How Sean Hayes is changing in the latest play “Good night Oscarlittle question. Whether the final result is a human being or a bag of tricks is determined by your taste in ham.
One hour and 40 minutes non-stop. At the Belasco Theater, 111 W. forty fourth St.
In Doug Wright’s unsatisfactory drama, which premiered Monday night on Broadway, the “Will & Grace” star stars as Oscar Levant, an American in Paris virtuoso pianist, actor and humorist who has develop into popular – and controversial – in the beginnings of television.
Harvey Pekar’s wittier forerunner on “Late Night With David Letterman,” Levant, who died in 1972, appeared on “Tonight Starring Jack Paar” and made unpredictable statements about schizophrenia, the pills he was taking, Hitler, and plenty of other unfriendly topics family or network before brilliantly tickling the ivory.
Recent York columnist Dorothy Kilgallen once said of Levant, “I feel he said more funny things than any man of our time.” That is a daring statement a couple of guy that the majority people today don’t remember.
But Levant was actually devilishly hilarious and clever. And so Wright’s art is affected by so many punchlines that they might be the primary character’s first language.
What’s strange, nevertheless, is that despite Levant’s insistence in the play that “I do not write jokes upfront, I’m improvised,” the zingers are met with animatronics and inert, as Hayes provided.
You expect to laugh loads greater than you do. The actor is clearly a genius at delivering a shocking, pre-written, one-line that comes out of nowhere, as he proved in Will & Grace.
But unlike Levant, the excited Jack wasn’t a personality riddled with facial tics that resulted from mental illness, alcohol and medicines, or a serious voice that appeared like the shocking athlete Richard Nixon.
As a tortured Oscar, the actor seems to tick off an enormous list of personality and body traits while remaining largely oblivious to the other actors around him, possibly due to all the glamorous gimmicks he focuses on.
Thus, the quality of the frayed Levant wire is just not passed on. It’s Oscar Grouch, OK, but fairly harmless. Hayes makes occasional moves as the details of Levant’s pain come to light, but we never meet the wicked instigator we hear a lot about.
And on this present day, the comedian must be especially nervous. Wright’s play features Jack Paar (Ben Rappaport) bringing “Tonight” to Burbank, California in 1958 for a special taping that can feature the unfailingly outrageous Levant.
But in order to bring the pianist to the studio, his wife June (Emily Bergl) has to sneak him out of the mental hospital under the pretext that she goes to her daughter’s graduation ceremony.
June is an intriguing character because she clearly cares about Oscar, but just enough to risk his health and well-being to make a TV spot. Stoic Bergl and Hayes haven’t got much chemistry, but the actress has her own unique “What’s in it for her?” to attract.
One in every of Levant’s concerned doctors, Alvin Finney (Marchánt Davis), arrives with a suitcase full of medicine and celebrity-infatuated studio assistant Max Weinbaum (Alex Wyse) bustles around the green room. We finally see Levant in motion with Paar, which infuriates NBC boss Bob Sarnoff (Peter Grosz).
All of the antics sound loads crazier than they’re when Wright’s play tends to waver between sadness – sometimes so poignant – and sleepiness.
The one fireworks in director Lisa Peterson’s production go off at the climax.
Levant was a recent and friend of George Gershwin and have become higher known for taking part in Gershwin’s music than his own. His frustrating reliance on the then-deceased “Porgy and Bess” composer – when he wanted his own compositions to shine – appears in awkward hallucinatory scenes with actor John Zdrojeski.
But at the end, Levant sits down at the piano and plays Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” on NBC. Hayes, himself a talented pianist, does it in front of the audience – and from memory.
This thrilling moment – without manners, words, other characters or exposition – is the only time Levant and “Goodnight, Oscar” come to life.