Television Makes Good Theatre

It has been forever since my last post. No excuses. Unless laziness is an excuse. Then I plead laziness.

Last night I saw a preview of Aaron Sorkin's first Broadway production since A Few Good Men back in 1989. The Farnsworth Invention chronicles the invention of the television and the race to claim the patent.

As David Sarnoff, media mogul and head of RCA, Hank Azaria is naturally charismatic. He adds a gruffness to his voice that hints at Mr. Sarnoff's aggressive demeanor and ethnic background effectively without being intrusive or distracting.

However, the true standout in the plum role is "newcomer" Jimmi Simpson as Philo Farnsworth, the corn-fed Utahn who invents the electronic television but is denied his due. Having originated the role in the pre-Broadway La Jolla Playhouse production, his performance seems effortlessly lived-in and detailed. I look forward to seeing more of this actor's work.

Aaron Sorkin and his director Des McAnuff know how to keep this story moving. In fact, The Farnsworth Invention could very well be an HBO televised movie or mini-series with its large cast and fluid, episodic structure. (NOTE: wikipedia tells me it was originally a screenplay rewritten as a stage play. That makes total sense.) However, it is still inherently theatrical with Sarnoff and Farnsworth switching narrative duties. I also marveled at the swift grace with which Des McAnuff choreographed his cast about the stage in seamless transitions from one scene to the next.

The script contains Sorkin's trademark rapid-fire dialogue, but at the same time seems more natural and reaches less for the pseudo-witty repartee that characterizes some of his television work.

For me, it conjured echos of Frost/Nixon. Both are centered around the lives of two men in competition. Both are plays that deal with the importance of the televisual medium. Both have episodic structures and are quickly paced in a cinematic style.

One thing Frost/Nixon has over The Farnsworth Invention, however, is a strong climax leading to a truly satisfying conclusion. Frost/Nixon deals with the televised interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon several years after Nixon's resignation. The climax consists of David Frost finally winning his objective of getting Nixon to apologize for Watergate. The lead-up to this moment is suspenseful and even includes a fabricated scene where Nixon drunk-dials Frost.

The Farnsworth Invention also contains a conclusive "meeting" between Sarnoff and Farnsworth, but for me it lacked dramatic impact. Perhaps this is because Farnsworth is a scientist and lacks the Shakespearean bravado of a character of Nixon's stature. If anything, Sarnoff might have the bravado but Azaria wisely soft pedals it, particularly when it might come off as gloating. What is clear is Sarnoff's admiration and recognition of Farnsworth's genius and his earth-shattering contribution to technology and communication.

Sarnoff admires Farnsworth, but that doesn't stop him from robbing the inventor of his glory. As Sarnoff says alluding to when the Cossacks ran his family out of Russia, "I burned his house down before he could burn mine." (That quote is inexact, but pretty close.)

All in all, this was a fast paced audience-pleaser with some good acting from the two leads and their hard-working ensemble.

Certain lines stick out and rumble in the brain, particularly when Sarnoff and Farnsworth express their hopes for the televised medium. Sarnoff, against advertisement dollars, wishes television programming to be the arbiter of good taste and "sophistication." Also, notably, he believes it will have the power to "end all wars" by simply "pointing a camera" at it. If they only knew...