The dialogue, meanwhile, gives mostly the appearance of panache: the biggest laugh comes late in the evening from a recycled joke about oral sex. For my taste, Farnsworth relies too heavily on narration; by the time Farnsworth and Sarnoff meet face-to-face I was so grateful for the dramatisation that I didn’t mind finding out that Sorkin had invented their encounter.
In spite of its structural weaknesses, Farnsworth manages to be highly enjoyable. For that, credit the director, Des McAnuff. With only a slight variation on the two-tier set that he used in Jersey Boys, he slides the large company of actors around the stage with characteristic fleetness.
Nice to see I’m not the only one who’s heard that "kid walks on the moon/oral sex" joke before… and I agree entirely about the staging. Hey, I never said it’s a BAD play. Just… wrong.