The Great Society

C

If you saw Robert Schenkkan’s (The Kentucky Cycle) earlier play about the LBJ years, All the Way, I suspect that, for a multitude of reasons, you will be disappointed in the sequel, now at Lincoln Center Theater, which picks up the story at LBJ’s inauguration in 1965 and ends with Nixon’s in 1969. The play is overstuffed with episodes that cover the fight to pass a voting rights bill and other Great Society legislation, the ongoing struggle for civil rights complicated by fractures in the leadership and recalcitrance of Democratic politicians both in the South and North, the developing war in Vietnam and the protests it provoked, and examples of LBJ’s skilled arm-twisting techniques. No wonder there is little room for any depth of characterization. It’s a bit like a live Cliff Notes version of the era. I wished that the author had opted for less breadth and greater depth. With 22 actors, most of whom play multiple roles, it is occasionally hard to tell who’s who. Then there’s the matter of casting. While Brian Cox (That Championship Season) is a fine actor whose work I have often admired, the role of LBJ does not fit him like a glove; if you saw Bryan Cranston’s LBJ, you may have trouble adjusting to Cox’s. In addition, his attempt to find the right accent made the first few moments of the play almost unintelligible. Gordon Clapp (Glengarry Glen Ross) is believable as J.Edgar Hoover, but, as written by Schenkkan, the role is one-note. Barbara Garrick (The City of Conversation) has the thankless task of playing a colorless version of Lady Bird. David Garrison (Hollywood/Ukraine) is livelier both as Gov. Wallace and as Nixon. The ever-reliable Marc Kudisch (Girl from the North Country) is fine as Mayor Daley. Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), always eminently watchable, is a convincing Robert Kennedy. Richard Thomas (The Little Foxes) is rather stolid as Humphrey, but that seems suitable for the role as written. The usually fine Frank Wood (Side Man) is unconvincing as Sen. Dirksen. As MLK Jr., Grantham Coleman (Buzzer) lacks sufficient fire. David Korins (Hamilton) has designed an austere circular set with bleacher-like seating at the rear and dugout-like seating on the sides. The selection of which actors sit in these seats during various scenes seemed rather arbitrary. Props appear as needed. Projections by Victoria Sagady (All the Way) help set the scene. Linda Cho’s (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) costumes seem appropriate to the period. Director Bill Rauch (The Clean House) keeps things moving, but to little cumulative effect. While the earlier play dug deeper into its characters, this one skims the surface. All in all, it was quite disappointing. Running time: two hours 40 minutes including intermission.

Night Is a Room **

To say that I liked this play the best of Naomi Wallace’s three plays for Signature Theatre’s residency program amounts to faint praise. The current play is set in Leeds, England where we meet Liana (Dagmara Dominczyk), an ad executive with beauty and style who is happily married to Marcus (Bill Heck), a popular history teacher in a girls’ school. In the first scene Liana is visiting the modest garden flat of Doré (Ann Dowd), a frumpy 55-year-old cleaning woman, who at age 15 was forced to give up the baby boy she bore. Doré is Marcus’s birth mother, whom Liana has tracked down at great expense, so she could unite mother and son as a surprise present for Marcus’s 40th birthday. Big mistake. The play skips the reunion and moves ahead three months. Liana, jealous at the many evenings Marcus has been spending at Doré’s, invites her to their upscale flat for tea. Their lives all change dramatically after that evening. After the big “reveal” which I will not give away here, what follows seems anti-climactic. The final scene, set six years later, spins its wheels and ends unconvincingly. The production is better than the material. All three actors, particularly the women, are excellent. Rachel Hauck’s set design is simple but evocative. Clint Ramos’s costumes are well-chosen. Bill Rauch’s direction is confident. If only the play did not peak too early and then go on too long, it would have been a more satisfying experience. Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes including intermission.