Bryan Cranston paid tribute to the National Theatre last night as he premiered the hit London play Network on Broadway.
Hillary Clinton and US Vogue editor-in-chief Dame Anna Wintour were in the audience for the New York opening of the play adapted from a 1976 film. It had a four-month run at the South Bank theatre until March.
Cranston plays Howard Beale, an anchorman who has a breakdown live on air and his performance attracted rave reviews in the American press. The New York Times described him as “electrifying”, while Variety lauded his “masterful” performance.
The actor, 62, best-known for his role as Walter White in cult TV series Breaking Bad, won the best actor Olivier Award and was shortlisted for an Evening Standard Theatre Award for his performance in London.
He told the Evening Standard: “I so enjoyed doing it in London. The National Theatre is a perfect place to perform. They embrace creative endeavour without a thought of how they’re going to make any money back, it’s like ‘let’s just make this the best’. So having that place as our starting point we were able to have the time and energy and financial support to be able to create what now is on Broadway.”
Cranston is joined on stage in New York by a fresh cast. The stage adaptation is by British playwright Lee Hall, 52, who wrote 2000 film Billy Elliot.
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