'Hey, Hey, LBJ!' -- Over the Last Year:
Vietnam, Australia, N.Y. and S.F.
David Kleinberg’s solo theater work, “Hey, Hey, LBJ!” – a powerful drama on the most divisive foreign war in America’s history – had a full year in 2016: Shows at the 42nd Street Theater in New York; the Riverside Theater in Australia, at the San Francisco International Arts Festival and S.F. Fringe Festival.
In April, Kleinberg returned to Vietnam for the first time in 50 years to perform "Hey, Hey, LBJ!" in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on the 41st Anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
Kleinberg is currently work on the sequel to "Hey, Hey, LBJ!" called "Return to the Scene of the Crime," about his return to Vietnam a half century after he left the country.
For more about "Return"
www.returntothesceneofthecrime.weebly.com
"Hey, Hey, LBJ!" Reviews
* “Hey, Hey, LBJ! is as polished and moving a piece of theater as the Capital Fringe is likely to see (out of 119 shows).” -- Washingston Post
* “Fantastic . . . powerful and moving . . . full house . . . standing applause . . . must see.” -- Ex-Rolling Stone senior writer Mike Goldberg
* "Kleinberg's "lack of bravado, genuine disgust with the absurdity of war, and unabashedly deep love for his comrades carry the day . . . A powerful story . . ." -- New Orleans Advocate
* "David Kleinberg's 'Hey, Hey LBJ' is . . . as strong as . . . shows we've seen on larger (Bay Area) stages." -- SF Theater Blog
* “The show brought me to tears, and I rarely ever cry when reviewing a show.” -- Marc Gonzalez, Fresno Bee
"Hey, Hey, LBJ!" Achievements and Accolades
* Performed in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (2016) on the 41st anniversary of the fall of Saigon under threat of arrest.
* Performed in Sydney, Australia (2016) in association with Vietnam Vets of Australia.
* Washington Post says “Hey, Hey, LBJ! is "as polished and moving a piece of theater as the Capital Fringe is likely to see (out of 119 shows).”
* New Orleans Times-Picayune names "Hey, Hey, LBJ!" as 1 of 10 shows to see out of 86 shows in the 2014 NOLA Fringe Festival.
* Broadway World picks LBJ as 1 of 11 shows to see out of 120 entered in the 2016 United Solo on Broadway in New York.
* Sunset Magazine Names LBJ as 1 of 3 shows to see out of 47 shows in 2016 S.F. Fringe Festival.
* Boulder Fringe 2014 LBJ named Best of Venue.
Kleinberg Biography
Combat Correspondent - U.S. Army, Cu Chi, Vietnam, bronze star, 1966-67
San Francisco Chronicle - Editor/Writer 34 years; editor Sunday Datebook, 14 years
KTVU/Channel 2 - Casual producer/talent "Segment 2" pieces, 5 years.
Stand-up Comedian - 10 years, appeared with Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Richard Lewis, Sinbad
Solo Theater (Full-Length Plays) -- "The Voice," "Hey, Hey, LBJ!", "He Wants to Run," "Return to the Scene of the Crime
More About 'Hey, Hey, LBJ!'
"Hey, Hey, LBJ!" — written and performed by Kleinberg, directed by Mark Kenward and developed with Marsh artistic director David Ford — traces Kleinberg’s year as a combat correspondent for the army’s 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, Vietnam. Kleinberg supports the war when he arrives but begins to have doubts as the year unfolds. In the end, Kleinberg is on R&R partying in Bangkok while his public information office buddies are back in Vietnam in a bunker under heavy rocket attack.
“It was interesting because after I returned from Vietnam, I thought I might write something,” says Kleinberg who worked as an editor and writer at the San Francisco Chronicle for 34 years, the last 14 years as editor of the Sunday Datebook. So I solicited detailed manuscripts from those who survived the bunker attack. But I never did anything. Forty-seven years later I had source material to turn to.
“This is a very powerful and riveting work,” Kleinberg adds. “Even after all this time, I cried half the time I was writing this. If the piece shows anything, it clearly demonstrates how war taints just about everyone it touches.
“I suppose some people would call this an anti-war work. But I believe — as I’ve written at one point in the script– that there are just wars, but I don’t think this was one of them. And it’s very interesting that when I tell people of my generation the title of the piece, ‘Hey, Hey, LBJ’ they smile in irony, knowing very well how the rest of the street chant went.”
“Hey, Hey, LBJ!” includes video clips from the President Johnson’s “Why Vietnam” speech; Kleinberg’s 8mm film of American units destroying a Vietnamese village for no apparent reason; scenes from Bob Hope’s 1966 Christmas Eve USO tour to the Cu Chi base camp (Hope: “I just want to remind you, America’s behind you . . . 18 percent!”); CBS’ Mike Wallace at the base camp the day after the Cu Chi rocket attack to ask why the victims’ bunkers had no tops; and Kleinberg’s powerful 1968 Anti-War Speech at San Francisco’s City Hall (which later appeared in PBS’ “Berkeley in the ’60s” and PBS’ “American Experience: LBJ”).
Biography: Kleinberg initially served as a reporter in the field in Vietnam, and later edited the division newspaper. He was awarded the bronze star for his service. In civilian life, following retirement from The Chronicle, Kleinberg turned to stand-up comedy and solo theater. As a comedian, he has worked with the late Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Sinbad and Richard Lewis. This is Kleinberg’s second solo theater work after his hit ground-breaking work “The Voice.”
KLEINBERG ANTI-WAR SPEECH, CITY HALL, SAN FRANCISCO, 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCx9gxhd680&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1
'Hey, Hey, LBJ!' -- Over the Last Year:
Vietnam, Australia, N.Y. and S.F.
