pass any bills being presented. Broadway production In preparing for the role, Cranston sought to meet Robert Caro, author of a multipart biography of Johnson (The Years of Lyndon Johnson). But Caro refused, telling The New York Times: "I didn't want to see someone playing Lyndon Johnson or talk to the actor playing him because I was afraid that image would become blurred for me. The better the actor the more danger there would be that that would happen." Cast Lyndon B. Johnson, played by Bryan Cranston Lady Bird Johnson/Katharine Graham, played by Betsy Aidem Walter Jenkins, played by Christopher Liam Moore Hubert Humphrey, played by Robert Petkoff Richard Russell, played by John McMartin Martin Luther King, played by Brandon J. Dirden J. Edgar Hoover, played by Michael McKean Governor George Wallace, played by Rob Campbell Stanley Levison/John McCormack, played by Ethan Phillips Karl Mundt, played by Bill Timoney Critical reception The Broadway production received generally favorable reviews, with Bryan Cranston's performance singled out for praise. Writing in The New York Times, Charles Isherwood called All the Way a "dense but mostly absorbing drama, set during the tense first year of Johnson's presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy." Isherwood praised Cranston as Johnson, saying his "heat-generating performance galvanizes the production. Even when Johnson is offstage or the writing sags with exposition, the show, directed solidly by Bill Rauch, retains the vitalizing imprint of his performance." Other characters such as Hoover and George Wallace are "merely sketched in," and the play "sorely needs streamlining." In his review of the American Repertory Theater production, also starring Cranston, Isherwood said the play "ultimately accrues minimal dramatic momentum." The Broadway production was called "juicy" by the Chicago Tribune, which said that Cranston "offers up a restless, hypnotically intense physicality coupled with an intimately forged vulnerability." It said that the lead actor "does not disappoint for a moment, driving the show with a truly riveting life-force and, it seems, painting every up and down in this insecure but notably self-aware president's life on his visage, which he seems to pull and stretch in limitless directions. " Variety called All the Way a "jaw-dropping political drama" and a "beautifully built dramatic piece," while New York's Daily News said that the play was "talky but terrifically acted." Awards and nominations Original Broadway production Film adaptation A television film based on the play starring Cranston,