Tour-de-force performance: TV's Sean Hayes is superb as pianist/raconteur Oscar Levant in Goodman's 'Good Night, Oscar'
“Good Night, Oscar” - ★ ★ ★ ½
Hours before its official opening Monday, Goodman Theatre extended its premiere of “Good Night, Oscar,” Doug Wright's play about pianist, composer and celebrated wit Oscar Levant - the foremost interpreter of George Gershwin's music, who concertized, composed for stage and screen, acted in such films as “The Band Wagon” and “An American in Paris,” and was a sought-after talk show guest during television's golden age.
Emmy Award-winner Sean Hayes (“Will & Grace”) stars as Oscar in Wright's deliberate, affectionate, laugh-out-loud funny examination of the troubled musician, who openly shared his mental health struggles and opioid addiction with audiences at a time when few people did.
Certainly, director Lisa Peterson's engrossing production benefits from Hayes' celebrity. But it's the Glen Ellyn native's tour-de-force as the accomplished, deeply insecure, endlessly anguished Levant that animates the production.
Hayes navigates pathos and joy, tragedy and comedy, mania and rationality in a rhapsodic performance that will likely be remembered come award time here and in New York, where Goodman's production is surely bound. The theater has not announced a transfer, but considering the strength of the show, the Broadway bona fides of its artistic team and its exceptional cast, and the audience's effusive response opening night, I'd say one is imminent.
Much of the credit goes to Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Wright, who pairs his droll humor with Levant's famous quips to create a poignant portrait of a troubled artist. No mere bio-dramedy, “Good Night, Oscar” also comments on the function of comedy, the power of television, the burden of celebrity, and the toll creating art exacts on the artist.
The time is 1958. The setting is NBC's Hollywood studio (a sleek, midcentury modern design by Rachel Hauck) where “The Tonight Show” host Jack Parr (Ben Rappaport, terrific as a provocateur using charm to advance his agenda) is preparing for his first West Coast broadcast. Arguing that late-night audiences want provocative programming, Parr insists on having as his first guest the world-class musician and intellectual, who he says treats “chitchat with all the daring, all the danger of a high-wire act.”
Fearing Levant's acerbic, offhand comments will alienate viewers and jeopardize the network, NBC president Bob Sarnoff (Peter Grosz) balks. Parr prevails only to learn that Oscar's wife, June (Emily Bergl), had him committed to a mental health facility after a particularly violent outburst caused by his drug use and depression.
Like Jack, June has an ulterior motive for her husband's appearance. Parr's is ratings. June's is her husband's dignity. Oscar's is the audience response that bolsters his shattered self-esteem.
Understanding how desperately her husband needs that applause, June arranged a pass from the facility so Oscar could appear on the show. Accompanied by orderly Alvin Finney (Tramell Tillman), Oscar becomes increasingly agitated despite the best efforts from star-struck production assistant Max (Ethan Slater), who notes in reference to one of Oscar's films that his every quip is underscored by melancholy. Its source? Admiration and envy of his friend and idol George Gershwin (John Zdrojeski) - whose ghost Oscar hallucinates - because of Oscar's deep-seated feeling of inadequacy that his compositions lack Gershwin's genius and regret over abandoning his music to advance Gershwin's.
“From the grave, George did me a horrible favor,” Oscar says. “He showed me the limits of my own talent. I stopped composing. Zip. Nada. I couldn't compete, not with that kinda brilliance. I gave up living my own life, so I could be a footnote in his.”
Late in the play, Hayes' Oscar tries to reconcile that conflict in a mesmerizing scene that is both triumphant and heartbreaking, and not to be missed.
Location: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, (312) 443-3800, goodmantheatre.org
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, through April 24. Also, 2 p.m. March 31, April 7 and 14, and 7:30 p.m. April 5. No 7:30 p.m. show April 3, 10, 17 and 24. No 2 p.m. show April 21
Tickets: $25-$112
Running time: About 100 minutes, no intermission
Parking: Nearby garages, discounted parking with Goodman Theatre validation at the Government Center Self Park on the southeast corner of Clark and Lake streets
Rating: For teens and older, some strong language
COVID-19 precautions: Proof of vaccination or negative COVID test and masking required