Network (NYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets

"And if you’re a glutton for great, high-risk acting, you owe Mr. Cranston the courtesy — and yourself the thrill — of watching his self-immolation...If the bravura dementia of his Howard makes much of the rest of the show seem as two-dimensional as a flat TV screen, it’s a trade-off I’m willing to accept, albeit with a sigh...As a portrait of a displaced man unraveling, Mr. Cranston’s wrenching performance stands on its own."
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"Bryan Cranston has a hell of a mad scene in the middle of 'Network'...It’s riveting stuff, because Cranston is an extraordinary actor, and also because, for an extended moment in this tech blitz of a show, there appears to be a human being onstage. Paddy Chayefsky’s Oscar-winning screenplay was a satire of the values of the television age, but humor has never been Van Hove’s strength, and this 'Network' has virtually none of it...'Network' isn’t galvanizing, it’s numbing."
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"There’s something flat about van Hove’s production. It’s got all the requisite external flash, and Lee Hall’s adapted script is clear enough in its outlining of the story’s heightening stakes — the problem is, we recognize those stakes intellectually, but we don’t really feel them...van Hove has only one actor who’s truly on fire. Bryan Cranston’s Beale is a ferocious performance...Other than Cranston, the people feel stuck, sometimes overwrought and often stiff."
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"The satirical sting may have been blunted by time, but the prescience is indisputable...What hurts the writing at 40-plus years' distance is that by remaining locked in the 1970s, it arguably doesn't go far enough...Still, as a real-world horror show about the profits to be reaped by accessing popular anger, 'Network' remains gripping, largely because Cranston makes his character's tragic trajectory a white-knuckle ride, and van Hove infuses the drama with dizzying kinetic energy."
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"van Hove’s overly busy production can’t match the bareknuckle force of his leading man’s performance. Whenever Cranston isn’t on stage, the show tends to feel a bit didactic. And some of van Hove’s flashy, fourth-wall-breaking technical daredevilry feels distracting and oddly pointless...There’s no question that 'Network' is a sickeningly timely evening of theater. But whenever Cranston wasn’t on stage, I had to keep reminding myself why I loved the movie so much."
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"Chayefsky’s diatribe, which played as satire almost a half-century ago, takes on fresh fury in a sizzling stage production, directed by Ivo Van Hove, that feels less satiric but more urgent — and frightening — in today’s times...The depth of Chayefsky’s cynicism is so breathtaking, so full of existential despair that it makes today’s critical pundits look like weepy whiners. Although Cranston never pushes Beale over the edge into madness, he brilliantly nudges him to the outer limits of anger."
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"Chayefsky’s predictions having long since come to pass, 'Network' is thus a musty period piece...Cranston overcomes that obstacle by putting a personal spin on the part...Not so his colleagues...which has the unintended effect of turning 'Network' into a one-man show...If you’re willing to pay Broadway prices to see Cranston give a tremendous performance, there’s a chance you’ll go home happy. Otherwise, you might as well rent the movie."
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“Despite an overwhelming star performance by Cranston...And a technology-crammed set so full of distractions that you are too busy watching all the visuals to remember what the play is about in the first place...’Network’ is as dated and irrelevant as a nickel phone call...Both the script and direction careen recklessly between a swerving clash of styles that lurch from mood to mood in scenes of farce, high drama, naturalism and comic fantasy...A combination of ambrosia and apocalypse.”
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