Through Sun 10/9
I wish my fellow Texan (that is, LBJ) could have seen Robert Schenkkan’s Tony-award winning All the Way in the beautifully staged production at the Cleveland Play House. He would have loved it.
On Friday night 9/23 director Giovanna Sardelli and her merry crew took history and civics out of the lecture hall and into our felt experience. (It’s kind of a relief to think about past political battles and realize that the current age has no monopoly on chaotic times and harsh words between battling party members.)
The play recreates events connected to President Johnson’s successful effort to work with Congress to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He’s brought to life before our eyes thanks to Steve Vinovich’s folksy, down-to-earth take. Vinovich persuades us that he is LBJ and that we are invisible bystanders watching in awe as he cajoles, promises, and even threatens Congress (and a large cast of other public figures) to get necessary legislation through Congress (and as we know, given the current stalemate, that’s not always so easy to do).
Although LBJ is the heart of the play, cameo appearances by important leaders keep the action moving. Opposing viewpoints and goals get smacked together as we see how Johnson managed wildly contrasting characters, such as famed civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (a stalwart Jason Bowen), and feared and powerful FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover (a weasley William Parry). All this is justly the stuff of legend (and politics).
The rest of the ensemble of then-famous names includes Senators Richard Russell (a sympathetic Stephen Bradbury as an aging, genteel representative of the “Old South”), Hubert Humphrey (played as inept by Donald Carrier), and Everett Dirksen (a blustering Timothy Crowe).
Other standouts include Greg Jackson’s spikey Governor George Wallace, a man who played on people’s fears through the media (yes, even then) to great effect. As Lady Bird Johnson, Laura Starnik convincingly shows a bit of the steel that underlay Mrs. LBJ’s character as she frequently propped her husband up under the guise of wifely concern. As the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Joshua David Robinson adeptly demonstrates how leaders can subdue immediate gains for long-term goals.
Extra special praise should be given to scenic designer Robert Mark Morgan’s set. Its understated, thoughtful design gave marvelous room for the story to be told. It consists of a series of multiple stepped levels, with two screens above acting as televisions or history lessons when needed, and multiple panels at the side and back with projected images that changed according to the setting .
Bottom line: A fast-paced, educational show about politics that isn’t boring or hectoring. LBJ is there, warts and all.
All the Way runs through Sun 10/9. For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to clevelandplayhouse.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
[Photo by Roger Mastroianni]
Cleveland, OH 44115