GEORGE CLOONEY’S SENSE OF DECENCY
Where are our heroes when we need them?!
It takes a Hollywood actor to give us one in these traumatic times. Trouble is, that hero comes from the 1950s.
George Clooney
George Clooney has had a lifelong respect for truth, justice, and “the facts.” Son of a news anchorman in Kentucky and later an AMC host, Clooney found his own personal idol in Edward R. Murrow, journalist, news broadcaster, and anchor of the show called See It Now at CBS’s Studio 41. In 2005, Clooney and his fellow actor-friend Grant Heslov co-authored a film called Good Night. and Good Luck, dramatizing Murrow’s effort to expose and defeat Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and the dangerous, destructive anti-Communist campaign he was leading in America in the ’50s. In the film, Clooney played Fred Friendly, the producer of See It Now.
Ilana Glazer
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty,” Murrow said about that terrible era of McCarthyism. “We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason,”
“Murrow represented us at our best,” says Clooney in response. He knew the time was right to bring him back—this time, on stage, with Clooney playing the man he so admired. Given our current constitutional crisis, his efforts couldn’t be more relevant.
Glenn Fleshler and George Clooney
Now running at the Winter Garden Theatre, the new play has kept its original film title of Good Night, and Good Luck (Murrow’s closing words after each broadcast), with Clooney as Murrow. The vast stage recreates the Studio 41 news room, filled with almost two dozen staff and crew members scrambling to mount the series of broadcasts that took McCarthy down. The elaborate set is by Scott Pask, featuring 30 moveable TV monitors. Murrow and producer Friendly (Glenn Flesher) lead the heroic effort, to the alarm of CBS President William S. Paley (Paul Gross), fearful of loss of corporate sponsorships.
George Clooney and Clark Gregg
In a low-key, controlled, disciplined performance, Clooney effectively conveys Murrow’s admirable dedication and sense of purpose. His grave face is projected on a huge screen during his broadcasts, and the effect is overpowering. He is utterly convincing as a self-effacing hero, fearlessly withstanding McCarthy’s false attacks (that Murrow was a communist since the 1930s and on Moscow’s payroll since the 1940s) and maintaining his focus throughout.
Paul Gross and George Clooney
As for McCarthy, the playwrights and director David Cromer have also made a powerful casting choice—namely, McCarthy himself, as represented through video recordings of speeches and congressional hearings. They are also projected onto that huge screen (projections by David Bengali) and monitors throughout the theater. As Clooney joked in a recent interview: “McCarthy is still played by McCarthy, which I’m fairly sure he’s going to get a Tony for.”
The Company
What I find curious about the production, however, is the overall lack of excitement onstage, given the sky-high stakes of these historical broadcasts and hearings. Cromer, a skilled, seasoned director, moves his huge cast gracefully around the stage, but the overall effect is that of a solemn docudrama. Moreover, Cromer has made an odd choice of installing a small band on the balcony, featuring a chanteuse (Georgia Heers) occasionally singing period songs whose titles reflect what is happening on stage—for example, “I’ve Got My Eyes on You” and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance (with its leading line, “there may be trouble ahead”). Rather than contribute to the energy of what’s happening onstage, the songs come across as puzzling interruptions.
The Company
But, no matter. What ultimately delivers this earnest dramatic effort is its remarkable relevance to the traumatic times we are now living in—as well as its urgent warning. In Murrow’s days, the “facts” transmitted by television (remember, there were only three news channels at the time) were what triumphed over McCarthyism. “Crusading journalism … a milestone for journalism,” praised The New York Times. Today’s television news and multiple cable outlets, however, are a disturbing confusion of “alternate facts.” How can we unite behind truth if we don’t know what it is, and—to make matters worse—if certain media sources who do attempt to report the truth are being attacked by our government?
The Company
At one point during the McCarthy hearings tape, Joseph Welch, special counsel for the US Army, lashes out at the Senator, saying: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” As heard in these traumatic times, that now-famous question is chilling to the bone, as it pertains to those in power today.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” That immortal line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is repeated several times throughout the play. If there are no heroic Edward R. Murrows to save us today, it is up to us to stand up together to the current, frightening threats to our sacred democracy.
Good luck, indeed. We’ll need it.
photos by Emilio Madrid
Good Night, and Good Luck
Winter Garden Theatre, 1634 Broadway
ends on June 8, 2025
for tickets, call 212.239.6200 or visit Good Night Good Luck or Telecharge
free telecasted performance will take place on Saturday, June 7 at 7 PM ET across CNN properties
