The Great Society, the sequel to Robert Schenkkan's 2014 Tony-winning epic All the Way, begins its Broadway run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on September 6. Bill Rauch, who helmed All the Way, also directs the new work, slated to officially open on October 1 for a limited run through November 30. 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.
The production features scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by David Weiner, projection design by Victoria Sagady and sound design/original music by Paul James Prendergast.