The Great Society, Sequel to Tony-Winning All the Way, Will Arrive on Broadway This Fall; Brian Cox to Star as LBJ

Pulitzer-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, who earned a 2014 Tony Award for his epic play All the Way, will return to Broadway this fall with a sequel to that acclaimed work titled The Great Society. Bill Rauch, who helmed All the Way, will also direct the new play, slated to begin performances on September 6 for a 12-week limited run through November 30 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Emmy and Olivier winner Brian Cox (Nuremberg, Titus Andronicus) will headline the production as President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the role originated in All the Way to Tony-winning effect by Bryan Cranston.

Capturing Johnson's passionate and aggressive attempts to build a great society for all, the new play follows his epic triumph in a landslide election to the agonizing decision not to run for re-election just three years later. It was 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—with one man at the center of it all: LBJ.

Joining Cox in the cast will be three-time Tony nominee Marc Kudisch (Girl From the North Country) as Richard J. Daley, Tony nominee Richard Thomas (The Little Foxes) as Hubert Humphrey and Grantham Coleman (Much Ado About Nothing) in his Broadway debut as Martin Luther King Jr. Additional casting will be announced soon.

The production will feature scenic design by three-time Tony nominee David Korins, costume design by Tony winner Linda Cho, lighting design by David Weiner, projection design by Victoria Sagady and sound design/original music by Paul James Prendergast.

The play's producing team is headed by Jeffrey Richards and Louise Gund. They are joined by Rebecca Gold, Stephanie P. McClelland, Jayne Baron Sherman, Jacob Soroken Porter and Lincoln Center Theater.

The Great Society made its world premiere with Seattle Rep and Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2014; the play received another production at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage in 2018.