backstory: Good Night, and Good Luck
When I got the email saying that we HAD to be at the Winter Garden Theater for Good Night, and Good Luck NO LATER THAN 6:30 PM because CNN was livestreaming the performance I thought, ugh, what a hassle.
When we arrived there were SO many trucks on the backside of the theater. SO many cameras inside the theater. And there was Amal Clooney—I didn’t see her at first, only after about half of the audience suddenly stood up and started madly trying to get good iPhone pics of her. Indeed, she is striking. She was about an inch away from me, departing the theater after the performance.
I had watched the film prior. I don’t normally do that but in this case the film came first. And since the show closed on June 8, it’s no spoiler to say that the show differed from the film in that it brought the original footage up to the current moment, adding material from the House Unamerican Activities Committee’s inquiries about Columbia University from that time and ending, not with footage of Dwight Eisenhower, but with a photo of Elon Musk’s “salute.”
Was it great theater? I don’t know. Was it an extremely important reflection of how little it takes for us to fall back into a moment of time defined by fearmongering? Yes. If you haven’t seen the film, I think it’s worth watching. As for the live show, if you missed it, my understanding us that CNN did not film it for replay, so you might have to wait until it comes around again, if it does. For me, if that does happen, I hope it has far less poignancy than it does right now.
Be well.
Tracy Fitzpatrick
Director, Neuberger Museum of Art
