This is the story of 2 funny and proficient actors who won status on tv about 50 years aside. The first, Oscar Levant, was once ubiquitous within the Thirties, ’40s, and ’50s, referred to as a movie celebrity, composer, conductor, live performance pianist, and well-known for his witty remarks. Meanwhile, the opposite guy, Sean Hayes, spent 11 seasons humorously portraying the narcissistic Jack McFarland on “Will & Grace,” which changed into the primary sitcom with openly-gay major characters.
Recently, a brand new play titled “Good Night, Oscar” has opened on Broadway, wherein Sean Hayes stars as Levant. The intense and funny play is set a bothered guy, which is as some distance from Hayes’ earlier personality as one can get. Levant’s non-public struggles with drug habit and psychological well being issues are the motive force in the back of the play, encompassing facets that Levant publicly spoke about breaking taboos of the time.
The play was once written by means of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright, who was once to start with stunned at Sean Hayes’ casting. Wright concept Hayes was once an not going have compatibility for the function because of his loss of bodily resemblance to Levant, however quickly realised he was once the one actor to play Levant after witnessing his transformation into the nature all through a lunch assembly.
In the play, Levant is granted a four-hour depart from a psychiatric facility to seem on Jack Paar’s “Tonight Show.” The plot is based totally on an actual incident that took place when Levant seemed on the display on a number of events all through his profession. Levant’s courting with George Gershwin, his well-known interpreter, could also be a vital a part of the play, with references to Gershwin teasing Levant in a sadistic way.
The finale of the play sees Levant showing on the debate display after which acting a blazing rendition of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Hayes, who could also be a skilled piano participant, plays the scene himself. Hayes spoke about his non-public connections to the fabric, with psychological sickness and habit operating in his circle of relatives. This “extremely emotional” function is reportedly laborious and takes a toll on Hayes after each and every efficiency.
Despite a restricted four-month run, Hayes is proud to play Levant and provides him the popularity he merits. He feels that Levant’s legacy is ceaselessly forgotten, and the play is an opportunity to carry the long-lasting performer again to existence.