The Farnsworth Invention, from talented West Wing creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, is a new play concerning TV's invention and ascendance in the 20th century. Simpsons voicer Hank Azaria plays Russian-Jewish immigrant David Sarnoff, who becomes head of RCA after the requisite struggle to wrap his arms around the American Dream. His chief opponent in the race to invent TV is Philo T. Farnsworth, a Mormon prodigy and grade-A egghead.
Fans of West Wing and The American President will pick up on Sorkin's fascination with television--the great promise and the grim reality. It is in these moments that the play veers into social utopia and grandiloquent monologue. Mostly, though, Sorkin pays homage to an even greater fascination--the urge for exploration and discovery. The highly effective script speeds the story along without excessive exposition or moralizing. The actors are charming and engaging, helping the writer tell his story--a simple--but highly entertaining one.
1 comment:
As a philistine, I do not care for theater, but I do have the following comment: Azaria's resume extends beyond "The Simpsons." He was also the maid in "The Birdcage," a seductive old nudist in some crappy Stiller/Aniston romcom and, last but not least, Huff, in Showtime's "Huff."
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