The Farnsworth Invention
Encyclopedia
The Farnsworth Invention is a stage play by Aaron Sorkin
adapted from an unproduced screenplay
about Philo Farnsworth
's invention of the television and David Sarnoff
, the RCA
president who stole the design.
announced they had acquired the drama script The Farnsworth Invention from award-winning writer Aaron Sorkin. Thomas Schlamme was set to direct.
The release read in part: "The Farnsworth Invention tells the story of Philo Farnsworth
, a boy genius from Rigby, Idaho
who, at 22, invented television only to become involved in an all or nothing battle with David Sarnoff
, the young president of RCA
and America
's first communications mogul." Schlamme described the movie as "a classic American tale driven by the conflict between a Mormon
farmer and a Russia
n immigrant over the ownership of the most influential invention of the 20th Century."
Following its initial press release, New Line did not disclose any additional information about the film. Website
s such as the Internet Movie Database incorrectly anticipated a film in 2005. IMDb eventually removed the entry.
in Dublin, Ireland
. It was staged at the La Jolla Playhouse
from February 20 - March 25, 2007 as "a page-to-stage production" with Jimmi Simpson
(Zodiac) playing Farnsworth and Stephen Lang
(Gods and Generals
, Avatar) as Sarnoff. Award-winning composer Andrew Lippa
penned 45 minutes of music to underscore the drama.
It was scheduled to open on Broadway
on November 14, 2007, but this was delayed due to the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike
. It opened at the Music Box Theatre
on December 3, 2007, with Hank Azaria
in the Sarnoff role due to Lang's commitment to James Cameron
's 2009 film Avatar.
The show closed on March 2, 2008.
. Directed by Louise Fischer,
Set Designer: Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher, Lighting Designer: Blake Garner, Costume Designer: Nick Plummer, Composer: Heinz Schweers, Production Manager: Rosane McNamara, Stage Manager: Ruth Horsfall, Assistant Director: Susannah Thompson.
Cast: Shannon Ashlyn, Patrick Connolly, Robert J Edwards, Errol Henderson, Lynden Jones, John Keightley, Naomi Livingstone, Corinne Marie, Ruben Neeson, Marty O’Neill, Samantha Roylance, Katherine Shearer, Mark Sippel, Gary Smith, Damian Sommerlad, Chris Turner, Paul Whiddon, Amanda Wiltshire, Robert Zavadszky.
This was later addressed on a Facebook question where Sorkin indicated:
panned the play with faint praise
:
In the New York Post
, Clive Barnes
awarded it 2½ out of 4 stars and stated, "Sorkin's take on the Farnsworth/Sarnoff standoff would be better suited to a screen, either big or small. Even now, while crackling with crisp dialogue, The Farnsworth Invention often has the air of a clumsy stage adaptation of, say, Citizen Kane
."
Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News
described it as "disappointing and ho-hum" and "seldom deeply involving . . . Scenes play out like brief vignette
s from a History Channel biopic . . . without stirring emotions."
In Newsday
, Linda Winer called it "vintage Sorkin and crackling prime-time theater . . . breezy and shrewd, smart-alecky and idealistic."
In Variety
, David Rooney said, "The plot-heavy drama is light on fully fleshed-out characters or subtext, making it likely to play more satisfyingly when it inevitably reverts to being a film or cable
project . . . [it] never fully moves beyond its stream of over-explained factoids."
In the Chicago Sun-Times
, Hedy Weiss described it as "a firecracker of a play in a fittingly snap, crackle and pop production under the direction of Des McAnuff, the drama has among its many virtues the ability to make you think at the same time that it breaks your heart."
Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune
called it "slick yet deeply conflicted" and "restless" and added, "this is one of those Boomer-friendly, media-savvy, self-aware pieces of effective theater that feel like they owe a lot to TV writing and our celebrity-obsessed culture . . . this is a jumpy piece of writing. It feels like the writer is worried the audience might change the channel. That's not entirely a bad thing. As fans of Sorkin's TV shows know well, the internal psyche of Sorkin is a very stimulating place in which to dwell for a couple of hours. His characters are uncommonly articulate and witty—albeit without much differentiation. He has mastered all the dramatic rules so well, he can titillate you by deconstructing and then reassembling them. And in this case he certainly knows how to make a dry scientific quest into a provocative piece of theater."
Kurt Loder of MTV
News called it "the most exciting new play on Broadway" and "a rousing theatrical experience."
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
adapted from an unproduced screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
about Philo Farnsworth
Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device , the "image...
's invention of the television and David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff was an American businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio and television. He founded the National Broadcasting Company and throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his...
, the RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
president who stole the design.
Screenplay
On April 29, 2004, New Line CinemaNew Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
announced they had acquired the drama script The Farnsworth Invention from award-winning writer Aaron Sorkin. Thomas Schlamme was set to direct.
The release read in part: "The Farnsworth Invention tells the story of Philo Farnsworth
Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device , the "image...
, a boy genius from Rigby, Idaho
Rigby, Idaho
Rigby is a small city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,998 at the 2000 census.The larger "Rigby area" includes such outlying unincorporated communities as Annis, Garfield, Grant, Labelle, and Clark...
who, at 22, invented television only to become involved in an all or nothing battle with David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff was an American businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio and television. He founded the National Broadcasting Company and throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his...
, the young president of RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
and America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
's first communications mogul." Schlamme described the movie as "a classic American tale driven by the conflict between a Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
farmer and a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n immigrant over the ownership of the most influential invention of the 20th Century."
