Nothing Works in NETWORK on Broadway - Even Walter White Can't Save this Mess

One would hypothesize NETWORK, based on Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay starring Bryan Cranston and directed by Ivo Van Hove would be a formula for success.  Unfortunately, this production has so many flawed elements the result is a disastrous debacle.  Chayefsky, the Acad. Award, Golden Globe and Tony winning playwright, screenwriter & director laid a solid  foundation with his scathing & groundbreaking screenplay.  Bryan Cranston, one of the most gifted and versatile actors working in film, TV and stage was not able to save this hodgepodge of a mess.  Frankly, I’m mad as hell.  This should have been a surefire hit.  I’ll place the blame on the indiscernible adaption by British screenwriter Lee Hall (“War Horse” and “Billy Elliot).  And his co-conspirator guilty of poor choices director Ivo Van Hove (“A View From the Bridge” and “The Crucible”.)  While the award winning film NETWORK was a tightly wound drama with a raging pulse, NETWORK at the Belasco is a major fiasco.  The stage is overburdened with too many fractious moving parts.  While center stage is the foreground for Howard Beale (Bryan Cranston) the control room, the audience on stage, the elevated platform and action off stage (especially Cranston sitting amongst the audience) are all at war over the integrity of the play.  The relevance of social media infiltrating our lives was prescient in the 1976 film but it is all but distilled to a disjointed melodrama and sophomoric philosophizing.  Cranston was heroic in his valiant efforts but was weighted down like wet cement. His character was misdirected to rapidly transform from having a mental breakdown to a competent TV personality.  The pre-gameshow antics prior to the Howard Beale show were idiotic. Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) as the overly ambitious & unsentimental Diana Christensen was incredulous and the bankable Tony Goldwyn as Max Schumacher was at odds with his character.  The salacious & detached sex scene between Diana & Max was a misfire.  Even more odious was the scene between Max and his wife when their marriage comes apart; so poignant in the film felt forced and unnecessary.  You don’t need to see NETWORK.  The play is in shambles.  Bryan Cranston doesn’t solve for all the troubles with this production but he is the sole surviving reason to put NETWORK on your radar.