It is announced today that the National Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of NETWORK, adapted by Lee Hall from the Academy-Award winning film by Paddy Chayefsky, directed by Ivo van Hove, and featuring Bryan Cranston as news anchor Howard Beale, will transfer to Broadway this autumn for a limited 18 week run.
NETWORK will begin performances at the Cort Theatre on Saturday 10 November 2018 and officially open on Thursday 6 December. Further casting will be announced shortly.
NETWORK is produced on Broadway by David Binder, the National Theatre, Patrick Myles, David Luff, Ros Povey and Lee Menzies.
Howard Beale (Bryan Cranston, in the performance that won him the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actor in Play), news anchor-man, isn’t pulling in the viewers. In his final broadcast he unravels live on screen. But when ratings soar, the network seizes on their newfound populist prophet, and Howard becomes the biggest thing on TV. NETWORK depicts a media landscape where opinion trumps fact. Hilarious and hair-raising by turns, the iconic film by Paddy Chayefsky won four Academy Awards in 1976.
NETWORK received its world premiere at the National Theatre on 13 November 2017. The NT’s recent Broadway transfers include ANGELS IN AMERICA, winner of three Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Play, THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, which won five Tony Awards including Best Play, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, WAR HORSE, the winner of six Tony Awards including Best Play, and THE HISTORY BOYS, winner of six Tony Awards including Best Play. PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS transferred to St Ann’s Warehouse for a limited run in October 2017. THE JUNGLE, a co-production with Good Chance Theatre and the Young Vic set in the sprawling refugee camp in Calais, France, will transfer to St Ann’s Warehouse in December 2018.
The original creative team will return for the Broadway run of NETWORK, with scenic and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld, video design by Tal Yarden, costume design by An D’Huys, and music and sound design by Eric Sleichim.
Lisa Burger, NT Executive Director said: “We’re thrilled that NETWORK will transfer to Broadway in November, following its ground-breaking run here at the National Theatre. It’s particularly exciting for the NT to continue the theatrical dialogue with audiences in New York following Angels in America’s recent Broadway run. We look forward to the production – and Bryan’s incredible performance - astonishing and galvanising audiences in New York, just as it did in London this year.”
The producers of NETWORK at the Cort Theatre said: “We are excited as hell to bring Ivo van Hove’s brilliantly innovative and electrifying production of NETWORK to Broadway this fall. The incomparable Bryan Cranston brings Howard Beale to brilliant life and we are so thrilled for American audiences to have the opportunity to experience his masterful performance and this spectacular new play.”
Lee Hall’s credits include Billy Elliot, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, and The Pitmen Painters. Ivo van Hove is the Artistic Director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam. His credits include Hedda Gabler (National Theatre), Lazarus, A View From The Bridge and The Crucible on Broadway. Bryan Cranston previously appeared on Broadway in All the Way, for which he won the Tony for Best Actor, on television in Breaking Bad and the film Trumbo for which he was nominated for an Oscar.
American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets from Wednesday 5 September at 10am (EST) until Wednesday 12 September at 9.59am (EST) by visiting www.Telecharge.com or calling (00) +1 212-239-6200. Presale tickets are available to Audience Rewards members from Wednesday 12 September at 10am (EST) to Friday 14 September at 9.59am (EST) www.audiencerewards.com.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday 14 September at 10am.
For more information visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk or www.NetworkBroadway.com
Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube at @NetworkBway and @nationaltheatre
