As the lights dimmed, you could feel a sort of electric charge that seemed to permeate throughout the theatre. People were biting their lips, adjusting their glasses moving to the furthest edge of their seats, eyes fixated on that oversized chief executive chair, conveniently located downstage centre. For they knew that when the lights came up, that chair would be filled. And the one to fill that chair, the one to fill the high hopes and enormous expectations of everybody in attendance, would deliver on a level that even his greatest admirers could have never imagined. Alas, this play was entitled 'All The Way.' And it just as well could have been titled 'The Bryan Cranston Show.' And that is totally OK.

I went into the play knowing absolutely nothing about the presidency of Lyndon B Johnson, and came out knowing a whole lot. So on a purely 'educational' level, this play definitely succeeded. But it was far more than a history lesson. Mr. Schenkkan's quick-witted, immaculately detailed, and emotionally charged portrait of Mr. Johnson's first year of presidency proved his story to be stageworthy. It was a very good play. Do I see it having multiple extensions even after Bryan's departure, and a healthy dose of revivals in the coming decades? No. I could not imagine the piece without Cranston involved, and I don't know if I would have been able to stay awake without him in the title role. Simply put, it is a great play with Cranston, and a good one without him. There were multiple scenes that seemed to bleed from one into the next in the first act, showing Johnson's manipulative methods of winning over congressmen's votes. This really was more like the basis of the entire first half. It could become very dense and slightly bland, and it simply wouldn't have held together without Bryan. As supporting actors (it was a cast of twenty) were coming on and off the spectacularly simple set, playing multiple roles, I would alternate from being confused or bored. It also often felt (more so in the first act) that Mr. Schenkkan had put so much effort into the writing of Lyndon Johnson and couldn't find the time to make the other characters interesting. This was a problem that seemed more or less fixed in the far superior second half in which the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was no longer the focus. The second act was focused on the controversy that spurred from the decision to seat or not seat black delegates at the Democratic National Convention and the murdering of two black protestors. This allowed for us to realize the tragedy of the segregative times, giving the bill, the laws, and the politics the emotional weight that the first act lacked. We suddenly understood the stakes behind the decisions made in congress, because we got to know the people directly affected by them. And just how much it meant to them. The first act was all about the political 'games' and tricks surrounding the lawmaking process, while the second act showed what it was all for. So in a way, they complemented each other quite nicely.

Upon leaving a play or musical I always find myself asking, 'Was this a piece that I'll never forget?' In the case of 'All The Way,' the answer is a resounding yes. And for good reasons (very important.) (There are some I wish I could forget.) While hardly a perfect show, it was a perfect vehicle to experience the work of whom I believe to be one of the brilliant actors of our time. I cannot equate Mr. Cranston's performance to anything else that I've seen onstage before. His level of specificity, his commitment to the craft it was truly inspiring. He was

able to switch from an over-confident, entitled, manipulative political mastermind, to a simple, self-loathing, lonely man in a mere instant Yet both were always present. Johnson's character is an extraordinarily intricate one, and you sometimes struggled to understand why he did the things he did and who they really were for. Bryan understood this struggle, and brought it to the forefront of his performance. There was a very deep conflict beneath every snarky comment, beneath every lavish anecdote and moment of self-praise. In fact, one would feel as though they're experiencing a 'one-night only' special event, due to the sheer intensity of his presence on that stage. I couldn't comprehend that these conversations, confrontations, heartbreaks, and triumphs were occurring eight times a week. As I grow up, and the technical 'tricks' of theatre are revealed to me, it's experiences like this that infuse the theatre with magic once again.