It appears I was in good company going into this show – a director’s note from Lisa Peterson in the production’s programme tells readers she knew nothing about Oscar Levant (1906-1972) before encountering this play. I didn’t either. Thankfully, the production requires no prior knowledge of Levant (Sean Hayes), and it doesn’t use direct addresses to fill the audience in. Instead, the script is sufficiently tight to make proceedings easy to follow. The setting helps tremendously – a live television interview, as does the build-up to it. Bob Sarnoff (1918-1997) (Richard Katz), the president (at the time) of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), reads the allegedly controversial Levant the riot act, including subject areas verboten. While it is predictable that the live interview then goes on to discuss all of the forbidden topics, this is driven by The Tonight Show host Jack Paar (1918-2004) (a suitably engaging Ben Rappaport), and so Levant follows along, answering the questions put to him. Except that isn’t all the show wants Levant to do on air…
The play has much to say about how exploitative the television industry can be, with Levant’s wife June (1911-1996) (Rosalie Craig) taking it all in her stride, even as Levant himself struggles to cope with the pressure of the evening as well as ongoing battles that began long before he even agreed to go on The Tonight Show. Levant, it transpires, was a complex character, and this play, in a single act, provides a comprehensive ‘warts and all’ portrait: he had a sharp mind, and yet had neuroses, hypochondria and an addiction to pills. June even had him committed to a psychiatric hospital. An orderly from the hospital, Alvin Finney (Daniel Adeosun) possesses the kind of humour appropriate to deal with the likes of Levant. Completing the on-stage characters are Max Weinbaum (Eric Sirakian), a production assistant, one of those fresh-faced eager beavers, and George Gershwin (David Burnett), or rather a version of Gershwin, given he died twenty-one years before the (imagined) events of the play.
With the passage of time since 1958, what Levant says isn’t that shocking by contemporary standards, although some of it is likely to be considered misogynistic. Still, as I have been reminded by stand-up comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe, comedy isn’t comedy if it’s safe and unadventurous. NBC, meanwhile, is at pains to protect its own interests, rather than those of Levant – is the play not so much suggesting but loudly declaring that not much has changed? Elsewhere, it’s nice to see actor-musicianship, but this was on another level – a full rendering of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ performed on piano by Sean Hayes’ Levant, in character throughout. It was utterly sublime and deserved the sustained applause it received on press night. Indeed, it might have been better to have ended the show with it, rather than tacking on further scenes afterwards, the content of which could quite easily have been explored earlier on.
There’s a fine balance between the humour in Levant’s wit and the pathos of his inner struggles that is sustained throughout. There is also the portrayal of both the professional and personal lives of Oscar Levant – his marriage is convincingly complicated, and while at face value a demonstration of an apparent rivalry between Levant and Gershwin seems just a tad contrived, it works well here. Not every big name that graces the stage of a prominent London theatre does so with mind-blowing impressiveness. But Sean Hayes does. A delightful, memorable and charming night out.
Review by Chris Omaweng
It’s 1958, and Jack Paar hosts the hottest late-night talk-show on television. His favourite guest? Character actor, pianist, and wild card Oscar Levant. Famous for his witty one-liners, Oscar has a favourite: “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity; I have erased this line.” Tonight, Oscar will prove just that when he appears live on national TV in an episode that Paar’s audience – and the rest of America – won’t soon forget.
Sean Hayes – Oscar Levant
Daniel Adeosun – Alvin Finney
David Burnett – George Gershwin
Rosalie Craig – June Levant
Richard Katz – Bob Sarnoff
Ben Rappaport – Jack Parr
Eric Sirakian – Max Weinbaum
Max Roll – Understudy Oscar Levant and Bob Sarnott
Tashina Bepete – Understudy Alvin Finney
Ben Butler – Understudy Max Weinbaum
Charlotte Hunter – Understudy June Levant
Ryan Speakman – Understudy George Gershwin and Jack Paar
Doug Wright – Writer
Lisa Peterson – Director
Rachel Hauck – Set Designer
Emilio Sosa – Costume Designer
Ben Stanton and Caroline Ortiz – Co-Lighting Designers
André Pluess – Sound Designer
GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR
Barbican Theatre
31 July to 21 September 2025
