'Good Night, Oscar': Sean Hayes is sensational

‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Ben Rappaport & Sean Hayes. Photo: Joan Marcus

GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR
Written by Doug Wright
Directed by Lisa Peterson
Through August 27, 2023
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street.
(212-239-6200), www.goodnightoscar.com

By David NouNou

Most people today would not know who Oscar Levant is except if they watch TCM and see An American in Paris or The Bandwagon. For those who do know something of him, he is most difficult to describe. He was a conundrum; he wasn’t attractive in real life, but he was an MGM star. He was best known for his sarcastic wit and self-deprecating humor but could have been a concert pianist instead of a humorist, and he excelled in both. He was multitalented but also a tortured soul. He also had his inner demons to contend with, which included bouts with drugs and alcohol. Who would one get to play such a person? You certainly wouldn’t think of Sean Hayes who portrayed Jack McFarland on TV’s “Will and Grace.” Here comes the surprise, although Mr. Hayes is much too good-looking to portray Mr. Levant, Mr. Hayes digs deep to capture the essence that was Oscar Levant, giving one of the year’s most outstanding performances on the Broadway stage.

The play is set at NBC dressing rooms in Hollywood in 1958. Jack Paar (Ben Rappaport) has been transferred to Hollywood to do the nightly “Tonight Show” for sweeps week in L.A. instead of his usual home base in New York City. His first guest stars for the premier show are: Oscar Levant, Jayne Mansfield and ventriloquist Señor Wences. I wonder if that episode really existed (I Googled for hours and couldn’t find it). Regardless, they all appeared on Jack Paar— if not together, certainly separately.

Unbeknownst to Jack, June Levant (Emily Bergl) has committed Oscar (Mr. Hayes) into an institution to dry him out for his drug overdoses. It’s very close to showtime and there is no Oscar in sight. He does eventually appear: disheveled, abusive, manic, but with his abrasive wit still intact. Playwright Doug Wright doesn’t supply us with any back story or how Oscar came to this state. We only know he has a four-hour pass from the institution in the belief that he is attending his daughter’s graduation, when in fact he is appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar.

Oscar also has his inner demons and voices to contend with; that of George Gershwin (John Zdrojeski). Oscar one might say was the definitive interpreter of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” among other works, his career was dominated by Gershwin’s compositions and not his own.

What makes the play ironic is the strict moral code of what used to be censorship and what could be said on live TV. Head of NBC, Bob Sarnoff (Peter Grosz), is totally against having Oscar on “The Tonight Show” because of his coarse humor and what he might say (this is a wink to the audience at this point of where our TV morals are today) but Paar is insistent. Levant appears because Parr knows he can goad Oscar into pushing the envelope with his viewpoints on politics, religion and sex, all of which were taboo topics on live TV at the time. To give full justice to the jokes, you just have to see the show.

The play is quite enjoyable and interesting, but director Lisa Peterson should have brought out her editing shears to trim excessive, needless exposition in the beginning between Sarnoff and Paar, and especially the scene with Gershwin and Levant toward the end.

Putting that aside, we have to give credit where credit is due. Having seen Mr. Hayes in An Act of God and Promises, Promises, Jack McFarland was still lurking in the wings. However, what we see now is an actor shedding his past, and digging deep to capture and create a troubled soul. His performance is sensational and his piano performance is spellbinding. The recital at the show’s end is a magical theatrical moment.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 28, 2023
Reviewed at April 27, 2023 press performance.