Tickets are on sale for The Farnsworth Invention
Tickets went on sale yesterday for The Farnsworth Invention, Aaron Sorkin’s second foray onto the Broadway stage (the first being A Few Good Men, more than a few years ago.) If you’re close enough to New York City to go see the thing, ticket prices range from $101.50 to $51.50, with the top price being an Orchestra seat for an evening performance or Saturday matinee after November 14, and the bottom price being the back of the Mezzanine on a Wednesday matinee during previews. According to the blog NewYorkology, there are also last-minute $26.50 tickets available if you want to stand or can prove you’re a student.
Previews start October 15 at the Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th Street.
The play looks at the beginnings of television, and specifically the clash between Philo T. Farnsworth and David Sarnoff, chairman of RCA, to be known as inventor of the medium. The promotional video-bit above is also on the website for the play, which has gotten a facelift recently but still appears to lack some content, such as bios for anybody other than the major players. For now you can read about stars Hank Azaria (Sarnoff) and Jimmi Simpson (Farnsworth), as well as Sorkin and directer Des McAnuff. You can also read up on showtimes and ticket prices, and order the tickets.
Another good source for information about the play, and about the characters in it, is the blog Farnovision, which champions Farnsworth’s side of the story.
Do you plan to be in the audience for Sorkin’s next big deal? I’m curious about the play, and very eager to see it do well. But though I live within driving distance of Broadway, I’ve long ago found that my ability to enjoy a play, even a wonderful play by a great playwright with a super cast, cannot survive the kind of ticket prices charged on the Great White Way these days. The last time my husband and I went to a Broadway show, between the tickets and the dinner and the tunnel fare and the parking ticket, I figured we spent enough to buy a decent-sized television set. So I’ll be honoring Farnsworth by staying home with his invention.
Still, if you see the play I’d love to hear about it. Leave your review in the comments, and I’ll highlight it here for our fellow Sorkin-ites to enjoy. There’s already talk of the play being made into a movie, with Thomas Schlamme directing, and I’ll be looking forward to that. I hope some of you go ahead and pay those big prices, though. To Sorkin’s success!
The Farnsworth Invention, Aaron Sorkin
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