The article states that Cranston will star, but the rest of the cast is not yet secure.
Wow, for the ART. They've gotten quite the run with b'way transfers: Porgy, Once, Pippin, Glass Menagerie...now this? Pretty damn impressive!
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
This might do well on Broadway. The concurrent themes are Johnson's ambition to be elected President and the passage of the Civil Rights bill and there's a raft full of fascinating characters populating the stage in both those quests. I do hope Cranston comes to New York- it's a towering performance and Brandon Dirden is excellent as Martin Luther King. I didn't think Reed Birney was a convincing Happy Warrior (he plays Hubert Humphrey) but I'm sure the performance will sharpen enroute to Broadway; Dan Butler was a feisty George Wallace; Michael McKean is an unctuous J. Edgar Hoover-- it's a large scale play and bites off a large chunk of history (I mean 1964 was a rather tumultuous year). Ironically it couldn't be more timely with the current reassessment of the Voting Rights Act. But I'd go see it again-- there's a lot of meat on those dramatic bones and Cranston is, well, awesome. I think this would be his Broadway debut.
dramamama, you might be able to speak to this as I haven't lived in Boston for many years now, but certainly this would have to do with Diane Paulus' tenure as Artistic Director, no? Appointing her made ART more commercial, and it's certainly become a launching ground for Broadway.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
Michael McKean tweeted about it yesterday, so I would assume he's going to continue on as Edgar Hoover. I imagine Cranston's willingness to bring the play to Broadway has a lot to do with the move--this does not seem like the kind of play (a fairly cut-and-dry, if interesting, historical drama) that would come in for a commercial run without a name celebrity attached.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
It can LARGELY be attributed to Paulus as Artistic Director. She really shook things up at the ART. At first, the subscribers were pretty pissed with the change she rattled, but either they've realized what they now have, or they have simply been replaced with new subscribers.
I have to admit: I am in awe of her vision and work. I would love to do some sort of workshop or lecture with her.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
I AM SICK OF TV STARS HEADING TO BROADWAY FOR BIG PAYDAY WHEN THEIR TV CAREERS ARE OVER! BRYAN CRANSTON ISN'T A BROADWAY ACTOR! TAKING THIS ROLE MEANS A REAL BROADWAY ACTOR LOSES OUT BECAUSE OF STUNT CASTING!
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
After seeing it (and really enjoying it) in Cambridge, I think it would be kinda cool if it were re-staged to be done in the round at Circle in the Square.
So, they should throw out the set and the projections because you think it would be kinda cool if All The Way was re-staged to be done in the round at Circle in the Square? Not a smart suggestion.
Saw it at ART, Cranston is a lock for a nomination if not a win. Hopefully they have cut it down, it ran exactly 3 hours. And last note, the Neil Simon is WAY too big! It's a small play and really does not need a theater that big. However, I'm sure it will be breaking a ton of house record.
ALL THE WAY is most certainly not a small play. It is large in scope, cast, length, and conception, and was large in its staging at ART. Whether it "fits" into the Simon is debatable, but to say it's small, especially as plays go, is a gross mischaracterization.
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES