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Good Night, Oscar is a comedy-drama play written by American playwright Doug Wright. The story revolves around a fictional event in which pianist and humorist Oscar Levant portrayed by Sean Hayes appears on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. The production received critical acclaim with Hayes winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
| Good Night, Oscar | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Doug Wright |
| Based on | A 1958 episode of The Tonight Show |
| Date premiered | March 12, 2022 |
| Place premiered | Goodman Theatre |
| Genre | Comedy-Drama |
The original production began previews at the Belasco Theatre on April 7, 2023, and premiered on April 24, closing on August 27, 2023, after 126 performances.[1]
The show follows a 1958 episode of The Tonight Show, where host Jack Paar has as a guest comedian Oscar Levant.[1]
The show first premiered in 2022 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, with Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant.[2] The production ran from March 12 until April 24, 2022.[3]
The Broadway production was directed by Lisa Peterson. Rehearsals began on March 13, 2023.[1] The production opened April 24, 2023. It also features set design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Emilio Sosa, lighting design by Carolina Ortiz Herrera and Ben Stanton, sound design by Andre Pluess, music supervision by Chris Fenwick, and wig, hair, and make-up design by J. Jared Janas.[1] At the 76th Tony Awards, the show received three nominations and Hayes was awarded Best Leading Actor in a Play.
| Characters | Goodman Theatre (2022)[4] | Broadway (2023)[1] |
|---|---|---|
| Oscar Levant | Sean Hayes | |
| June Levant | Emily Bergl | |
| Alvin Finner | Tramell Tillman | Marchánt Davis |
| Bob Sarnoff | Peter Grosz | |
| Jack Paar | Ben Rappaport | |
| Max Weinbaum | Ethan Slater | Alex Wyse |
| George Gershwin | John Zdrojeski | |
Critical response
The Chicago production received positive reviews from the Chicago Tribune,[5] Chicago Sun-Times,[6] Hyde Park Herald,[7] and WTTW,[4] among others, with Hayes' performance being especially noted.[8] The Broadway production received mostly positive reviews. Christian Lewis of Variety praised Wright's dialogue writing, "In some ways, "Good Night, Oscar" even feels like an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — zany, fast-paced and smartly humorous, with references flying a mile a minute, some battle-of-the-sexes content, sumptuous dresses, well-tailored suits and occasional moments of sincere emotion."[9] The New York Daily News, on the other hand, lauded Hayes' "spectacularly intense and unstinting performance".[10] Entertainment Weekly gave the production an A writing, "Aside from a few lulls in the early stages of exposition...the entire play is delightful, buoyed by its leading man's performance."[11]
Some critics were more mixed with Jesse Green of The New York Times called the play an "unconvincing biographical fantasia" and Hayes' performance "less an inhabitation of character than a nonstop loop of perfectly rendered facial tics, trembling hands and compulsive gestures."[12] Johnny Oleksinski of The New York Post gave the play two out of four stars and called it "off-key" and "mostly unsatisfying."[13]
Chicago production
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 |
Jeff Award | Outstanding Production of a Play | Good Night, Oscar | Won | [14] |
| Outstanding New Work | Doug Wright | Won | |||
| Director of a Play | Lisa Peterson | Nominated | |||
| Performer in a Principal Role in a Play | Sean Hayes | Won | |||
| Performer in a Supporting Role in a Play | Emily Bergl | Nominated | |||
| Scenic Design - Large | Rachel Hauck | Won | |||
| Sound Design - Large | André Pluess | Won | |||
Broadway production
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 |
Tony Awards | Best Leading Actor in a Play | Sean Hayes | Won | [15] |
| Best Costume Design in a Play | Emilio Sosa | Nominated | |||
| Best Scenic Design in a Play | Rachel Hauck | Nominated | |||
| Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play | Sean Hayes | Won | [16] | |
| Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Play | Emily Bergl | Nominated | |||
| Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | Good Night, Oscar | Nominated | [17] | |
| Distinguished Performance Award | Sean Hayes | Nominated | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Good Night, Oscar | Nominated | [18] | |
| Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play | Sean Hayes | Won | |||
| Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical) | André Pluess | Nominated | |||
The conception of the origins of the play has been up for debate with playwright David Adjmi, claiming in a Facebook post that he had persuaded Hayes to portray Levant and was commissioned by producer Beth Williams to write a play for the actor. When Adjmi refused to "lighten the material," he said, Williams and Hayes held their option "in bad faith" to prevent him from further developing his play, while hiring Doug Wright to write a new play based on Adjmi's idea. The production team of Good Night, Oscar strongly rebutted Adjmi's claim in a press release which alleged Hayes and Williams had themselves gotten the idea to make Levant the center of a play in 2010, and culled Adjmi from a list of playwrights to write it.[19] Adjmi then published an email exchange on BroadwayWorld.com between himself and Hayes, in which he attempted to convince a reluctant Hayes to portray Levant.[20]
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