got 5th row center orchestra seats for $75. Sometimes, TKTS is the best way to go... As for the line for musicals, it's was very long, plus, it was raining.... It's also Restaurant Week in NYC. At participating restaurants, a 3 course lunch is $25 and dinner is $38. We ate at McCormick & Schmick's on 52nd and 6th. Excellent meal.

[shadowcatzxxx]

I'll put in a powerful recommendation for All the Way also. Saw it before it got to New York and was ocmpletley blown away, both by Cranston's performance (and his make-up ... they even gave him LBJ's earlobes) and the writing.

 

What amazed me most was that, being of a certain age, I lived through all that stuff, so I KNEW what would happen. I KNEW the Civil Rights Act would be passed. I knew LBJ would actually be elected. And I was STILL on the dge of my seat for most of the performance. Now THAT is writing and acting.

 

It was also a somewhat sad lesson in the way politics works, and a partial explanation for why Obama has been having so much trouble. LBJ did an incredible amount of schoozing, back slapping, arm twisting (and worse) to get the civil rights act passed. It is hard to imagine Obama doing that. It is not a gentlemanly thing to do at all. It isn't pleasant. And it sometimes isn't even honest. But it works. Or ... at least ... it did work back then.

 

Nowadays, with 24/7 news channels, videos and open mics, smartphones taking videos everywhere, and the internet to magnify anything, maybe that kind of politics simply isn't possible any more.

 

But, at any rate, the show is well worth seeing for several reasons.

[+ Chris Eisenhower]

Just saw it and had to stop myself from bursting into tears at the very end. This show is very, very powerful and you'll feel the frustration and pain that LBJ went through to get certain civil rights-related legislation passed during his early years as president. This is the first time I've ever sat in the front row-center of a show, and I'm very glad I did.

 

Bryan Cranston was flat out amazing, but pretty much everything about this show is as well. Hugely recommended.

[uwsman2]

I agree with Chris. I saw it on Saturday afternoon. Powerful stuff, well acted by an excellent cast in a fast-moving production. It may be long, but the time seems to fly by. And, as somebody else who lived through all this stuff (I was in 6th grade when JFK was killed, so I basically grew up with the Johnson administration), I found it fascinating to see it enacted on the stage. Definitely two thumbs up.

[Frankly Rich]

Two of my friends had seen this, and I could tell that they were anticipating my reaction to it. I got the impression that they both felt that Btyan Cranston's performance was Tony-winning, and that the play itself was very well done. They sure were right.

With hardly a hint of Blue Ice, Cranston took off at the starting bell and never let up. By the end of the (very long) show, I was certain he was LBJ himself.

But, of course, he is not, just a portrayal and, at times, a caricature of the man. But the shows writers and performers did an excellent job at bringing us back to 1964, the peak of the civil rights movement.

[foxy]

This show really makes one look at LBJ in a different way. Bryan Cranston gives a wonderful performance. Hope he gets a Tony as he deserves it.

[Frankly Rich]

It's a wealth of choices for men on Broadway. I liked Neil Patrick Harris for the musical, and probably Cranston for the play. O'Dowd is very good competition.

[+ WilliamM]

I am not sure if "All the Way" or the recent celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 at the Johnson Library with Obama, Carter, Clinton and Bush43 speaking on successive days would have been so successful if Lady Bird had not agreed to release the Johnson White House tapes long before the date LBJ had mandated. Most people had never heard Johnson bargain and bully and constantly push for more rights for minorities and the poor. The tapes were invaluable to the writing of "All the Way."

 

As president, Johnson believed that he had to hide his greatest asset: his ability to use any verbal tactic to get his legislation through Congress. People finally got a chance to hear the real LBJ when they listened to his recorded phone calls. And Mrs. Johnson agree to the release without knowing what was on the tapes

[MrMiniver]

This show really makes one look at LBJ in a different way. Bryan Cranston gives a wonderful performance. Hope he gets a Tony as he deserves it.

 

You can look at LBJ in a different way but ... if you want to be accurate and look at it in a historical way ... LBJ was one of the sleaziest men who ever held that office. Went into office as a pauper and left it a multi-millionaire. Read some of the transcripts of the tapes sometime. Really awful stuff.

[+ WilliamM]

You can look at LBJ in a different way but ... if you want to be accurate and look at it in a historical way ... LBJ was one of the sleaziest men who ever held that office. Went into office as a pauper and left it a multi-millionaire. Read some of the transcripts of the tapes sometime. Really awful stuff.

 

The transcripts do not capture the LBJ of "All The Way," only the actual taped conversations do that. Otherwise, your comments belong in the political forum, not here. Good try though for trying to sneak your far right conservative views in here.

