Excellent news, all people! You don’t simply should accept seeing famous person George Clooney on a display anymore. Now you can go see him in particular person… on a display!

Good Evening, and Good Luck — the Clooney-directed 2005 movie telling the story of CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s takedown of Joseph McCarthy and the senator’s Crimson Scare Committee hearings of the Fifties — has now been tailored for the Broadway stage on the Winter Backyard Theatre. However whereas the story could also be as well timed and essential as ever, the difference feels considerably constrained by its reliance on the medium it celebrates and, by the tip of the present, skewers.

The play is, in essence, a just about verbatim retelling of the movie, which is each a power and a weak spot. The largest change, in fact, is that Clooney, who beforehand performed producer Fred Pleasant, has upgraded himself to the lead position of Murrow (portrayed within the film by David Strathairn, who earned an Oscar nom). Clooney acquits himself properly, delivering the anchor’s steely but dispassionate “simply the info, ma’am” demeanor with defiant restraint.

Othello review: Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal shine in an otherwise shaky production

If solely he have been delivering it on to the viewers. As an alternative, the star is usually tucked right into a nook of the set wanting away from the seats and to a digital camera, which then transmits the picture to a large display in the midst of the stage together with 10 screens alongside the perimeter. Positive, the selection makes narrative sense contemplating the medium — placing theatergoers right into a Fifties front room setting to obtain the transmission a lot as viewers did again then — however, like, isn’t that what the movie is for? Wouldn’t this stage-set Murrow delivering his broadcast on to the viewers be a brisker and extra emotionally connecting take?

There are different situations by which the manufacturing — directed by David Cromer — can be higher served by untethering itself from the unique supply materials. Just like the movie, the brand new adaptation makes use of the identical archival footage of McCarthy and others from committee hearings and interviews, however what labored properly for the multiplex lacks the identical vitality in particular person. Why not solid a villain for the gang to root towards on the stage versus on the display? Why not give us flesh-and-blood accounts of those that have been persecuted to drive their plight house? Why hold diverting our eyes to screens as a substitute of the stage itself?

Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk seal the deal in star-studded Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross

And a well-designed stage, it’s. The present begins with a gorgeously lit singer (Georgia Heers as Ella) seen behind a curtain crooning “Once I Fall in Love” (lighting design by Heather Gilbert) earlier than finally morphing into the CBS information places of work of Murrow’s See It Now program. The newsroom bursts with power in Scott Pask’s deep and intelligent set design, which has sure rooms shift round because the motion dictates.

There are numerous subplots afoot right here, and never all of them utterly land. The all the time nice Clark Gregg provides tragic nervousness in assuming Ray Sensible’s movie position as Don Hollenbeck — a CBS anchor who can’t get previous the barbs within the press over his left-leaning previous. Fran Kranz ably inherits Tom McCarthy’s half because the man ready to seek out out if his previous associations will doom each him and his work on the present. However the facet story about Ilana Glazer and Carter Hudson (taking over the movie characters from Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr.) hiding their marriage from the remainder of the newsroom nonetheless feels undercooked and a bit divorced from the thrust of the present.

The Picture of Dorian Gray review: Sarah Snook stuns in slick reinvention of Oscar Wilde's cautionary tale

The largest jolts of power come from Murrow’s push-and-pull conferences with CBS president William F. Paley (performed in full bombast mode by Paul Gross). Not like Frank Langella’s equal elements measured and menacing Paley of the movie, Gross’ Paley is a extra charismatic, participating drive that performs properly to the again row. Glenn Fleshler additionally is aware of tips on how to work a room, scoring some laughs as the brand new Fred Pleasant and punctuating his traces with well-timed quips that got here off as understated asides within the film.

Ah, sure…the film. The unique’s concentrate on the unchecked energy of an elected official utilizing concern, rumor, and lies towards his enemies clearly hits even tougher in 2025 than it did upon the movie’s launch 20 years prior, amplifying the stakes on this morality story. However one other theme flippantly touched on within the film — the long run position of tv in our society, and whether it is actually “good for nothing however to entertain, amuse and insulate” — will get even better emphasis on the stage.

Operation Mincemeat review: An irresistible musical farce brings British boldness and belly laughs to Broadway

Join Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking information, unique first seems, recaps, critiques, interviews along with your favourite stars, and extra.

At one level, Paley even wonders if Murrow’s alleged editorializing on McCarthy might have disastrous penalties properly down the road: “You taunt him, Ed, like a cat with a ball of string. However, you see, now you’ve opened the door — information with a touch of commentary. What occurs when it isn’t Edward R. Murrow minding the shop?”

This horrifying line of thought is adopted all the way in which into a brand new ending for the stage that forces the viewers to look at the media, the medium, and ourselves simply as harshly as any politician. It’s an ending I gained’t damage right here, apart from to say that it’s the one time by which the virtually omnipresent display does one thing actually ingenious and stunning. So stunning as to result in audible viewers gasps. Let’s simply say this manufacturing of Good Evening, and Good Luck gained’t probably be enjoying the brand new Kennedy Heart anytime quickly. Grade: B

Shut