Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Director: Des McAnuff
Synopsis: Centers around the bitter conflict that pitted Philo T. Farnsworth (Jimmi Simpson), a boy genius who invented television as a high school student in 1927, against David Sarnoff (Hank Azaria), the head of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). The legal battle between Farnsworth and RCA would later become known as one of the great, tragic examples of legal and industrial force combining to crush a rightful patent owner. In a race that would change humanity forever, two men battle one another for honor, glory and a place in the history books.
NEW YORK TIMES:
"This two-hour play is a fast-moving sequence of reflex-stimulating information- and emotion-bites. It never pauses long enough to find depth in any of them." & "Mr. Sorkin resorts to the shorthand of biopic clichés to convey his characters’ states of mind. But, oh, how they cloy as they accumulate." & "Having made a great success in television, Mr. Sorkin knows its pitfalls and limitations inside out. But it’s hard to avoid the impression that, for all its high-reaching ambitions, “The Farnsworth Invention” often shares the glibness and reductionism of which mainstream television is regularly accused."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"Sorkin's framework - Sarnoff and Farnsworth co-narrate the story - automatically adds a layer of distance. And though the play is informative, it's seldom deeply involving. Scenes play out like brief vignettes from a History Channel biopic (the story was originally intended for the big screen) without stirring emotions." & "Des McAnuff, who did wonders with "Jersey Boys," has his hands tied by Sorkin's short scenes, which are intended to build momentum toward a showdown that ends up being a letdown."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"It all makes for a decent night out in the theater - especially if you can imagine you're watching a movie."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEWSDAY:
"Vintage Sorkin and crackling prime-time theater. Breezy and shrewd, smart-alecky and idealistic, the quick-moving drama presents two sides to the still-contentious story behind the invention of television." & "Satisfying new drama."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK SUN:
"Mr. Sorkin has brought over some unfortunate habits from the left coast, including a tendency to create dramatic parallels where none exist and a weakness for soupy background music. But he has also imported his shrewd ear for plotting and his unmistakable flair for well-crafted paragraphs caroming off the halls of power."
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
"The subject matter here is engrossing enough to yield a multi-episode docudrama, and its content ensures that "The Farnsworth Invention" is never uninteresting. But when the playwright enlists his two protagonists to talk the audience through both the human drama and the scientific back story -- pointedly indicating what's important and what will be later on -- the dramaturgical laziness undermines even the most robust narrative"
|
