Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...For fans of the likes of Mel Brooks, with whom Levant had plenty in common, this thing will come as a great sigh of relief. For Chicago audiences, it offers the best reason to head back into the Loop to laugh since the pandemic."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Impressively, "Good Night, Oscar" feels perennially relevant without ever forcing us out of its historical era. There's the opioid part, sure. And mental health-Levant was one of the first celebrities to talk about it publicly. But most prominently, "Good Night, Oscar" provides a deeply thoughtful take on how social hypocrisies drive popular culture and lead many talented artists to become a human sacrifice to our voracious need for entertainment."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...Emmy Award-winner Sean Hayes ("Will & Grace") stars as Oscar in Wright's deliberate, affectionate, laugh-out-loud funny examination of the troubled musician, who openly shared his mental health struggles and opioid addiction with audiences at a time when few people did."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...In some ways, Good Night, Oscar shares narrative DNA with the 1982 film (and later musical) My Favorite Year, in which a live TV variety show (modeled on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows) brings in Peter O’Toole’s alcoholic fading matinee idol as a guest. There’s even a worshipful young production assistant on hand in the form of Max Weinbaum (Ethan Slater), Sarnoff’s nephew brimming over with enthusiasm for (and impressions of) Levant. (The unseen Jayne Mansfield is the other guest on the docket for the evening.) The same surface dramatic tension—will the show go on?—drives the plot in both stories. (Spoiler alert: Levant does make it on set, and the script draws upon actual one-liners Levant dropped on the Paar show. But without giving anything away, suffice it to say that he delivers far more than laugh lines.)"
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Good Night, Oscar will have special meaning for viewers of a certain age who recall Levant in his witty heyday on radio and early TV. The play focuses on Levant in psychological disarray and omits much of the humor that made him such a popular celebrity in his younger and happier days. It would be a treat to see Hayes in a one-man show portraying Levant when he was in top form in the 1940s, before he became a tragic figure. Then he was really something."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Highly Recommended
"...Best known for Jack McFarland, Will’s close friend since college on the show Will and Grace, Sean Hayes is phenomenal is Oscar Levant. I’ve had the pleasure to see some of the Jack Paar Shows with Levant, and Hayes nailed this role, playing it to perfection. He captured his mannerism, sharp and stinging wit, a hypochondriac addicted to prescription drugs, and Hayes had the audience mesmerized with his performance of Oscar Levant."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"..."Good Night Oscar" is an amazing vehicle for an actor like Hayes. He gets to show his comic "chops" ( something we are all used to), but in addition shows us his true skills as an actor. He becomes the character that he is bringing to the stage and is no longer Sean Hayes, the actor, but instead he is Sean Hayes showing us the artist Oscar Levant onstage and off. If you are only in a position to see one play this year, may I suggest you see this one. It is a story that includes some interesting facts about a musical legend and in fact some music as well.As part of the story, you true music lovers will love the fact that there is a bit of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" included. Again, one of my favorites."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...All that, and a great deal more, is explored in “Good Night, Oscar,” the riveting play by Doug Wright now receiving its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre. The production features a remarkable star turn by actor (and yes, master pianist) Sean Hayes that is so compelling, and so real, that you might begin to wonder if Levant has been fully reincarnated."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This production will delight and surprise audiences, from Sean Hayes’ electric portrayal of Oscar Levant to the polished performances by the talented supporting cast. Doug Wright’s play brings this genius to life once again and Chicago audiences will be raving about this production for years to come. Do not miss this show!"
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...This briskly paced 90-minute script is so full of one-liners, you don’t want to miss a word. While some of the humor is very specific to the 1950s, those with knowledge of classic Hollywood will find much to chuckle about. Jack Paar was not the first late night TV show host, but he knew good TV. He encouraged his guests to push the boundaries. So many of TVs most shocking moments have happened on late night talk shows. Doug Wright’s play provides the origin story of how late night TV became a nightly ritual for many Americans."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...I really enjoyed GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR. It’s gut-busting and gut-punching simultaneously. Hayes entertains with heart-breaking depth, rapid-fire barbs and surprising show-stopping panache. Go see it!"
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...As great as Hayes’ performance is, this is by no means a one-man show. The supporting cast is top-notch, and filled with Broadway and off-Broadway vets who deliver Wright’s by turns witty, then searing dialog with just the right amount of brio or venom, as the lines require."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...I've been looking forward to seeing Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant in Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright's new play, Good Night, Oscar, since the Goodman Theatre announced its 2021-2022 schedule. What could possibly be better than having this wonderful comic actor playing the only American male rival to Dorothy Parker? I'm happy to report that the answer is: nothing. The play and the performance are both triumphs, in no small part due to Wright's creative script and the remarkable direction of Lisa Peterson."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"..."Good Night, Oscar," an extraordinary new play by Doug Wright, under the spirited direction of Lisa Peterson and starring Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Sean Hayes in an electrifying performance as Levant, unfolds in virtually real time-a matter of hours that have been condensed to 90 spellbinding minutes-at NBC's 1958 Burbank Studios as Jack Paar's show is about to launch its West Coast premiere coast-to-coast."
Loop North News - Highly Recommended
"...In Goodman Theatre's production of Good Night, Oscar, Sean Hayes shines in an outstanding performance as Levant, who was a presence in Hollywood throughout the 1950s and 1960s. He played Gene Kelly's sidekick in An American in Paris and was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show when it was hosted by Jack Paar. Paar always took a chance on Oscar because of his irreverent sense of humor and witty remarks that kept viewers glued to the screen."
Splash Magazine - Somewhat Recommended
"...The stakes here are not exactly life-or-death. For the right character, it might be easy to root for the show’s success in its new home, but Jack isn’t particularly vividly drawn, and instead actor Ben Rappaport is left throwing plenty of charisma at a cardboard character it’s hard to care about. Indeed, it’s difficult to care much about any of the characters, from the one-dimensional producer Bob to the irritatingly enthusiastic assistant Max. Oscar himself is somewhat sympathetic, but that owes more to Sean Hayes’ powerful performance than anything to be found in the script. Overall, the script is lackluster, and it’s difficult to enjoy anything else, even the committed boldness of Hayes’ acting, when it all hangs on something so uninspired."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...Doug Wright's GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR, now in its world premiere production at Goodman Theatre, is an engaging play that brings the story of one infamous night in the life of Oscar Levant to the stage. As the drug-addicted and depressed Oscar, Sean Hayes (perhaps best known for his role on WILL AND GRACE) gives a magnetic performance that reflects the man's immense capacity for humor and his musical genius but also his deep insecurities. While Wright's script doesn't necessarily wade into new waters in terms of set up and the unfolding of the play's events, Hayes's central performance is a magnificent character study. Hayes is every bit as compelling a stage performer as one might expect, and GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR affords him the opportunity to showcase his formidable talents in some familiar and surprising ways."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Doug Wright’s brilliant new play, “Good Night, Oscar,” in its hilarious and heartbreaking world-premiere production at the Goodman Theatre, is set in 1958. It’s more than twenty years since Gershwin’s tragic death at the age of thirty-seven, but his ghost still haunts Levant. With a skill set perfectly suited for the new medium of television—his forays on radio had brought forth a truly gifted and wicked wit to go along with his musicianship—he’s a favorite guest of the then-king of late night television, Jack Paar, who books him on his show one fateful night. Just one complication: he will be coming on a day pass from the mental hospital where his wife has had him committed. And he’s massively addicted to Demerol."
