“I always felt like there was a sadness to Murrow, and that was not something that you could associate with me at 40 years old,” George Clooney recently told Maureen Dowd in The New York Times. She responded by writing, “Now he has to turn back the clock, and cover his salt-and-pepper mane with black dye.” Clooney, at 63, has stepped into the role of Edward R. Murrow in the new play Good Night, and Good Luck, which he co-wrote with Grant Heslov; David Cromer directed. Since opening in April, the production has become the highest-grossing play in Broadway history. It’s also been nominated for five Tony Awards. The play revisits Murrow’s on-air showdown with Senator Joseph McCarthy. At the height of McCarthyism, Murrow and his team defied the federal government and pushed back against the nation’s rising propaganda and paranoia. Onstage, Clooney is surrounded by moving monitors that blend live action with archival broadcasts of Murrow and McCarthy. The show closes on June 8, but its penultimate performance will be broadcast live, marking the first time a Broadway play has ever been televised in real time. “CNN is the perfect place to bring this story of courage to so many more people than we could have ever hoped,” says Clooney. “Live TV. No net. Buckle up everyone.” —Jeanne Malle

Good Night, and Good Luck airs live on Saturday, June 7, at seven P.M. E.T. across CNN and CNN International, and streams live on CNN.com