Bryan Cranston goes ‘All the Way’ as LBJ

CIVIL RIGHTS ICON: Bryan Cranston as President Johnson in ‘All the Way.’ Photo: Evgenia Eliseeva

ALL THE WAY
Written by Robert Schenkkan
Directed by Bill Rauch
Neil Simon Theatre
250 West 52nd Street
(877-250-2929), AllTheWayBroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

There is one main reason to see All the Way, the Broadway docudrama about President Lyndon Baines Johnson: “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston, giving a physically and mentally exhausting portrayal that is the raison d’être for this chronicle of the man who took over after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Mr. Cranston has marvelous stage presence, and gives us all of LBJ’s iconic mannerisms and Texas drawl. “Breaking Bad” fans won’t be disappointed because Mr. Cranston more than delivers, and is particularly endearing when telling LBJ’s many down-home anecdotes.

Unfortunately, Mr. Cranston’s outstanding performance is sometimes overshadowed by Robert Schenkkan’s overstuffed narrative. Perhaps LBJ’s greatest achievement was passing the Civil Rights Act in 1964. All the Way would have been a brilliant show as a 90-minute one act, focusing solely on LBJ working to make equality for African Americans the law of the land.

Johnson was an iconic president and one who never planned to actually run the country, but every detail of his presidency does not always make for compelling theater.  Act I focuses on his struggle to sign the Civil Rights Act into law, but by the second half of this nearly three-hour show, playwright Robert Schenkkan forces us to sit through so many unnecessary scenes, from a funeral of a slain black in Mississippi to a needless subplot about Martin Luther King, Jr. (Branden J. Dirden) and his alleged audio recordings of his womanizing ways that J. Edgar Hoover (Michael McKean) got his hands on, to far too many details about the 1964 Democratic Convention in Atlantic City.

Director Bill Rauch does little to trim the fat, much of which might be effective in a documentary or film, but comes across as unnecessary and wooden on the stage. We already know the outcome of the 1964 election, so why Mr. Rauch and Mr. Shenkkan considered all the minutiae of the race worthy of the stage is anyone’s guess. Mr.  Shenkkan, who won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for the multi-act epic The Kentucky Cycle, is not known for brevity.

There are some fine supporting performances here, particularly from John McMartin as “Dixiecrat” leader Senator Richard Russell, but overall this is a vehicle for Bryan Cranston (or should be). It is a shame director Bill Rauch was unable to rein in the rambling parts of the script to make this a more polished and enjoyable evening.

This would have been a perfect show had it concluded at the end of Act I, as the bill has passed and LBJ becomes the Democratic candidate for the 1964 presidential race. For some reason, the playwright chooses to include another 70 minutes of needless rhetoric, none of which advances the show but stalls it to let us know that Johnson ultimately wins the 1964 election. Perhaps Mr. Schenkkan and Mr. Rauch should realize there’s a lot of truth to the adage “less is more,” especially with stage dramas about historical figures.

PARTY LINE: Robert Petroff & Bryan Cranston in ‘All the Way.’ Photo: Evgenia Eliseeva

 Winner of two Tony Awards: Best Play 2014 and Bryan Cranston, Best Actor in a Drama

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 14, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on March 12, 2014