Seattle Rep’s “All The Way” Is Riveting…As Long As LBJ Is Center Stage

Jack Willis channels Lyndon Baines Johnson in Seattle Rep’s “All the Way” by Robert Schenkkan. Photo: Chris Bennion

Review: All The Way by Robert Schenkkan. Produced by Seattle Repertory Theatre and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Directed by Bill Rauch. With Jack Willis, Kenajuan Bentley, Danforth Comins, Peter Frechette, Terri McMahon, Michael Winters. Now through January 4, 2015 in repertory with The Great Society, at Seattle Rep.

It’s the most prestigious play of 2014 and it’s a huge hit for Seattle Repertory Theatre. Local playwright Robert Schenkkan’s award winning play All The Way examines the life of the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, “all the way” from his first day in office on Air Force One returning to Washington D.C. from Dallas and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, to November 3, 1964 and LBJ’s landslide victory in the 1964 Presidential election. Mr. Schenkkan’s 3 hour long narrative examines that dark year in American politics with Johnson as the center figure but also features two strong supporting stories, one focusing on Martin Luther King and the push for civil rights legislation and the other intertwining plot of Johnson’s bid to win the presidency on his own in the ’64 elections and the challenge placed by his Democratic opponent, the conservative “Dixiecrat” George Wallace. It’s a mammoth production with 17 actors portraying over 50 characters, the majority of them actual historical figures, and is to be followed by the sequel to this play featuring the same cast and team, The Great Society which debuts December 5 to be played in repertory with the first play through January 4, 2015. This ambitious project is a joint production with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the majority of the actors, designers and team were brought up from the previously performed productions in Ashland, OR. Between All The Way winning the Tony Award for Best Play this year, and the subsequent acclaim from the Ashland and Broadway runs, the Rep has its biggest hit in years onstage with many performances already sold out.

But, is it worthy of the hype?

Yes. And, no.

All The Way is, at heart, the LBJ story and because Lyndon B. Johnson was such a colorful, vibrant, powerful, idiosyncratic and complicated man, there’s a lot to be excited about with this play. Johnson was not a shy man and he was probably the last truly outspoken political leader this country has had. He was quotable 24/7…even reporters who hated LBJ loved to cover him. The man was always available for a quote and he wasn’t afraid to say things that other politicians weren’t capable of; LBJ was center stage every moment of his waking life. The moments that the character takes that spot light are exciting, riveting and highly entertaining moments of terrific theater and largely enabled by Mr. Schenkkan’s dialogue and a mesmerizing and charismatic performance from Jack Willis as Johnson.  Mr. Willis really doesn’t resemble the lanky Texan or actually sound that much like him, but he does a brilliant job of channeling that vibrant energy and intellect. He’s also witty and verbally nimble and frequently very , very funny. The character and the performance are the primary reasons this play and productions are worthy of your time.

But, whenever the spotlight is off Johnson, and the character is offstage, the story and momentum tend to drag. There are other very strong characters and performances in All The Way, specifically Peter Frechette as LBJ’s Vice President choice, the much put upon Hubert Humphrey, not to mention, Richard Elmore’s sly and frequently exasperated take on FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Michael Winters as LBJ’s mentor, the fiercely Southern segregationist Congressman Richard Russell. But, there are other characters who tend to have less energy, notably Kenajuan Bentley’s rather dull and slightly wishy washy MLK and Jonathan Haugen’s underwritten role as Wallace. And, women have very little to do in this story other as helpful but frequently overlooked spousal units. Only Bakesta King gets a female role with any meat on its bones, as the impassioned civil rights activist, Fannie Lou Hamer.

Director Bill Rauch is an old hand at this material; he’s directed all the major productions to date, and for the most part, he keeps things moving along with the aid of Shawn Sagady’s excellent and extensive video projection design..in fact, I could have used MORE projections in this show to create a bigger, more theatrical effect. I’d actually like to see a non-American director take a shot at this deeply American material for a different perspective.

The next play, The Great Society takes up where we left off with the end of All The Way, through the rest of Johnson’s presidency including the push for more civil rights legislation, and Johnson’s “War on Poverty” as well as the increasing toll of American lives and Johnson’s political hopes in the turmoil of rising conflict in Vietnam. While I’m confident that the character/performance of LBJ will continue to mesmerize, I have hopes that the new characters and plots in the second play will equal the power of its central character.