Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press
All the Way
by Robert Schenkkan“A magnificent work. . . . a brilliant portrayal no less epic than the great tragedies of classic literature.” —Roma Torre, NY1
Books
Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press
About The Book
Winner of the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play, as well as Best Play awards from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, the Outer Critics Circle, the Drama League, the Drama Desk, the Boston Elliot Norton Award, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, and the Steinberg/American Theater Critics Award, All the Way is a masterful exploration of politics and power from Pulitzer winner Robert Schenkkan.
Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston played the lead role in the play’s celebrated Broadway performance at the Neil Simon Theatre, for which he was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actor. In this volume, Cranston provides a never-before-published illuminating and personal introduction to the play.
All the Way tells the story of the tumultuous first year of the presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Thrust into power following the Kennedy assassination and facing an upcoming election in just one year, Johnson is nevertheless determined to end the legacy of racial injustice in America and rebuild it into the Great Society—by any means necessary. In 1964, this pivotal year in American history, LBJ struggles to overpower opposition to change in Congress while also trying to forge a compromise with Martin Luther King and the increasingly fractious Civil Rights Movement, in order to pass the landmark 1964 Civil Rights bill.
Praise
“All the Way puts the theater of politics on stage, and produces a masterful story that all Americans should see.” —Nancy Pelosi
“All the Way illuminates in intricate detail . . . how Johnson bent a recalcitrant Congress to his purpose, as if engaging in a long arm-wrestling contest with hundreds of other combatants, as he labored to pass a signature piece of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” —Charles Isherwood, New York Times
“Jaw-dropping political drama. . . . Johnson was famously crude, rude, and ruthless. Schenkkan, a Pulitzer Prize winner for The Kentucky Cycle, packs all that into his rich character-study. . . . In this beautifully built dramatic piece, it takes the scribe just under three (perfectly paced) hours to cover that tumultuous year, from November 1963 to November 1964, in which Vice President Johnson assumed the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, engineered the passage of a landmark civil rights bill, and was elected in his own right as our 37th president.” —Marilyn Stasio, Variety
“One of the most fabulous theater things ever. . . . You’ll see and understand better the towering ego, political acumen, power-grabbing personality, honesty, the truth, and the lies of one of the greatest characters America has ever produced. . . . Beg, borrow or steal a ticket to recent history made real again, in All the Way.” —Liz Smith, Huffington Post
“An epic that’s by turns fascinating, infuriating, inspiring—even funny. No matter how many books you’ve read, documentaries you’ve seen, it’s well worth reliving [this pivotal period].” —Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun
“All the Way is a great history lesson for voters and politicians who are concerned about the quality of America’s civic life.” —Julian Zelizer, CNN
“An action packed new play about a seismic moment in American history.” —Frank Rizzo, Variety
“A worthy reappraisal [of Johnson]. . . . All the Way is mainly about what made Lyndon Johnson so vital a figure in our modern history, a man of vast capacities who, for all his flaws and personal tics, made the most of our messy democratic process.” —Peter Osnos, Atlantic
“With a cinematic sweep and an eye toward teasing out parallels to our current political gridlock, Schenkkan artfully traces the first year of LBJ’s presidency.” —Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly
“A magnificent work. . . . It’s a brilliant portrayal no less epic than the great tragedies of classic literature.” —Roma Torre, NY1
“Schenkkan and [director] Rauch are very good at choreographing the internal rhythms of political life.” —Hilton Als, New Yorker
