Bryan Cranston portrays LBJ in Broadway debut

Bryan Cranston portrays LBJ in Broadway debut

Bryan Cranston is riding high following his recent wins for lead actor in a drama series at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild.

Fresh off the conclusion of his AMC drama, Breaking Bad,  Emmy winner Bryan Cranston will take on another dramatic role as President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Broadway production of All the Way.

All the Way details the first year of LBJ’s presidency after he became president following John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The play is directed by Bill Rauch and Pulitzer prize winning writer Robert Schenkkan.

The play will chronicle Johnson’s guiding America after the tragedy of Kennedy’s death. It will also show how Johnson struggled to get to pass the Civil Rights Bill. All the Way also details his fight for re-election after acknowledging that signing the Civil Rights Bill turned away Southern voters.

Cranston said that he was offered roles on Broadway before, but the role of the Texas-born president was too good to resist. “I wanted to wait for something that had meaning, that really had resonance, that was historically important, socially important and entertaining,”. Cranston said. “And ‘All the Way’ is all of that.”

Schnekkan said that the Breaking Bad actor was the perfect choice to play LBJ. “There are are two things you want in an actor playing LBJ. You want someone who is so charismatic and so charming, and you want somebody who is absolutely terrifying. And in Brian Cranston we have both,” Schenkkan said.

Schnekkan also wants to show the complexity of Johnson that’s rarely explored.  He said that he wanted to capture the essence of LBJ as” this one vexing, confusing, deeply complicated and conflicted individual who is making his way through history and changing the United States and the world as a consequence” .

Despite his legendary short temper, Cranston found a tender side to Johnson. While researching LBJ at his presidential library, Cranston found a letter he wrote to Jackie Kennedy soon after President Kennedy died.

Cranston said ,  “I’m thinking within four days of taking office from a tragic experience, he becomes the president of the United States with all that implies and he took time to write letters to two little children of John Kennedy, the former president. That says something about a person” .

Even though  Cranston conducted a lot of research on Johnson, he wants to reserve judgement on LBJ. “I want to be all of him, his highs, his lows, his good, his bad, and to present it honestly,” he said about Johnson. All the Way premieres at the Neil Simon Theatre on March 6.

 

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