David Kleinberg’s solo theater work, “Hey, Hey, LBJ!” – a powerful drama on the most divisive foreign war in America’s history – had a full year in 2016: Shows at the 42nd Street Theater in New York; the Riverside Theater in Australia, at the San Francisco International Arts Festival and S.F. Fringe Festival.
In April, Kleinberg returned to Vietnam for the first time in 50 years to perform "Hey, Hey, LBJ!" in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on the 41st Anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
Kleinberg is currently work on the sequel to "Hey, Hey, LBJ!" called "Return to the Scene of the Crime," about his return to Vietnam a half century after he left the country.
For more about "Return"
www.returntothesceneofthecrime.weebly.com
"Hey, Hey, LBJ!" Reviews
* “Hey, Hey, LBJ! is as polished and moving a piece of theater as the Capital Fringe is likely to see (out of 119 shows).” -- Washingston Post
* “Fantastic . . . powerful and moving . . . full house . . . standing applause . . . must see.” -- Ex-Rolling Stone senior writer Mike Goldberg
* "Kleinberg's "lack of bravado, genuine disgust with the absurdity of war, and unabashedly deep love for his comrades carry the day . . . A powerful story . . ." -- New Orleans Advocate
* "David Kleinberg's 'Hey, Hey LBJ' is . . . as strong as . . . shows we've seen on larger (Bay Area) stages." -- SF Theater Blog
* “The show brought me to tears, and I rarely ever cry when reviewing a show.” -- Marc Gonzalez, Fresno Bee
"Hey, Hey, LBJ!" Achievements and Accolades
* Performed in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (2016) on the 41st anniversary of the fall of Saigon under threat of arrest.
* Performed in Sydney, Australia (2016) in association with Vietnam Vets of Australia.
* Washington Post says “Hey, Hey, LBJ! is "as polished and moving a piece of theater as the Capital Fringe is likely to see (out of 119 shows).”
* New Orleans Times-Picayune names "Hey, Hey, LBJ!" as 1 of 10 shows to see out of 86 shows in the 2014 NOLA Fringe Festival.
* Broadway World picks LBJ as 1 of 11 shows to see out of 120 entered in the 2016 United Solo on Broadway in New York.
* Sunset Magazine Names LBJ as 1 of 3 shows to see out of 47 shows in 2016 S.F. Fringe Festival.
* Boulder Fringe 2014 LBJ named Best of Venue.
Kleinberg Biography
Combat Correspondent - U.S. Army, Cu Chi, Vietnam, bronze star, 1966-67
San Francisco Chronicle - Editor/Writer 34 years; editor Sunday Datebook, 14 years
KTVU/Channel 2 - Casual producer/talent "Segment 2" pieces, 5 years.
Stand-up Comedian - 10 years, appeared with Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Richard Lewis, Sinbad
Solo Theater (Full-Length Plays) -- "The Voice," "Hey, Hey, LBJ!", "He Wants to Run," "Return to the Scene of the Crime
More About 'Hey, Hey, LBJ!'
"Hey, Hey, LBJ!" — written and performed by Kleinberg, directed by Mark Kenward and developed with Marsh artistic director David Ford — traces Kleinberg’s year as a combat correspondent for the army’s 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, Vietnam. Kleinberg supports the war when he arrives but begins to have doubts as the year unfolds. In the end, Kleinberg is on R&R partying in Bangkok while his public information office buddies are back in Vietnam in a bunker under heavy rocket attack.
“It was interesting because after I returned from Vietnam, I thought I might write something,” says Kleinberg who worked as an editor and writer at the San Francisco Chronicle for 34 years, the last 14 years as editor of the Sunday Datebook. So I solicited detailed manuscripts from those who survived the bunker attack. But I never did anything. Forty-seven years later I had source material to turn to.
“This is a very powerful and riveting work,” Kleinberg adds. “Even after all this time, I cried half the time I was writing this. If the piece shows anything, it clearly demonstrates how war taints just about everyone it touches.
“I suppose some people would call this an anti-war work. But I believe — as I’ve written at one point in the script– that there are just wars, but I don’t think this was one of them. And it’s very interesting that when I tell people of my generation the title of the piece, ‘Hey, Hey, LBJ’ they smile in irony, knowing very well how the rest of the street chant went.”
“Hey, Hey, LBJ!” includes video clips from the President Johnson’s “Why Vietnam” speech; Kleinberg’s 8mm film of American units destroying a Vietnamese village for no apparent reason; scenes from Bob Hope’s 1966 Christmas Eve USO tour to the Cu Chi base camp (Hope: “I just want to remind you, America’s behind you . . . 18 percent!”); CBS’ Mike Wallace at the base camp the day after the Cu Chi rocket attack to ask why the victims’ bunkers had no tops; and Kleinberg’s powerful 1968 Anti-War Speech at San Francisco’s City Hall (which later appeared in PBS’ “Berkeley in the ’60s” and PBS’ “American Experience: LBJ”).
Biography: Kleinberg initially served as a reporter in the field in Vietnam, and later edited the division newspaper. He was awarded the bronze star for his service. In civilian life, following retirement from The Chronicle, Kleinberg turned to stand-up comedy and solo theater. As a comedian, he has worked with the late Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Sinbad and Richard Lewis. This is Kleinberg’s second solo theater work after his hit ground-breaking work “The Voice.”
KLEINBERG ANTI-WAR SPEECH, CITY HALL, SAN FRANCISCO, 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCx9gxhd680&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1
Performance Photos of David Kleinberg in 'Hey, Hey, LBJ!'
By Stephen Somerstein
By Stephen Somerstein