\n<\/p>\n
And yet in \u201cGood Night, and Good Luck\u201d \u2014 the title is taken from Murrow\u2019s sign-off \u2014 Murrow comes off as a model of effective restraint, easily threading the needle of a debate that continues today. Though the Air Force\u2019s case against the reservist sounds trumped up, Murrow merely says, \u201cWe do not know.\u201d (The man was reinstated a month after the episode.) The main broadside against McCarthy, aired on March 9, 1954<\/a>, consists almost entirely of the senator\u2019s own words from recordings and transcripts of speeches and congressional hearings. Even so, \u201cSee It Now\u201d gives him an entire episode to respond, during which he falsely asserts<\/a> that Murrow has been on the Soviet payroll for decades. Murrow\u2019s follow-up, a week later, is a classic just-the-facts takedown<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of course, as we know, McCarthy got what he deserved: He was censured by the Senate that December<\/a>, becoming a pariah and dying in office. Murrow got what he deserved, too: secular sainthood.<\/p>\n But I mentioned martyrs, and there is one in the play: Don Hollenbeck, a CBS colleague hounded mercilessly by McCarthy surrogates. Whether his fate was tied to that hounding \u2014 well, to quote Murrow, we do not know<\/a>. But the play makes the case, in the way plays do, by giving an excellent actor (Clark Gregg) big emotions to play.<\/p>\n I wish \u201cGood Night, and Good Luck\u201d were more often so subjective. Instead, influenced by Murrow\u2019s example, it keeps things mostly cool and concrete. (McCarthy is not played by an actor but by himself on tape, leaving no room for editorializing.) Probably this was wise; when the show suddenly gets hot at the end, with a montage of television news since the 1950s, it feels overheated. Preachers preaching to the converted usually do.<\/p>\n Yet preaching to the converted can be a good role for theater. So is rousing the demoralized with the example of heroes who have prevailed. Clooney\u2019s refusal to grandstand as an actor allows his Murrow to maintain his halo. These things were possible,<\/em> the play seems to say; they can be again<\/em>. No matter that with only three networks and enormous national viewership, the television news of Murrow\u2019s day was much more influential than it is in ours. \u201cGood Night, and Good Luck\u201d is a powerful and useful reminder that a demigod, or maybe it takes many whose names we don\u2019t know, can still sometimes bring down a devil.<\/p>\n Good Night, and Good Luck<\/strong>
Through June 8 at the Winter Garden, Manhattan; goodnightgoodluckbroadway.com<\/a>. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n