[Frankly Rich]

MrMiniver says he is too busy to write reviews of the shows he claims to have seen. He only has time for the "occasional" pithy remark. I wish that he would write a review that backed up what he thinks, instead of these very frequent catty remarks.

[MrMiniver]

The transcripts do not capture the LBJ of "All The Way," only the actual taped conversations do that. Otherwise, your comments belong in the political forum, not here. Good try though for trying to sneak your far right conservative views in here.

 

Excuse me. You have no idea what you are talking about, obviously. I wasn't the one who brought up LBJ in the first place and you have no idea about my politics. If you think LBJ was a boy scout that's your opinion but it has no basis in historical fact.

[MrMiniver]

MrMiniver says he is too busy to write reviews of the shows he claims to have seen. He only has time for the "occasional" pithy remark. I wish that he would write a review that backed up what he thinks, instead of these very frequent catty remarks.

 

 

Talking about the historical record is a "catty remark?" Have you read the Caro books I have? If you're going to talk about a play about a historical figure who was one of the greatest political figures of the 20th century you expect not to discuss anything "political?" Really?

 

It is a historical fact that LBJ used his office to enrich himself over the course of 20 plus years in the Senate and the White House. That's not "far right wing." That's historical fact. Read the Caro books and get back to me.

[+ WilliamM]

Talking about the historical record is a "catty remark?" Have you read the Caro books I have? If you're going to talk about a play about a historical figure who was one of the greatest political figures of the 20th century you expect not to discuss anything "political?" Really?

 

It is a historical fact that LBJ used his office to enrich himself over the course of 20 plus years in the Senate and the White House. That's not "far right wing." That's historical fact. Read the Caro books and get back to me.

 

This is a thread about the play "All The Way." If you want to discuss Robert Caro's four books under the overall title, "The Years of Lyndon Johnson," that's fine as long as it relevant to "All The Way." General comments about LBJ, good, bad or in the middle, belong in the political forum.

[Frankly Rich]

MrMiniver, you say that you are so busy that you cannot write reviews of the shows you see. You are only able, you say, to inject the occasional pithy comment.

So where do you find time to read the thousands of pages on LBJ that Robert Caro has written? Frankly, I don't think you have, you just used it as a way of defending the lack of depth of your participation here. I hope I am wrong.

[MrMiniver]

MrMiniver, you say that you are so busy that you cannot write reviews of the shows you see. You are only able, you say, to inject the occasional pithy comment.

So where do you find time to read the thousands of pages on LBJ that Robert Caro has written? Frankly, I don't think you have, you just used it as a way of defending the lack of depth of your participation here. I hope I am wrong.

 

Just for the record, I'm not going to answer these kinds of personal attacks or the one above. It's one thing to disagree with one's opinion it's quite another to attack their motives, their integrity, or anything else about their character when you don't know the person or anything about them. I could have easily said the same disgusting things about the posters above but I didn't. I didn't engage in a personal attack upon their integrity.

[+ WilliamM]

Just for the record' date=' I'm not going to answer these kinds of personal attacks or the one above. It's one thing to disagree with one's opinion it's quite another to attack their motives, their integrity, or anything else about their character when you don't know the person or anything about them. I could have easily said the same disgusting things about the posters above but I didn't. I didn't engage in a personal attack upon their integrity.[/quote']

 

Let me remind you that this all started when you wrote," ... LBJ was one of the sleaziest men who ever held that office. Went into office as a pauper and left it a multi-millionaire," which reads to me like a personal attack, and far more important has very little to do with the play "All The Way."

[Frankly Rich]

Just for the record, I'm not going to answer these kinds of personal attacks or the one above. It's one thing to disagree with one's opinion it's quite another to attack their motives, their integrity, or anything else about their character when you don't know the person or anything about them. I could have easily said the same disgusting things about the posters above but I didn't. I didn't engage in a personal attack upon their integrity.

 

I didn't attack you, I simply said I didn't believe you. There's a difference.

[MrMiniver]

Only in some sort of Orwellian alternate universe is calling someone a liar not considered a personal attack.

[+ sf westcoaster]

OK guys enough is enough. No need to make this the first thread in the Comedy and Tragedy section to require that pizza be ordered!

[+ WilliamM]

Well, this was a learning experience for me about Robert Caro. I have read his wonderful book on Robert Moses, "The Power Broker" and all his Johnson books. I also have heard Caro speak in person and take questions from the audience twice. He can be fairly distainful of questions about conspiracy theories and why Lady Bird Johnson gut off all contact with him. Both times there were people in the audience whom he had been searching for concerned LBJ; Caro was thrilled. No wonder the Johnson books take so long to be published.

 

But, he seldom talks about her private life, beyond his wife. So I did not know that Robert Caro is Jewish, or that he and wife have a son. Thank you, Internet!