From the time that “Good Night, and Good Luck” begins at the Winter Garden Theatre at 1634 Broadway, you know you are being taken back to a golden television era: CBS Studios at Grand Central in 1954, when broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow took on Senator Joseph McCarthy and the chaos and paranoia McCarthy promoted throughout this country as he charged people in all fields of life with being communists and proceeded to destroy them. This play shows how determined Murrow was to call out McCarthy’s attacks on the American project.
This play is written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who also wrote the film of the same name. Clooney leads the cast as Murrow, and the other cast members also portray real life people of the era. It was very interesting to see what was happening behind the scenes as Murrow went against McCarthy and tried to use journalism as a means of fighting a terrible enemy. The way this play is presented is very poignant — with black and white commercial ads from the time period, black and white live video of Murrow’s weekly television broadcast “See It Now,” and all the detailed action that happens behind the scenes and what it costs the doers. People who went against McCarthy were then targeted by him and sometimes people lost more than their jobs.
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The entire cast, working as a well-oiled machine, also features Mac Brandt as Colonel Anderson, Will Dagger as Don Hewitt, Christopher Denham as John Aaron, Glenn Fleshler as Fred Friendly, Ilana Glazer as Shirley Wershba, Clark Gregg as Don Hollenbeck, Paul Gross as William F. Paley, Georgia Heers as Ella, Carter Hudson as Joe Wershba, Fran Kranz as Palmer Williams, Jennifer Morris as Mili Lerner, Michael Nathanson as Eddie Scott, Andrew Polk as Charlie Mack, Aaron Roman Weiner as Don Surine, Greg Stuhr as Phil from Legal, with ensemble members R. Ward Duffy, Joe Forbrich, Imani Rousselle, JD Taylor, and Sophia Tzougros.
The play reveals the truth about McCarthy, his lies, and the consequences he faced, while also sharing the sad consequences faced by those who went after him. This play looks at how the use of media in our society can be a source of misinformation and corruption, and how powerful this source of information is. There is modern-day footage of newsmakers and it is overwhelming to behold, but it will also have you take a pause and think about the images we are bombarded with every day, whether via the television or all types of social media.
This production has a very creative technical team with scenic design by Scott Pask, lighting design by Heather Gilbert, video/projections design by David Bengali, sound design by Daniel Kluger, costume design by Brenda Abbandandolo and hair & wig design by Leah J. Loukas.
For tickets visit goodnightgoodluckbroadway.com.