Following its initial press release, New Line did not disclose any additional information about the film. Website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s such as the Internet Movie Database incorrectly anticipated a film in 2005. IMDb eventually removed the entry.
Stage play
In 2005 it was announced that Sorkin was adapting the screenplay for the stage and the play would debut in the Abbey TheatreAbbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
in Dublin, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. It was staged at the La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. -Background:...
from February 20 - March 25, 2007 as "a page-to-stage production" with Jimmi Simpson
Jimmi Simpson
James Raymond "Jimmi" Simpson is an American actor. He has had recurring roles on the television shows 24, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Psych, My Name Is Earl, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and The Late Show with David Letterman...
(Zodiac) playing Farnsworth and Stephen Lang
Stephen Lang (actor)
Stephen Lang is an American actor and playwright. He started in theatre on Broadway but is well known for his film portrayals of Stonewall Jackson in Gods and Generals and George Pickett in Gettysburg , as well as for his 2009 roles as Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar and as Texan lawman Charles...
(Gods and Generals
Gods and Generals (film)
Gods and Generals is a 2003 American film based on the novel Gods and Generals by Jeffrey Shaara. It depicts events that take place prior to those shown in the 1993 film Gettysburg, which was based on The Killer Angels, a novel by Shaara's father, Michael...
, Avatar) as Sarnoff. Award-winning composer Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa is an American composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer. He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City.-Biography:...
penned 45 minutes of music to underscore the drama.
It was scheduled to open on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
on November 14, 2007, but this was delayed due to the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike
2007 Broadway stagehand strike
2007 Broadway Stagehands Strike was a strike action by stagehands represented by Theatrical Protective Union Number One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees against the Shubert, Jujamcyn, and Nederlander theaters...
. It opened at the Music Box Theatre
Music Box Theatre
The Music Box Theater is a Broadway theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris specifically to...
on December 3, 2007, with Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
in the Sarnoff role due to Lang's commitment to James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
's 2009 film Avatar.
The show closed on March 2, 2008.
Productions
An Australian production officially opened on 13 July, 2011 with previews commencing 12 July at the New Theatre in NewtownNewtown
-Australia:*Newtown, New South Wales*Newtown, Queensland *Newtown, Queensland *Newtown, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong*Newtown, Victoria , a locality near Ballarat-Ireland:* Newtown, County Cork* Newtown, County Laois...
. Directed by Louise Fischer,
Set Designer: Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher, Lighting Designer: Blake Garner, Costume Designer: Nick Plummer, Composer: Heinz Schweers, Production Manager: Rosane McNamara, Stage Manager: Ruth Horsfall, Assistant Director: Susannah Thompson.
Cast: Shannon Ashlyn, Patrick Connolly, Robert J Edwards, Errol Henderson, Lynden Jones, John Keightley, Naomi Livingstone, Corinne Marie, Ruben Neeson, Marty O’Neill, Samantha Roylance, Katherine Shearer, Mark Sippel, Gary Smith, Damian Sommerlad, Chris Turner, Paul Whiddon, Amanda Wiltshire, Robert Zavadszky.
Historical accuracy
The play is not historically accurate, and is an intentional alteration of the story. It shows Farnsworth as being defeated legally by Sarnoff, and then spending his life in obscurity. In reality, Farnsworth won the lawsuit, later received a $1 million payment from RCA for the purchase of his TV patents, and went on to have an illustrious career in technological research. There is a statue of Farnsworth in the U.S. Capitol.This was later addressed on a Facebook question where Sorkin indicated:
Critical reception
In the New York Times, Ben BrantleyBen Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
panned the play with faint praise
Damn with faint praise
Damn with faint praise is an English idiom for words that effectively condemn by seeming to offer praise which is too moderate or marginal to be considered praise at all...
:
In the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
awarded it 2½ out of 4 stars and stated, "Sorkin's take on the Farnsworth/Sarnoff standoff would be better suited to a screen, either big or small. Even now, while crackling with crisp dialogue, The Farnsworth Invention often has the air of a clumsy stage adaptation of, say, Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
."
Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
described it as "disappointing and ho-hum" and "seldom deeply involving . . . Scenes play out like brief vignette
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
s from a History Channel biopic . . . without stirring emotions."
In Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, Linda Winer called it "vintage Sorkin and crackling prime-time theater . . . breezy and shrewd, smart-alecky and idealistic."
In Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, David Rooney said, "The plot-heavy drama is light on fully fleshed-out characters or subtext, making it likely to play more satisfyingly when it inevitably reverts to being a film or cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
project . . . [it] never fully moves beyond its stream of over-explained factoids."
In the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, Hedy Weiss described it as "a firecracker of a play in a fittingly snap, crackle and pop production under the direction of Des McAnuff, the drama has among its many virtues the ability to make you think at the same time that it breaks your heart."
Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
called it "slick yet deeply conflicted" and "restless" and added, "this is one of those Boomer-friendly, media-savvy, self-aware pieces of effective theater that feel like they owe a lot to TV writing and our celebrity-obsessed culture . . . this is a jumpy piece of writing. It feels like the writer is worried the audience might change the channel. That's not entirely a bad thing. As fans of Sorkin's TV shows know well, the internal psyche of Sorkin is a very stimulating place in which to dwell for a couple of hours. His characters are uncommonly articulate and witty—albeit without much differentiation. He has mastered all the dramatic rules so well, he can titillate you by deconstructing and then reassembling them. And in this case he certainly knows how to make a dry scientific quest into a provocative piece of theater."
Kurt Loder of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
News called it "the most exciting new play on Broadway" and "a rousing theatrical experience."