The Great Society
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Cititour.com Review
As we’ve learned, the sequel is rarely the equal. Sadly, that adage proves true for “The Great Society,” Robert Schenkkan’s follow-up to his more dynamic 2014 work, “All the Way,” now at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre under Bill Rauch’s competent direction. Examining practically the entire presidency of LBJ in less than three hours, Schenkkan has crafted a somewhat compelling -- if overstuffed -- play that too often regurgitates well-known history (especially concerning the civil rights movement) at the expense of a deeper character study of the man in the Oval Office.
Moreover, and more damagingly, the work strangely paints the wily LBJ (now played by Bryan Cox, sober in every sense of the word) as something of a victim, whose attempts to helping the poor, elderly and less privileged through his “Great Society” programs were seemingly undercut by forces beyond his control. There may be some truth to this theory, but the piece too often feels like an exercise in revisionist history.
First, Schenkkan almost suggests that LBJ was a mere pawn of defense secretary Robert McNamara (a low-key Matthew Rauch) in escalating the war in Vietnam instead of king of the chessboard. Ultimately, though, the play admits that despite whatever opposition LBJ may have had to the conflict, it was his not completely unfounded fear of looking weak and letting Communism take over Asia that resulted in his refusal to halt the war – despite the objections of his vice president Hubert Humphrey (an underused Richard Thomas, emanating decency and dullness in equal measure). And the ever-growing toll of the dead and wounded, which pop up periodically on projections behind David Korins’ clever unit set, more than cancels out LBJ’s devotion to penning personal notes to the dead soldiers’ families.
More problematically (for me), the Vietnam War is almost treated as a secondary issue here, as Schenkkan’s primary focus is on the many ways that the presidency that LBJ envisioned was damaged by infighting with his own supposed allies, including an increasingly frustrated Dr. Martin Luther King (a superbly subdued Grantham Coleman), wily Alabama governor George Wallace (an oily David Garrison), hard-headed Chicago mayor Richard Daley (a blustery Marc Kudisch) and the ambitious Robert F. Kennedy (an eerily accurate Bryce Pinkham), who seems to be motivated more by his personal dislike of LBJ (who was his late brother’s successor) than his own beliefs. It’s a strange version of the blame game.
Moreover, even when he “wins” some of these battles with these people, they prove to be pyrrhic victories; the Democrats lost some 47 seats in the House of Representatives in the 1966 midterms, and Johnson realized his reputation had become so tarnished by early 1968 that his odds of getting re-elected, or even getting the Democratic party nomination, had dwindled drastically.
In fact, one of the biggest letdowns of “The Great Society” is that it encapsulates his final few months in office into a very few short scenes – especially since two of them are among the play’s best: a true heart-to-heart chat with his wife Lady Bird (a lovely Barbara Garrick) and a showdown of sorts with his successor, Richard Nixon (Garrison, eerily pitch-perfect). In these few minutes, Cox practically erases the memory of his celebrated predecessor, Bryan Cranston, and he and Schenkkan achieve the kind of theatrical greatness that has eluded us for well over two hours.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Cast
Brian Cox, Grantham Coleman, Gordon Clapp, Marc Kudisch, Bryce Pinkham, Frank Wood, Richard Thomas, Marchánt Davis, Brian Dykstra, Barbara Garrick, David Garrison, Ty Jones, Christopher Livingston, Angela Pierce, Matthew Rauch, Nikkole Salter, Tramell Tillman, Ted Deasy, Robyn Kerr
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/1/2019
Closing Open-ended
Theatre Info
Vivian Beaumont Theater
150 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10023
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