Bryan Cranston Returns to Broadway to Star in ‘Network’

Repeat Stern Show guest’s adaptation of the Oscar-winning film opens in November

August 8, 2018
Bryan Cranston receives the award for Best Actor for Bryan Cranston receives the award for Best Actor for Photo: Getty Images

Bryan Cranston is mad as hell and he’s not going to take it anymore … for 18 weeks on Broadway, starting in November.

The award-winning actor and repeat Stern Show guest returns to the Great White Way to star as Howard Beale in the stage adaptation of Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet’s 1976 satire “Network,” about a ratings-obsessed TV news station and its rapidly unraveling lead anchor.

The Oscar-winning film stars Faye Dunaway, Ned Beatty, and Stern Show veteran Robert Duvall alongside Peter Finch, who as Beale famously utters from behind the news desk: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Bryan first took on the role of Beale in an updated 2017 stage version of “Network” at London’s National Theater and wound up winning an Olivier Award. When the production moves to New York later this year it will mark Bryan’s first time back on Broadway since his Tony-winning portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson in “All the Way” — a role the “Breaking Bad” stalwart, Oscar-nominated “Trumbo” actor, and recent “Curb Your Enthusiasm” guest star discussed at length with Howard during a 2014 Stern Show sit-down.

“We are excited as hell to bring Ivo van Hove’s brilliantly innovative and electrifying production of ‘Network’ to Broadway this fall,” producers David Binder, Patrick Myles, David Luff, Ros Povey, and Lee Menzies said in a statement. “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.”

“Network” heads to New York City on Nov. 10 and opens officially on Dec. 6 at Broadway’s Cort Theatre, where it will run for an 18-week engagement. Get more on the story here and look back at Bryan’s most recent Stern Show visit here.

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