New York Magazine wonders why Ben Brantley of the NYTimes was so hard on The Farnsworth Invention: Yikes, what did Aaron Sorkin ever do to Ben Brantley? The Times critic rips Sorkin’s play, The Farnsworth Invention, a new one today with a review so patronizing it seems as though it was written by Ratatouille’s Anton […]
Criticizing The Critics Read More »
Link: Steve On Broadway (SOB): Did Critics Enjoy Sorkin’s Invention?. Frankly, as much as I enjoyed the first act, I felt very cheated by the second, which clearly should have been labeled "The Sorkin Invention." Newsday’s Linda Winer is right to point out that there are plenty of people questioning Sorkin’s conceit in adding a
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More reviews that slipped through the net earlier today: New York Press (Stan Friedman): Sometimes showing off (“Music is what Mathmatics does on a Saturday night”), sometimes using his familiar ironic understatement (“You’re going to want to not screw this up”), Sorkin delivers what his established fans and critics have come to expect: a showcase
The Envelope – a column at LATimes.com that handicaps the prospects for various awards like the Oscars and the Tonys, offers up this summary of the reviews: Tonys 2008: ‘The Farnsworth Invention’ lacks originality TV and movie scribe Aaron Sorkin’s return to Broadway 18 years after triumphing with the military courtroom drama "A Few Good
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Sarnoff’s spawn covers The Farnsworth Invention: Who was the father of TV?With commercials, of course. Pretty much a puff-piece, but damn that "West Wing" theme still stirs the soul….
New York Times Theater Critic Ben Brantley tries really hard to find things to like about The Farnsworth Invention. And mostly fails: This information-crammed, surface-skimming biodrama about the creators of television suggests nothing so much as a classroom presentation on a seven-figure budget. The show certainly deserves high marks for all those traits that exacting schoolteachers
The Paper of Record: Damning with Faint Praise Read More »
The reviews of The Farnsworth Invention are pouring in almost by the hour now. Here are links to the most recent, and a "money quote" from each one: The Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones): Boy, this is a jumpy piece of writing. It feels like the writer is worried the audience might change the channel. That’s
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Namely Roma Torre, writing for NY1: Top Stories. "The Farnsworth Invention" Does Some Inventing Of Its Own Aaron Sorkin’s new play "The Farnsworth Invention" is something of a hybrid – a cross between theatre and docudrama – and while we’re given the impression this is a mostly factual telling about the invention of television, it
Uh Oh. If this AP ARTS REVIEW is any indication, "The Farnsworth Invention" has a lot more to worry about than a few historical inacuracies: Farnsworth and Sarnoff never met in real life, but they do in Sorkin’s play. It’s here where the evening finally springs to dramatic life. It may have been a fictional
Oh Dear: AP says ‘Invention’ “fails” Read More »
