A Very Good Night with Sean Hayes

Barbican Theatre

With a couple of exceptions, the critics loved Good Night, Oscar. Plays don’t always travel well across the Atlantic, even a big hit like this, and, as the 2 and 3 star reviews pointed out, the subject of the play, Oscar Levant, is not well known over here and author Doug Wright doesn’t enlighten us. Also, the true story of how this musician-comedian-actor-raconteur was temporarily released from a psychiatric hospital to appear (and be exploited) on a popular TV show may seem very American. However, the 5 and 4 star reviews acclaimed one of the performances of the year by Sean Hayes in bringing the troubled artist to life.

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

For Gary Naylor at BroadwayWorld it was the Sean Hayes show: ‘He simply inhabits the part. There’s the desperate vulnerability of the addict, the ticks that speak of a roiling mind, the ruthless exploitation of the decency of others. But there’s also the speed of the wit, the grudging willingness to do the right thing, the sheer chutzpah of the man. Most of all, and this elevates the  performance to the very best of any I’ve seen, there’s the charisma – Levant’s and Hayes’ – that bounces around this large house like a laser show.’

LondonTheatre’s Julia Rank also praised him: ‘Hayes…has the hangdog expression and an abundance of tics and twitches… To make the casting even more ideal, Hayes trained as a pianist before becoming an actor and plays a rendition of “Rhapsody in Blue” that’s essentially a nervous breakdown on the piano.’ She was one of many who complemented the set design: ‘Rachel Hauck provides a series of mid-century modern sets, the piece de resistance being a soundstage with sound-absorbent walls that could double as a padded cell. What is television if not another madhouse, one of the characters notes.’

Chris Omaweng at LondonTheatre1 called it ‘A delightful, memorable and charming night out.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Dave Fargnoli in The Stage liked the writing: ‘Through a series of focused, fast-paced scenes, the play touches on themes of artistic integrity, the exploitation of performers and drug addiction.’ And he liked the production: ‘Director Lisa Peterson gives the production a slick, effective staging, conveying both the exhilarating momentum and crushing time pressure of a live broadcast’. And he definitely liked the star: ‘Sean Hayes gives a consummate, larger-than-life performance as Oscar, channelling a profoundly unsettled, manic energy’.

Helen Hawkins at The Arts Desk was also taken with the star: Hayes gives an impeccable physical performance, one part or another of his body constantly in motion, a jiggling foot, a rocking upper body. After he downs a bottle of Demerol, he makes his body move in slo-mo, each casual gesture attenuated. His features are unrecognisable as fresh-faced Jack’s, drawn and haggard, like a mournful spaniel’s. He pratfalls and slumps and tumbles.‘

Tom Wicker for Time Out commented: ‘Hayes is extraordinary as Levant, crumpling into himself even as he makes the one-liners prompted by Paar sing off the stage. His well-honed way with comedy is the play’s secret weapon. Our laughter is complicit in the implosion we know is happening.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis wrote about Sean Hayes: ‘Doug Wright’s play is a fast-paced, highly polished, zinger-packed vehicle for his astonishing performance, which culminates in an electrifyingly expressive live rendition of Rhapsody in Blue’.

Ben Dowell in The Times noted: ‘What sets this dazzling, considered Tony award-winning Broadway transfer apart is the fantastically energised performance from Sean Hayes… (He) puts the versatility and high-octane physicality that fans of that show will know to brilliant use, timing Levant’s sizzling wordplay…smoking furiously, anguish written on every twist of his face.’ He was impressed by the director: ‘Lisa Peterson snaps sure-footedly through the action, while allowing the tender moments to breathe’.

Alun Hood for WhatsOnStage concluded: ‘Inevitably, Good Night, Oscar won’t resonate with British audiences as keenly as with their American counterparts…but this remains a waspish, compulsive, meticulously well-crafted piece of theatre. Hayes’s brilliance elevates it into a must-see.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Independent’s Alice Saville accused the play of ‘delivering a glimmering, beguiling surface without looking too hard at what’s going on underneath’ while acknowledging ‘Sean Hayes drenches this role in pathos and awkward brilliance’.

Mark Lawson for The Guardian commented: ‘Hayes gives a performance of such busyness – twitches, tics, lip curls, cigarette business – that you wonder if the stage has a fast-forward button. He also, in the moment that surely guaranteed his Tony award, delivers the piano climax live at a Steinway with exceptional panache. Lisa Peterson’s slick, whizzy production, co-starring Rosalie Craig as Levant’s wife June, is a thrilling theatrical experience but, perhaps perversely for a play arguing for television to be more serious, does not bear looking at too closely.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

Fiona Mountford writing for the Telegraph complained: ‘we leave this 100-minute play no wiser as to the real man behind this troubled facade. Although we understand that Wright has serious points to make about the shifting morality of what is served up in the name of ratings and entertainment, we cannot help but feel a little bit grubby.’

Critics’ average rating 3.9⭑

Value Rating 27

Good night, Oscar can be seen at The Barbican until 21 September 2025. Buy tickets  directly from the theatre

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