The Great Society, starring Brian Cox, begins performances on Broadway
The Broadway premiere of The Great Society is set for an official opening at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on October 1, 2019.
LBJ on the Great White Way... again! The Broadway premiere of The Great Society begins previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theater tonight, ahead of an official opening on October 1 and a limited engagement through November 30, 2019.
Written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Robert Schenkkan as Part II of the LBJ Plays, following the success of his Tony Award-winning "Best Play" All the Way, which starred Bryan Cranston in a 2014 Tony Award-winning performance, The Great Society is directed by Bill Rauch.
Synopsis: "Capturing Johnson's passionate and aggressive attempts to build a great society for all, The Great Society follows his epic triumph in a landslide election to the agonizing decision not to run for re-election three years later. In an era that would define history forever: the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the destruction of Vietnam, and the creation of some of the greatest social programs America has ever known - and one man was at the center of it all: LBJ."
The cast is led by Emmy Award winner Brian Cox as Lyndon B. Johnson, alongside Gordon Clapp (as J. Edgar Hoover), Grantham Coleman (as Martin Luther King Jr.), Marchánt Davis (as Stokely Carmichael), Brian Dykstra (as Adam Walinsky), Barbara Garrick (as Ladybird Johnson), David Garrison (as Richard Nixon), Ty Jones (as Reverend Ralph Abernathy), Marc Kudisch (as Richard J. Daley), Christopher Livingston (as James Bevel), Angela Pierce (as Pat Nixon), Bryce Pinkham (as Senator Robert F. Kennedy), Matthew Rauch (as Robert McNamara), Nikkole Salter (as Coretta Scott King), Richard Thomas (as Hubert Humphrey), Tramell Tillman (as Bob Moses), and Frank Wood (as Senator Everett Dirksen), with ensemble members Ted Deasy and Robyn Kerr.
In total, the 19-strong cast portray over fifty characters in this new political masterpiece.
The creative team features scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by David Weiner, sound design & original music by Paul James Prendergast, and projections by Victoria Sagady.
The Great Society is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards and Louise Gund.
The Great Society Tickets are available now for performances through November 30, 2019.
(Photo courtesy of Polk & Co.)
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