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But theres something flat about van Hoves production.
Whereas Lumet worked painstakingly and theatrically!
Hes a diabolical pleasure to watch, and yet, despite his centrality, hes not the play.
Van HovesNetworktreats the parable of Beales rise and fall as a star rather than a fully fleshed-out ensemble drama.
Yet Howard Beale isnt even really the storys protagonist.
If that honor belongs to the character who most consciously drives the action, then inNetworkits Diana Christensen.
Im mad as hell, and Im not going to take it anymore!
(Was it inevitable that we in the audience would be asked to shout these words?
If Im allergic to any four words from an actor, they might be, I cantheeeear youuuu!)
Her gamble pays off: people love this crazy-eyed evangelist.
And other than Cranston, the people inNetworkfeel stuck, sometimes overwrought and often stiff.
Despite his weakness, Max isNetworks only character to undergo a conscious ethical journey.
In Diana, Max tells her, all of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality.
War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer.
And the daily business of life is a corrupt comedy.
You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split-seconds and instant replays.
Youre madness, Diana.
And everything you touch dies with you.
At least, thats what he tells her in Chayefskys screenplay.
You understand that dont you?
But in van Hoves production, Goldwyns performance comes nowhere near to registering on the same level as Cranstons.
The Max-and-Diana B-plot turns out to be whereNetworks heart lies.
But it feels unprecedented, a moral that hasnt been sewn into the fabric of the story throughout.
Networkis at the Belasco Theatre.
