WASHINGTON — Discharge petition. Cloture. Waiving second reading.
Such byzantine Congressional maneuvers are usually the stuff of nerdy Capitol Hill briefings, not Broadway hits. But “All the Way,” the new play about President Lyndon B. Johnson and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, gets down in the procedural weeds and gives new meaning to the term political theater. Perhaps that’s why more than a few real-life politicians have trooped to New York to see Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” as the nation’s 36th president and schemer in chief. For a certain Washington set, the play at the Neil Simon Theater has become a hotter draw than a summons to the Oval Office or a fund-raiser with the Koch brothers.
“I was loving it,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who leads House Democrats. She attended opening night to support a friend, Louise Gund, one of the producers. “For me, it was like eating a banana split covered with chocolate.” To read more, click here.
