Sean Hayes is making his way back to the Broadway stage. The Emmy Award winner will star in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright’s new play, Good Night, Oscar, directed by Lisa Peterson, at the Belasco Theatre this spring.
In Good Night, Oscar, Sean Hayes plays Oscar Levant: Hollywood actor, concert pianist, and the most subversive wit ever to appear on television during its Golden Age.
“I’m thrilled for Broadway audiences to experience Good Night, Oscar,” said Hayes. “Oscar Levant was a multi-faceted pioneer, from concert pianist to infamous raconteur. It’s an honor to be portraying one of my heroes.”
The 20-week limited engagement will begin performances April 7, 2023, with an official opening set for April 24, 2023. Tickets are now on sale.
Cast members joining Hayes include Emily Bergl (Broadway’s The Ferryman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, TV’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Desperate Housewives) as June Levant, Peter Grosz (TV’s Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm) as the network executive Bob Sarnoff, Ben Rappaport (recent Broadway revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Picnic, TV’s Outsourced, For the People) as TV host Jack Paar, and John Zdrojeski (Off-Broadway’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning) as George Gershwin. Additional casting will be confirmed soon.
The creative team for Good Night, Oscar includes Rachel Hauck (Set Design), Emilio Sosa (Costume Design), Ben Stanton and Carolina Ortiz Herrera (Lighting Design), Andre Pluess (Sound Design), Chris Fenwick (Music Supervision), J. Jared Janas (Wig, Hair and Make-Up Design), Stephen Kopel, Lauren Port, and Rachael Jimenez (Casting), and Jacqueline E. Lawton (Dramaturgy).
Good Night, Oscar premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre earlier this year to sold-out houses and critical acclaim, receiving seven Joseph Jefferson Award nominations including Best New Play, Leading Actor, and Director.
It’s 1958 and Jack Paar is hosting “The Tonight Show.” He’s booked his favorite guest, a pundit as hilarious as he is unpredictable: Oscar Levant, who once famously proclaimed, “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity, and I have erased that line.” In 90 short minutes, Oscar will have audiences howling, censors scrambling, and – when it’s all over – America will be just a little less innocent than she was before.