Television on Broadway
I will admit that although I love watching plays and Broadway shows, I do not get too excited about the newer, or more unknown shows. If given the choice between a popular Broadway show such as “Wicked”, or a less popular one called, “The Farnsworth Invention”, I would shyly prefer to see the first. It also upsets me when a performance doesn’t contain any music or songs because I feel that music plays a large part in telling the story of most Broadway shows. However, I was proven very wrong this past weekend after seeing a less popular Broadway show called the “Farnsworth Invention”. A friend of mine surprised me with tickets to this performance and after telling me its title, I wasn’t too eager to watch it. However, during the show I quickly learned that just because it wasn’t advertised on subways and buses everywhere and just because it wasn’t a musical, doesn’t mean that “The Farnsworth Invention” was an amateur show to be taken lightly. This performance exceeded my expectations and has motivated me to check out other Broadway and off- Broadway shows that are not so common on the streets.
“The Farnsworth Invention” is set in the early 1900’s and tells a very inspirational story about a young man, Philo Farnsworth who has scientifically developed a crazy invention, television. From his youth, Farnsworth has created plans to build some sort of a television set, and to make it work. However, the conflict in the story arises as the leaders of the media company, RCA are also trying to invent the same device, at a faster pace. However the audience is quickly pushed to feel sympathetic toward Farnsworth because he represents the everyday struggling worker, trying to make something of himself and live his dream. As the play progresses Farnsworth gets older and starts a family, however his first born son quickly dies of cancer which throws him off from his inventions. The play then shows us an excellent portrayal of the Great Depression as well as the stock market crash of 1929. I won’t reveal who actually claimed the patent for inventing the television but I will say that the show’s ending was surprising and very powerful.
Although “The Farnsworth Invention: does not have the most exciting storyline on Broadway, I felt that the actors did an amazing job portraying their characters. Usually when I see a Broadway show, I feel as if I’m in the audience and completely separate from the play and its plot. However, during this show, I really felt as if the characters were real people and the narrator especially did an excellent job in connecting with the audience in unique side conversations. The drama in this performance is amazingly realistic and I was shocked at how closely connected I felt with the characters’ struggles.
“The Farnsworth Invention” really brings the audience into the world of the play, and it was very difficult to leave that world, even after stepping out of the theater.
November 1st, 2007 at 7:11 pm
This sounds pretttty cool, yea i felt the whole interactive bit when I watched None of the Above, it helps that the theaters are smaller so that you’re closer to the action. Did you think it was better that you went with someone, instead of going alone?