All the Way

1963. An assassin’s bullet catapults Lyndon B. Johnson into the presidency. A Shakespearean figure of towering ambition and appetite, this charismatic, conflicted Texan hurls himself into the Civil Rights Act, a tinderbox issue emblematic of a divided America. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s vivid dramatization of LBJ’s first year in office, means versus ends plays out on the precipice of modern America. This searing, enthralling exploration of the morality of power, premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2012. The A.R.T.’s new production stars Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") as LBJ, Brandon J. Dirden (The Piano Lesson) as Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael McKean (A Mighty Wind) as J. Edgar Hoover, and Reed Birney ("House of Cards") as Hubert Humphrey.