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MONDAY, OCTOBER 07, 2019
THEATER: The Not-So "Great Society"
THE GREAT SOCIETY ** out of ****
VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATER AT LINCOLN CENTER
Just as the odds were always stacked against politician Lyndon Baines
Johnson, they're stacked against the new Broadway play The GreatSociety. It's a sequel or, if you prefer, a companion piece to the Tony-
winning drama All The Way .
Now, Robert Schenkkan's All The Way lasered in on one of LBJ's
greatest achievements: the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.That was a crowning achievement of Johnson's life and indeed in
many ways the life of the United States. And a drama about its passage
allowed that political animal to charm, cajole, arm-twist, maneuver,manipulate and scheme scheme scheme...but in the service, for once,of the greater good. Imagine Richard III, but with our best interests at
heart.
Then have this complicated man played in scenery-chewing
Technicolor by actor Bryan Cranston. All The Way had plenty of flaws,
delivering history and major characters in a breathless, un-nuanced
rush. But LBJ was a hell of a lot of fun to watch as he towered over
and dominated everyone around him. No wonder All The Way scored
Tonys for both Best Actor and Best Play.
Now here comes The Great Society. And the fun and the victories are
over.Here LBJ is smaller in every way. (And not just because the excellent
actor Brian Cox is a few inches shorter than Cranston -- they're bothshorter than the lumbering LBJ, after all.) The President is
beleaguered on all sides, pushed this way and that. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy outflank him on the left. The Dixiecratsand the Republicans snipe at him from the right. Instead of controllingevents, he is overwhelmed by them.MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (71)
▼ October (9)
THEATER: "Terra Firma" Is On
Shaky Ground
And every step he takes, this tragic figure sinks deeper and deeper into
the muck and mire of Vietnam. The Great Society covers a lot of
history and features 50 or so speaking parts. But what will youremember? The simple, devastating tally of the wounded and dead US
soldiers in that war, numbers that mount higher and higher and
higher all night long.
Plays don't have to be about triumphs to be good, of course. But anexuberant main character can paper over a lot of flaws. Not this time.A pallid, helpless LBJ squawks and complains and bickers and fights.But he doesn't hold your attention. As with All The Way, other
characters dominate the action for lengthy stretches. Happily, LBJwasn't the only hero of that drama, not with MLK inspiring andcampaigning and demanding equal rights.
Yet here MLK (a fine Grantham Coleman) is just as beset as LBJ, with
Stokely Carmichael drawing the spotlight with his own more fiery
rhetoric. Bobby Kennedy might have been a fine foil for Johnson. Buttheir almost animalistic hatred of each other is only glancingly coveredhere. Bryce Pinkham is a compelling presence, but that's all he can be.The actor spends much of the play simply sitting and watching, until
history cruelly sidelines Bobby forever.
Many good actors tackle multiple roles to little or no effect, with even
Richard Thomas barely registering as Vice President Hubert
Humphrey. You sense the play sort of suggesting how LBJ twists
Humphrey around his finger, sometimes slapping the man down andother times pretending they're a team and how LBJ really needs him.
As with so much else here, that idea is telegraphed and described, butnever comes to life.
Nor does the play, which pinballs from one major event to another. It's
all glancingly done, with each moment in history having almost theTHEATER: "The Glass
Menagerie" Sans Tricks Or
Trea...
THEATER: Wrestling With
Faith in "Heroes Of The Fo...
THEATER: A Bright Future In
Reach For "Chasing Rai...
THEATER: The Not-So "Great
Society"
THEATER: BOO! A Halloween
Scare Fest Closes Its Ey...
THEATER: "A(loft) Modulation"
-- A Play With Jazz ...
THEATER: "Freestyle Love
Supreme" and "Derren
Brow...
BOOKS: A Fantasy Classic
Finally Translated Into E...
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same weight as any other. Typical of so many roles, LBJ's wife Lady
Bird pops in and out from time to time. And yes, she has one firm
moment insisting quite rightly that J. Edgar Hoover should not betrusted. But her role is so decorative, so unnecessary, you wonder why
she's there at all.
Obviously, great drama could be built from the decline and fall of LBJ.
He goes from the peak of the 1964 election (the biggest popular vote
victory in modern times) to a President truly hated and distrusted by
much of the country. Nonetheless, the tragedy of Vietnam and LBJ'srole in it never comes to life. Watching Robert McNamara and themilitary blandly ask for one "minor" increase after another in troop
size doesn't cut it.
Neither, sadly, does Cox. He's enjoying great acclaim right now in the
HBO drama Succession . And I've been rewatching Deadwood , where
he cuts a dandy of a figure in an arc during Season Three. Cox isunquestionably a terrific actor. But he was off his game the night I
saw, stumbling over lines multiple times. In a way, Cox seems just as
lost as LBJ, surely wondering how the heck he got stuck here. How didit all go so wrong? Schenkkan might well be wondering the same thing.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Mrs. Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2
Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2
Socrates **
The Pain Of My Belligerence *
Burn This **
Hadestown *** 1/2
All My Sons * 1/2
Tootsie ** 1/2
Ink ***
Beetlejuice **
Estado Vegetal ***
Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2
Cirque du Soleil: Luzia ***
BLKS ** 1/2
Moulin Rouge ** 1/2
Bat Out Of Hell **
Unchilding **
Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ***
Betrayal *** 1/2
Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2
Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2
Derren Brown: Secret ***
(A)loft Modulation * 1/2
The Great Society **
I Can't See *
Heroes Of The Fourth Turning
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 9:00 AM
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THEATER: The Not-So "Great Society"
THE GREAT SOCIETY ** out of ****
VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATER AT LINCOLN CENTER
Just as the odds were always stacked against politician Lyndon Baines
Johnson, they're stacked against the new Broadway play The GreatSociety. It's a sequel or, if you prefer, a companion piece to the Tony-
winning drama All The Way .
