Bryan Cranston’s ‘Greatest Acting Challenge?’ A One-Man MLB Play
Bryan Cranston isn’t basking in the warm glow of his recent Emmy and Tony wins; like any great actor, he lives to work (and, we suppose, works to live). So it should come as no surprise that he’s already back with a brand-new project: A one-man play about Major League Baseball‘s postseason.
Inspired by his love of the game (and, strangely, Looney Tunes) Cranston’s latest passion project finds him reenacting iconic moments from Octobers past – Carlton Fisk’s famed homer in the 1975 Series, Kirk Gibson’s shocking shot in ’88, Derek Jeter’s backhanded flip in ’01 – on the Broadway stage. He performs solo, though he does get some pointers from Misty Copeland of the American Ballet Theatre…and former World Champion Pedro Martinez.
“I had been doing a lot of TV and movie work, and I felt it was just time for me to get back to the basics by diving right into my great passion: baseball,” Cranston says. “It would be my greatest acting challenge.”
Of course, the whole thing is a joke, created to promote MLB’s upcoming postseason, which begins September 30 with the American League Wild Card game on TBS and runs until the last out of the World Series on Fox. But that doesn’t make Cranston’s performance any less amazing, or the faux behind-the-scenes trailer any less hilarious.
“With this show, in a very personal way, I get to make my dream come true,” Cranston says, choking back mock tears. “What can I say? This is the postseason.”