THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ivo van Hove’s breathtaking and prescient production of NETWORK roars open on Broadway, starring a sensational Bryan Cranston

Bryan Cranston in Ivo van Hove's production of "Network" at the Belasco Theatre. Photo by Jan Versweyveld.

Bryan Cranston in Ivo van Hove’s production of “Network” at the Belasco Theatre. Photo by Jan Versweyveld.

Last night, Belgian auteur theater director Ivo van Hove’s bold, brash, and altogether stunning stage adaptation of Paddy Chayefsky’s 1976 film Network roared opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre. The production – a transfer from London’s indispensable National Theatre – stars a sensational Bryan Cranston (a deserved Tony-winner for his portrayal of LBJ in All the Way) as Howard Beale, a has-been news anchor on a fast decline whose career gets an outrageous second life when his mental breakdown turns him into an instant celebrity, altering the very definition of (network) news in the process.

The film’s screenplay has been smartly polished for the stage by the great British playwright Lee Hall, who totally gets the biting satire and prescient qualities of the material. In the lead, Mr. Cranston gives yet another titanic portrayal, which may well earn him his second Tony. He imbues Howard Beale with an everyman quality that gives his performance a transparency that pierces. Even if the rest of the cast isn’t quite at his level of excellence, they’re still pretty darn good, particularly Tatiana Maslany’s sensual performance as the ambitious Diana Christensen.

But the real star of the show is Mr. van Hove, whose forceful minimalist/maximalist aesthetic here is the perfect match for Chayefsky’s film (despite being a die-hard fan of the director’s, his stagings haven’t always clicked). I would even argue that this is his finest work to date. His furious and overwhelming multi-media staging here – complete with an onstage dining (!) experience for a handful of lucky (and wealthy) theatergoers – is at once dizzyingly audacious and completely appropriate. It’s a technical and artistic achievement that must be seen to be believed.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

NETWORK
Broadway, Play
Belasco Theatre
2 hours (without an intermission)
Through March 17

Categories: Broadway, Theater

Leave a Reply