Now, Robert Schenkkan's All The Way lasered in on one of LBJ's
greatest achievements: the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.That was a crowning achievement of Johnson's life and indeed in
many ways the life of the United States. And a drama about its passage
allowed that political animal to charm, cajole, arm-twist, maneuver,manipulate and scheme scheme scheme...but in the service, for once,of the greater good. Imagine Richard III, but with our best interests at
heart.
Then have this complicated man played in scenery-chewing
Technicolor by actor Bryan Cranston. All The Way had plenty of flaws,
delivering history and major characters in a breathless, un-nuanced
rush. But LBJ was a hell of a lot of fun to watch as he towered over
and dominated everyone around him. No wonder All The Way scored
Tonys for both Best Actor and Best Play.
Now here comes The Great Society. And the fun and the victories are
over.Here LBJ is smaller in every way. (And not just because the excellent
actor Brian Cox is a few inches shorter than Cranston -- they're bothshorter than the lumbering LBJ, after all.) The President is
beleaguered on all sides, pushed this way and that. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy outflank him on the left. The Dixiecratsand the Republicans snipe at him from the right. Instead of controllingevents, he is overwhelmed by them.MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (71)
▼ October (9)
THEATER: "Terra Firma" Is On
Shaky Ground
And every step he takes, this tragic figure sinks deeper and deeper into
the muck and mire of Vietnam. The Great Society covers a lot of
history and features 50 or so speaking parts. But what will youremember? The simple, devastating tally of the wounded and dead US
soldiers in that war, numbers that mount higher and higher and
higher all night long.
Plays don't have to be about triumphs to be good, of course. But anexuberant main character can paper over a lot of flaws. Not this time.A pallid, helpless LBJ squawks and complains and bickers and fights.But he doesn't hold your attention. As with All The Way, other
characters dominate the action for lengthy stretches. Happily, LBJwasn't the only hero of that drama, not with MLK inspiring andcampaigning and demanding equal rights.
Yet here MLK (a fine Grantham Coleman) is just as beset as LBJ, with
Stokely Carmichael drawing the spotlight with his own more fiery
rhetoric. Bobby Kennedy might have been a fine foil for Johnson. Buttheir almost animalistic hatred of each other is only glancingly coveredhere. Bryce Pinkham is a compelling presence, but that's all he can be.The actor spends much of the play simply sitting and watching, until
history cruelly sidelines Bobby forever.
Many good actors tackle multiple roles to little or no effect, with even
Richard Thomas barely registering as Vice President Hubert
Humphrey. You sense the play sort of suggesting how LBJ twists
Humphrey around his finger, sometimes slapping the man down andother times pretending they're a team and how LBJ really needs him.
As with so much else here, that idea is telegraphed and described, butnever comes to life.
Nor does the play, which pinballs from one major event to another. It's
all glancingly done, with each moment in history having almost theTHEATER: "The Glass
Menagerie" Sans Tricks Or
Trea...
THEATER: Wrestling With
Faith in "Heroes Of The Fo...
THEATER: A Bright Future In
Reach For "Chasing Rai...
THEATER: The Not-So "Great
Society"
THEATER: BOO! A Halloween
Scare Fest Closes Its Ey...
THEATER: "A(loft) Modulation"
-- A Play With Jazz ...
THEATER: "Freestyle Love
Supreme" and "Derren
Brow...
BOOKS: A Fantasy Classic
Finally Translated Into E...
► September (11)
► August (9)
► July (7)
► June (3)
► May (8)
► April (10)
► March (5)
► February (1)
► January (8)
► 2018 (38)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (29)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
same weight as any other. Typical of so many roles, LBJ's wife Lady
Bird pops in and out from time to time. And yes, she has one firm
moment insisting quite rightly that J. Edgar Hoover should not betrusted. But her role is so decorative, so unnecessary, you wonder why
she's there at all.
Obviously, great drama could be built from the decline and fall of LBJ.
He goes from the peak of the 1964 election (the biggest popular vote
victory in modern times) to a President truly hated and distrusted by
much of the country. Nonetheless, the tragedy of Vietnam and LBJ'srole in it never comes to life. Watching Robert McNamara and themilitary blandly ask for one "minor" increase after another in troop
size doesn't cut it.
Neither, sadly, does Cox. He's enjoying great acclaim right now in the
HBO drama Succession . And I've been rewatching Deadwood , where
he cuts a dandy of a figure in an arc during Season Three. Cox isunquestionably a terrific actor. But he was off his game the night I
saw, stumbling over lines multiple times. In a way, Cox seems just as
lost as LBJ, surely wondering how the heck he got stuck here. How didit all go so wrong? Schenkkan might well be wondering the same thing.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Mrs. Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2
Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2
Socrates **
The Pain Of My Belligerence *
Burn This **
Hadestown *** 1/2
All My Sons * 1/2
Tootsie ** 1/2
Ink ***
Beetlejuice **
Estado Vegetal ***
Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2
Cirque du Soleil: Luzia ***
BLKS ** 1/2
Moulin Rouge ** 1/2
Bat Out Of Hell **
Unchilding **
Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ***
Betrayal *** 1/2
Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2
Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2
Derren Brown: Secret ***
(A)loft Modulation * 1/2
The Great Society **
I Can't See *
Heroes Of The Fourth Turning
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 9:00 AM
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