A Broadway play is coming to your front room stay through cable tv for the primary time ever. This historic second takes place tonight (Saturday, June 7, 2025) at 7 p.m. ET—simply in the future earlier than the 78th Tony Awards. Seize some snacks and settle in for Good Evening, and Good Luck, co-written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and directed by David Cromer.
Though this occasion is being pitched as a TV first, streaming service BroadwayHD was technically the first to livestream a Broadway present, with the musical She Loves Me in 2016—however we digress.
Right here’s what to learn about Good Evening, and Good Luck, and methods to watch it stay.
What’s “Good Evening, and Good Luck” about?
Good Evening, and Good Luck tells the story of revered CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow and his quest to carry Senator Joseph McCarthy accountable for his actions in the course of the Fifties Purple Scare. It’s based mostly on the 2005 movie of the identical title. This time round, George Clooney portrays Murrow and is making his Broadway debut.
What do the critics say?
Good Evening, and Good Luck obtained largely constructive evaluations.
Selection’s Frank Rizzo praised its “seriousness of purpose that’s once more dramatically stark, solidly documented, and in the end chilling.” The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney mused that “the drama at instances appears nearly as instructional as it’s theatrical.”
Each imagine the ending may need been too heavy-handed and wished extra character growth for the supporting characters.
Time Out’s Adam Feldman did not mince words, stating that the play is simply too just like the film. “It’s nicely designed and stuffed with tremendous actors doing their jobs. Its topic is well timed and its message is on level, and there’s no good purpose to see it,” he quipped.
The American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League, the organizations behind the Tony Awards, honored the manufacturing with 5 nominations. This consists of one for Clooney’s main efficiency.
The play is a major commercial success, changing into the highest-grossing play in Broadway historical past. On the way in which to that title, it repeatedly grossed greater than $4 million in a single week. These numbers are partly as a result of tickets vary from $176 for obstructed views to $799 for the very best seats.
Why inform this story now?
Clooney and Heslov wrote the 2005 screenplay as a response to the USA actions within the Iraq Warfare. Sadly, the common themes of talking reality to energy are extra related now than ever.
“I believe it’s a narrative which you can maintain telling again and again,” Heslov told CBS’s 60 Minutes. “I don’t suppose it’ll ever thematically get previous.”
They selected to adapt the story for the stage due to the Trump administration’s actions to discredit the media. Whereas the president laments so-called “faux information,” journalists play an essential function in educating the general public and holding public officers trustworthy.
“When the opposite three estates fail, when the judiciary and the chief and the legislative branches fail us, the fourth property has to succeed,” Clooney added in the course of the 60 Minutes interview.
He went on to say {that a} current ABC News settlement with the Trump administration was scary. In the same vein, CBS is trying to get a $20 billion lawsuit that claims 60 Minutes dedicated election interference dismissed.
Moreover, Trump continues to cherry-pick which retailers get entry to him whereas attempting to defund information organizations equivalent to NPR.
“We’re seeing this concept of utilizing authorities to scare or tremendous, or use firms to make journalists smaller,” Clooney defined.
Clooney’s father, Nick Clooney, was a revered broadcast journalist. The youthful Clooney adopted in his father’s political-party footsteps and is a lifelong Democrat.
How can I watch or stream the Broadway play stay?
As a result of this story is so private to Clooney, he’s doing his half to deliver the present’s essential and well timed message to a fair wider viewers past the Huge Apple. He partnered with CNN to perform this.
Due to 20 cameras and 14 camera operators, audiences around the globe can really feel like they’re within the room the place it occurred.
“I can’t let you know how thrilling it’s to do one thing that’s by no means been finished. CNN is the right place to deliver this story of braveness to so many extra individuals than we might have ever hoped. Stay TV. No internet. Buckle up everybody,” Clooney said in a press launch.
Earlier than the metaphorical curtain rises, CNN’s Pamela Brown will host a pre-show outdoors of the Winter Backyard Theatre, starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The play will start at 7 p.m. ET and runs an hour and 40 minutes, with no intermission. After the play, CNN’s Anderson Cooper will host a particular, discussing the present state of journalism. He might be joined by a slew of notable friends together with Connie Chung and Marvin Kalb.
Conventional cable subscribers can watch the pre-show, play, and post-show dialogue on CNN and CNN Worldwide.
Wire-cutters can stream the theatrical expertise on CNN.com/GoodNightGoodLuck and don’t want a cable login. It can even be obtainable on HBO Max in any respect subscription ranges.
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