Network (NYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (622)
See it if you love new and exciting theatre and are interested in mixed mediums. The use of cameras and screens mixed with lighting makes this show.
Don't see it if you don't enjoy intense subject matter or the use of technology on stage. If you're looking for something more traditional, this isn't it.
See it if want to see Cranston's performance of a lifetime in a masterfully staged play with a wonderful cast. The use of multi media was amazing.
Don't see it if There is absolutely no reason not to see this play. Read more
See it if you want to see Bryan Cranston completely TRANSFORM into newscaster Howard Beale you want to see a show that's relevant to current times
Don't see it if you mind swearing, sex, crass talk and ranting you just don't like a fabulous show! truly i can't find a reason NOT to see Read more
See it if You want to see Bryan Cranston own the stage. Absolutely powerful performance by an actor who is a master at his craft.
Don't see it if You don't like plays that resonate with today's times.
See it if You are interested in seeing a work about the cynical manipulation of the populace by media conglomerates.
Don't see it if No reason not to see it.
See it if you like memorable theatrical events,visceral and smart,great combination of form and content & tour-de-force performance by Bryan Cranston
Don't see it if you prefer plays that are less preachy, think that the gimmick of live video on stage has played itself out, or just want lighter fare
See it if You want to be totally blown away by the story, Bryan Cranston’s performance and I’ve Van Hove’s directing. I ended up going 3 times.
Don't see it if You don’t like to be challenged and you don’t like video projection used in theater (even though I think it serves the show perfectly)
See it if a timely story with breathtaking acting and a fantastic staging,
Don't see it if you don't like politicly-themed theater
Critic Reviews (55)
“’Network’ generates a video-and-sound show that obscures the people onstage, never mind the ideas of the script; as a result...with one exception, the production is neither well-cast nor particularly well-directed...The play's real drawing card is Cranston...’Network’ offers the pleasure of a star at the top of his powers...But stripped of its sound and fury and seen from the distance of four decades, much of 'Network''s satire seems pretty elementary."
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"It all comes together beautifully. Until, puzzlingly, the production falls apart, loses its focus, and turns into another show altogether, a mildly '1984'-ish wannabe satire coupled with a soap opera detour that drags things down pretty much until the end...Cranston is, in a word, magnificent...Goldwyn, Maslany, and the rest of the cast do fine work, but their efforts generally are lost against the technical elements. Only Cranston's remarkably etched portrayal of Howard Beale rises to the top."
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"The result is sensory overload. That, of course, may be (must be?) van Hove’s intent...van Hove’s allowing myriad distractions only obscures the ideas Chayevsky got across on screen...There’s another significant drawback: While creating his mirror-held-up-to-nature world, van Hove doesn’t appear to be paying any more than cursory attention to the actors and the acting. To his credit, Cranston runs quite an emotional gamut."
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"Nothing about van Hove’s production works as well as the Cranston close-ups...There’s already so much commotion on stage...A couple rows of people eating shrimp rolls and empanadas seems like an unnecessary distraction. When Cranston is on, we’re completely tuned in. His Beale is a force...Only Broadway vet Nick Wyman matches Cranston’s intensity...But when you’re watching a grainy ancient Mazola ad instead of a live actor, the background noise is getting way too loud."
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"A strangely wan and out-of-step stage adaptation of the 1976 film. What was frighteningly prescient right before the Carter Administration now seems quaintly admonitory amid the manic, performative idiocy of the Trump era...As pure multimedia spectacle, it’s impressive. As drama, it works fitfully. There’s no denying the vigorous acting by Bryan Cranston and Maslany, who enliven every scene they’re in, and often rise above the digital noise of van Hove’s busy staging."
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"van Hove’s hyperactive direction, with that giant screen drawing focus as it splinters into many smaller screens showing ’70s-era commercials, may be the ideal way of papering over the flaws in Chayefsky’s writing, namely his tendency to use his characters as megaphones to spout windy speeches...The adaptation by Lee Hall wisely discards some of the more absurdist feints of the movie...This drains some of the satirical edge from the material, but it’s probably a smart trade-off."
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"Ivo van Hove's stage version of the Chayefsky cult film 'Network' gives Cranston the role of a lifetime as Howard Beale, the UBS news commentator who has a nervous breakdown on air and then becomes a media messiah. The high tech production designed by long-time van Hove associate Jan Versweyveld with video design by Tal Yarden is riveting throughout its two hour intermission-less running time by putting the audience in the news studio and making us complicit in the action."
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“Cranston's Beale is mesmerizing...While Cranston and not Van Hove are the main reason to buy a ticket, Van Hove and Versweyveld's production certainly makes for an interesting and in many ways exciting and effective experience...There's no denying that Van Hove does have a way of adding sizzle and now-ness to everything he does. But he has gone way overboard with this insistently immersive presentation.”
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