The Great Society, Sequel to Tony-Winning All the Way, Opens on Broadway

The Great Society, the sequel to Robert Schenkkan's 2014 Tony-winning epic All the Way, officially opens at Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theater on October 1. Bill Rauch, who helmed All the Way, also directs the new work, which began previews on September 6. Brian Cox stars in the production as President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

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 is Marc Kudisch as Richard J. Daley, Richard Thomas as Hubert Humphrey, Grantham Coleman as Martin Luther King Jr., Bryce Pinkham as Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Gordon Clapp as J. Edgar Hoover, Frank Wood as Senator Everett Dirksen, David Garrison as Richard Nixon, Barbara Garrick as Ladybird Johnson, Marchánt Davis as Stokely Carmichael, Brian Dykstra as Adam Walinsky, Ty Jones as Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Christopher Livingston as James Bevel, Angela Pierce as Pat Nixon, Matthew Rauch as Robert McNamara, Nikkole Salter as Coretta Scott King and Tramell Tillman as Bob Moses, with Ted Deasy and Robyn Kerr comprising the ensemble.

In celebration of opening night, Broadway.com Resident Artist Justin "Squigs" Robertson sketched a colorful portrait featuring Cox and his co-stars retelling an important moment in American history.



About the Artist: With a desire to celebrate the magic of live theater and those who create it, and with a deep reverence for such touchstones as the work of Al Hirschfeld and the wall at Sardi’s, Squigs is happy and grateful to be among those carrying on the traditions where theater and caricature meet. He was born and raised in Oregon, lived in Los Angeles for quite a long time and now calls New York City his home.