All the Way is a gripping new play about a pivotal moment in American history. This drama will take audiences behind the doors of the Oval Office and inside the first years of Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency, and his fight to pass a landmark civil rights bill. Bryan Cranston, Michael McKean and Brandon J. Dirden will be joined by an ensemble cast playing additional roles such as Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, Robert McNamara, Coretta Scott King, Lady Bird Johnson, Bob Moses, Roy Wilkins, Lurleen Wallace, Stokely Carmichael, Walter Jenkins, Stanley Levison, George Wallace, Ralph Abernathy and Judge Smith.
All the Way was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle and premiered at OSF in 2012. It then went on to play a sold-out and critically acclaimed run at the A.R.T. from September 13-October 12, 2013 starring Cranston. The play was awarded the 2013 inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, established through Columbia University in honor of the late Senator Kennedy, honoring new plays or musicals exploring US history and issues of the day.
Riding the crest of his fame from 'Breaking Bad,' Mr. Cranston strides onto the Broadway stage with an admirable confidence, meeting the challenge of animating Mr. Schenkkan's sprawling civics lesson as if he's thoroughly at home. Although Johnson is not the exclusive focus of the play -- many passages focus on the strategizing among various black civil rights organizations -- Mr. Cranston's heat-generating performance galvanizes the production. Even when Johnson is offstage or the writing sags with exposition, the show, directed solidly if a little stolidly by Bill Rauch, retains the vitalizing imprint of his performance.
There is something courageous and very smart about the three-time Emmy winner's decision to make his Broadway debut in a big ensemble vehicle so far away from Walter White, beloved and complex meth cooker in 'Breaking Bad.' And yet, for all the villains and heroes and sprawling ideals in the play, which began at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival without Cranston, this feels like a fascinating one-man show in a high school history pamphlet...Through it all, Cranston's LBJ feels a bit like a caricature, but one that's compelling and fun to watch. And every time the president made a big point at a recent preview, the audience clapped as if the actor were a tenor singing a high C. We suspect the unflashy Walter White would not have approved.
2014 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Bryan Cranston |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Bill Rauch |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Robert Schenkkan |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Shawn Sagady |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Play | Paul James Prendergast |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Bryan Cranston |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | All the Way |
2014 | New York Drama Critics Circle Awards | Best American Play | 0 |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Bryan Cranston |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Bill Rauch |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | John McMartin |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | All the Way |
2014 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | Bryan Cranston |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Bryan Cranston |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | American Repertory Theater |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | The Oregon Shakespeare Festival |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Will Trice |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Cheryl Wiesenfeld |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Gabrielle Palitz |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | JAM Theatricals |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Gutterman Chernoff |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Caiola Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | William Berlind |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Harvey Weinstein |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Barbara H. Freitag |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Scott M. Delman |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Rebecca Gold |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Double Gemini Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Stephanie P. McClelland |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jerry Frankel |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Louise Gund |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jeffrey Richards |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Robert Schenkkan |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Gene Korf |
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