Who would have thought? Super adorable Jack McFarland of “Will & Grace,” who had all of us convulsed with laughter because of his inimitable comic timing, would star onstage and blow us all away with his brilliant performance as witty, neurotic Oscar Levant? Would we even know that this is Sean Hayes? Who would have thought that he’d have the audience transfixed by playing “Rhapsody in Blue” on the piano, and that he’d have a roaring standing ovation?
The premise of Good Night, Oscar is simple. This is the night of Jack Paar’s variety show making its debut in L.A. Everyone is understandable nervous because Paar’s stellar guest, Levant, hasn’t shown up. A query: why hasn’t Ben Rappaport made an attempt at imitating Paar, whose mannerisms were well known to his audience? Paar wasn’t as neurotic as Levant, but he was certainly edgy enough to be more than a little off-balance at the way things were going. He felt strongly that his California chance depended on the show being provocative and over-the-top entertaining.
Finally, June Levant (Emily Bergle) shows up in a somewhat bizarre yellow and green ensemble, confiding that she has sprung Oscar from his insane asylum, but for only four hours. Paar tries to keep the details from bigwig Bob Sarnoff (Peter Grosz), who smugly informs Paar that Zavier Cugat is on his way. At this point, the play almost takes on a French Farce attitude. Levant does show up, but is soon tanked up on meds.
Part of Oscar’s problem is that he’s haunted by the spirit of George Gershwin (John Zdrojeski). More handsome, more talented, he composed the incomparable “Rhapsody in Blue,” which Levant has promised the dying genius he will always play. And thus, at the climax of the play, totally in character, Hayes performs the “Rhapsody” without a flaw, stunning the already deeply impressed audience. And yes, folks, that actually is the classically trained, nothing short of brilliant, Sean Hayes.
