Good Night, Oscar at the Barbican: 'Sean Hayes gives an astonishing performance'

Sean Hayes (Oscar Levant) - (Johan Persson)

Sean Hayes, best known as the bitchily bright-eyed Jack McFarland in sitcom Will and Grace, transforms himself here into Oscar Levant, the depressive, drug-addicted pianist, actor and wit who was a mainstay of midcentury US talk shows. 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, Levant’s showcase piece, written by his mentor and spectral tormentor, George Gershwin.

Sure, the play is schematic in its discussion of genius and madness and the boundaries of taste in television, and in the way it tees up one-liners for Oscar to thwack home. It’s also part of a tendency in American entertainment to endlessly regurgitate and re-masticate its own past. Audiences love that on Broadway, where Hayes won a Best Actor Tony, and maybe we’re growing to love it more here too. On press night, Hayes got that most un-English accolade, a round of applause on his entrance.