CNN to Livestream George Clooney’s ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ – The New York Times

Performances in N.Y.C.
Advertisement
Supported by
In June, the news organization is planning a live broadcast of one of the final Broadway performances of “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
By Michael Paulson
George Clooney’s Broadway debut, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press.
Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.
“We were looking at taking the play on the road, and taking it to London, and taking it to Paris,” Clooney said in an interview on Thursday, adding, “but we also thought it never is going to be exactly what it is right now, with the same cast, and we thought it would be nice to have a record of it.
“And then we thought, because the newscasts are all done live, it is the perfect thing to try to create on live television, which is always exciting — there no safety net, and it’s a fun thing to do.”
Clooney said that he expects the play will be available to stream after the live broadcast, but that he does not yet know where. “That’s what we’re still working on right now,” he said. “The question is, where does it go from here, and we’ve had three different offers and we’re negotiating to find out what the best position is.”
The Broadway production of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which began performances in March, is adapted from the 2005 film about a confrontation between the television journalist Edward R. Murrow and Joseph R. McCarthy, the crusading anti-communist senator from Wisconsin.
“Unfortunately, this play always is timely,” Clooney said. “What journalists do for a living is always going to be challenged by people in power — they don’t like it unless they can control it. And there are some things about this that are more timely right now, of course.”
Clooney said that “Good Night, and Good Luck” had initially been conceived as a live production for CBS, before it became a movie. He also noted that years ago he had starred in a live televised version of “Fail Safe,” and said that he had once wanted to do “ER” as a live show.
“There’s another part of this that means something to me: I’ve had this really wonderful experience being on Broadway, and I think it’s important for a lot of people to be able to see what it’s like to come to Broadway, see a Broadway play, in cities all across the country and all across the world, because it’s pretty exciting.”
Clooney has been nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Murrow in the play; he also wrote it, in collaboration with Grant Heslov, and the two of them are among the lead producers. (Clooney played a different role, that of Murrow’s CBS colleague Fred Friendly, in the film, which he also directed and co-wrote.)
Clooney said he had chosen CNN to livestream the play primarily “because it’s a news organization, so that made a lot of sense.” But he also noted that he and Heslov have a deal with Warner Bros., which owns CNN, and which had the rights to the movie.
He said that some of the producers of the Broadway show would finance the filming.
“We’re paying for it to be made, because it’s expensive,” Clooney said. “The investors in the play all did pretty well, so I went to the investors and said, ‘We’ve all done better than we thought we would ever do, so let’s put that money in and make this thing available to a much larger audience.’”
Jesse Green of The New York Times gave the play a positive review, but it received mixed reviews overall, and was not nominated for the best play Tony Award. No matter: It has been a huge success at the box office, shattering previous Broadway records. During the week that ended May 4, it took in $4 million, more than any play had ever grossed in a week. And earlier this week, the show’s producers announced that they had recouped their $9.5 million in capitalization costs, a relatively rare feat on Broadway, and one accomplished with unusual speed.
The show has become profitable thanks to a relatively high ticket price — last week, its average was $305 — and a large-capacity theater (venues the size of the 1,537-seat Winter Garden are more likely to house musicals).
“Ticket prices are high — there’s no question about that,” Clooney said. “So, yeah, let’s democratize this a little bit.” He noted that relatively inexpensive tickets were available at the start of the run, and that over the last two weeks the production had provided free tickets to 2,000 students.
In several instances, Broadway shows have been captured for later release onscreen, including, most prominently, “Hamilton,” which is streaming on Disney+, as well as “Come From Away,” “Diana” and “American Utopia.” A Tony-winning revival of “Merrily We Roll Along” that closed last year was filmed; Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the rights. And the PBS “Great Performances” series has aired live recordings of Broadway shows, including “Purlie Victorious,” and has more on tap. But live performances of Broadway plays broadcast in real time are a rarity.
There have also been a few livestreamed Broadway performances, but, to the dismay of those who can’t get to New York or can’t afford tickets, that is rare. The reasons are complex: Producers tend to blame labor unions and labor unions tend to blame producers. Most of the streamed productions have involved nonprofit theaters and niche streaming channels.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
 Taking on ‘Salome’: For his Met Opera debut, the renowned German director Claus Guth is staging Strauss’s breakthrough opera with a focus on themes of trauma and abuse.
’Real Women Have Curves’:The new musical on Broadway is based on Josefina López’s original play and the 2002 film adaptation that starred America Ferrera.
Trapped in a Cave: Floyd Collins was pinned under a rock while exploring a cave in 1925. That history, recounted in song, is now on Broadway.
No Power? No Problem: The “Sunset Boulevard” star Nicole Scherzinger briefly entertained the crowd when “a technical malfunction on the sound side” forced the cancellation of a matinee performance.
 Pushing Sisyphean Beach Balls: Celia Rowlson-Hall’s “Sissy” at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, a dance-theater hybrid featuring Marisa Tomei, pokes at the boundaries between art and life.
Advertisement

source