About the Show

A new play based on the true story of the unpredictable Oscar Levant's fateful late night interview.

Sean Hayes returns to Broadway in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright’s new show, about Oscar Levant: Hollywood actor, concert pianist, and the most subversive mind to show up on television during its Golden Age.

It’s 1958, and Jack Paar hosts the most-watched late-night talk-show on TV. His favorite person to have on is the character actor, pianist and wildly unpredictable Oscar Levant. Most known for his witty one-liners, Oscar's favorite was: “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity; I have erased this line.” On this fateful night, Oscar sets out to prove just that when he appears live on national TV in an episode that Paar’s audience — and the American public— would not soon forget.

Good Night, Oscar explores the connection between comedy and tragedy, the ever-diminishing distinction between exploitation and entertainment, and the high cost of baring one’s soul for the public to consume.

Critic Reviews (25)

“The work is startling, but the performance is less an inhabitation of character than a nonstop loop of perfectly rendered facial tics, trembling hands and compulsive gestures. ”
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“Though the supporting personae fall flat, these design elements fuse with Hayes’s performance for a powerful and cohesive character study.”
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“The play, having hit its high point, wraps up quickly soon after, and it’s a letdown to return both Hayes and Oscar to Earth...The playing’s the thing, to mangle that other famous quote vehicle, wherein to catch their consciousness.”
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“ ‘Good Night, Oscar ’tries very hard to present Levant as a sort of Lenny Bruce-in-the-making – and who knows, maybe he was – but for all the hard sell, the play seems even more intent on serving as Tony bait for a hammy Hayes.”
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“Good Night, Oscar” is an old-school show with jokes that rightly have the potential to offend, which is the whole point of the work, and to a large extent the era it is exploring...For anyone who cherishes personal freedom and/or Hayes himself, it’s not to be missed.”
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“Hayes’ performance in ‘Good Night, Oscar’ demands to be seen. Though the play itself may not be memorable, Hayes’ acting feat undoubtedly is. ”
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“...he [Sean Hayes] turns Good Night, Oscar into one of the very few Broadway shows I have seen in recent years that truly, honestly and unimpeachably deserves its tumultuous standing ovation.”
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“That Sean Hayes transforms in the new play ‘Good Night, Oscar,’ there is no doubt. Whether the end result is a human being or a bag of tricks depends on your taste for ham.”
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