ALL THE WAY Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 3/6/14 at 1:40pm

Post 'em here!

Sidebar: I caught the final preview last night. Thoroughly enjoyed. Cranston is giving a brilliantly realized performance!

[A Director]

Posted: 3/6/14 at 8:06pm

A great production of a great show!

[A Director]

Posted: 3/6/14 at 8:06pm

A great production of a great show!

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 3/6/14 at 9:18pm

In lieu of drama or tragedy, “All The Way” offers us some fascinating facts, delivered by some fine actors.
All The Way Review: Bryan Cranston as LBJ. Breaking Bad Meets Broadway.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/6/14 at 10:29pm

Isherwood's review is positive...I think.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 3/7/14 at 12:04am

This show is scheduled to run for just a little under four months. I suspect it will do fine.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 3/7/14 at 12:34pm

My sense was this was rushed to Broadway to capitalize on Cranston's peak of notoriety. I hope it came together and is well received.

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 3/7/14 at 4:15pm

"My sense was this was rushed to Broadway to capitalize on Cranston's peak of notoriety. I hope it came together and is well received."

Well, it played in Oregon awhile back, and had a good run in Cambridge last year, so although the timing might be planned, it certainly wasn't rushed.

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 3/7/14 at 5:57pm

I think it was rushed. In a good way. Though it played sometime ago, it was all very quick. To get a big star like this for a Broadway show at the top of his popularity is fast. Sometimes it takes 3-5 years and by then the actor could lose popularity steam. To me this was quick and well worth it.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/8/14 at 12:52am

Well, what you mean to say is the production was rushed, not the play development.

Entertainment Weekly gave it a B.

I've still no interest.

[The Other One]

Posted: 3/9/14 at 8:38am

Tremendous production, with a terrific lead performance, but not a great play. Fortunately it deals with a most eventful year in history, so there is a built-in interest factor it does not fall below even though it never rises above.

LBJ is the only three-dimensional character in the play, the result of Schenkkan covering more ground than one play can handle.

The "B" from Entertainment Weekly, the three out of four stars in the News and the Post and the did-he-or-didn't-he like it? review from Isherwood are all on the money in my opinion.

[CoreyRyan3]

Posted: 3/9/14 at 10:32am

I enjoyed the play. Yes, it is a political drama, so it wasn't the MOST interesting thing to watch, at least in my opinion, but Bryan Cranston was thrilling and his energy was enough to keep me interested throughout the story. Also, I thought the direction was beautiful and the projections were very well done.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 3/9/14 at 2:12pm

I saw it last weekend...I thought Cranston was incredible,, an incredibly powerful yet nuanced performance (note: I've never seen Breaking Bad, although I did enjoy him in "Malcolm in the Middle"). As someone who regularly works in and around the political world, as a whole the show didn't come together for me as much as I would have liked. I enjoyed it, but even for a political person, the level of detail got to be a bit much at times. If you're a fan of Cranston, definitely see it. Otherwise, "B" seems to be about right.

[forgetmenotnyc]

Posted: 3/9/14 at 4:39pm

I really thought this one was top-notch. Went into it not knowing a whole lot about LBJ & left with an inspired sense of the man, even if he was a bit of an impossible narcissist. I mean, aren't they all? Direction & staging is very good. Had some mixed feelings about the projections. When they just looked like photos, I just felt they were cheap & uninspired. Some of them were really top-notch though. Were there ever real motels in the 60's that would advertise in neon signage that they were a "colored"?

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 3/9/14 at 5:15pm

I'm going in a few weeks. Can anyone tell me please what the running time is? Much thanks!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 3/9/14 at 5:18pm

2 hours, 55 minutes.

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 3/9/14 at 5:44pm

Great, thanks!

[AndrewAndrew]

Posted: 3/19/14 at 3:23pm

Were we blown away with LBJ in ALL THE WAY? Watch our review and find out what we have to say!
Click here for full review of ALL THE WAY

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 4/13/14 at 11:36am

Saw All The Way yesterday. I thought it was absolutely riveting, with a tour de force performance by Bryan Cranston. If you're on the fence about seeing it, go. This is a performance of a lifetime.

The play itself has a few flaws and isn't perfect, but that didn't spoil my enjoyment in the least. (There could have been a little more about LBJ's Vietnam inner turmoil, and a little less about convention issues, for example.)

But Cranston was a powerhouse and he was ably supported by other fine actors, who made the show entertaining and much more than a mere history lesson. John McMartin (who I can never get enough of), was wonderful as LBJ's friend but ultimately defeated mentor, Sen. Richard Russell.

Brandon J. Dirden channeled Martin Luther King, Jr. perfectly, voice and all. I look forward to much more in the future from him.

Michael McKean as a softly conniving J. Edgar Hoover, and wily character actor Ethan Phillips (Neelix, Star Trek Voyager), were fun to watch strut their stuff.

Eric Lenox Abrams, as real-life Congress for Racial Equality leader David Dennis, nearly stole the show. He delivered an impassioned speech at the memorial service for three young civil rights activists murdered in Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan and moved the audience to burst into thunderous applause.

We sat in the third row center orchestra, and on his way out from the stage door, Brandon J. Dirden was especially chatty (probably because by then nearly all the other fans had left). He apologized if he spit on us during an intense shouting scene with Bryan Cranston. I told him that was okay, it's what I live for, to be spit on by great actors. Then he insisted on having my husband take a picture of him and me. Now, that was a first.

Updated On: 4/13/14 at 11:36 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/13/14 at 1:44pm

"There could have been a little more about LBJ's Vietnam inner turmoil, and a little less about convention issues, for example."

I read that they plan to make a second play about LBJ as this only covered half of the ground they wanted, FYI.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 4/13/14 at 1:55pm

That sequel to All The Way has already been written. It's called "The Great Society" and is following the same path as its predecessor, scheduled to premiere this summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. It is also being directed by Bill Rauch, The Festival's Artistic Director who directed All The Way.

[wexy]

Posted: 4/13/14 at 2:16pm

Going Wednesday. Looking forward.50 years ago the real LBJ waved at me and my friend when he was campaigning with Bobby Kennedy.

[A Director]

Posted: 4/13/14 at 3:25pm

"That sequel to All The Way has already been written. It's called "The Great Society" and is following the same path as its predecessor, scheduled to premiere this summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. It is also being directed by Bill Rauch, The Festival's Artistic Director who directed All The Way."

This seems to imply the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is being used as a tryout theatre for both plays. "All The Way" was commissioned by OSF as part of the American Revolution series. At that time, there were no plans to take the show to Broadway. "The Great Society" was commissioned by and co-produced with Seattle Repertory Theatre. "The Great Society" with Jack Willis, again as LBJ, runs July 23-November 1.

Both plays will be done at Seattle Repertory Theatre, directed by Bill Rauch and with Jack Willis this fall.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 4/13/14 at 4:37pm

"This seems to imply the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is being used as a tryout theatre for both plays."

I didn't intend to imply anything. I was pointing out that they were following the same path by having their world premieres at OSF, both directed by Rauch. I wasn't trying to imply it has a guaranteed Broadway run in its future since it hasn't even had a premiere yet. When a playwright writes a play, I would assume he or she hopes it has a life beyond the theater that premieres it and I would also assume is open to making improvements based on those initial audiences' reaction. Some might then consider this in some respects as a "tryout". I really don't care who co-produced or commissioned it. It certainly wasn't relevant to the comment I was responding to. Not really sure what your point is.