Sean Hayes to Star in Broadway Play About Oscar Levant

It was two decades ago when a friend first suggested to Sean Hayes that he consider playing Oscar Levant. He still remembers his reaction: “Who the hell is Oscar Levant?”

Levant, he quickly learned, was a pianist who in the mid-20th century became famous for the mordant wit he displayed as a guest and host on radio and television talk shows, but had a life that was challenged by struggles with mental health and addiction. When another friend suggested Hayes think about Levant as a character, he got serious — watching archival footage, reading Levant’s books, and imagining some kind of performance.

There were detours along the way — at one point, Hayes hoped to play Levant in a Steven Spielberg movie about George Gershwin, but the movie never happened — though the suggestion led to an idea which led to a script which led to a production, and next spring that show, called “Good Night, Oscar,” is coming to Broadway with Hayes in the leading role.

“If I had nothing to do with this show, I would be absolutely enthralled with this human being that is Oscar Levant — he’s just incredible,” Hayes said in a telephone interview. “I’m just surprised how famous he was, and now nobody knows who he is. So another thrill for me is to reintroduce him to people, because he deserves to be remembered.”

The show, by Doug Wright, had a first run earlier this year at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, where the Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones raved about the play, and about Hayes.

“It’s a stunner of a lead performance: moving, empathetic, deeply emotional and slightly terrifying,” Jones wrote. “Once this show arrives on Broadway, as it surely will, Hayes’ work here will be the talk of New York. So will the show, a piece with enough guts to take on the you-must-not-offend-me crew that now seems to run an industry actually founded on creative freedom.”