Good Night, Oscar
Set during a single night on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar (Ben Rappaport) ‘Good Night, Oscar’ locks Oscar Levant (Sean Hayes) in a pressure cooker in front of our very eyes. The TV studio quickly becomes its own padded cell brightly lit and inescapable. Doug Wright’s play, now re imagined for the Barbican stage after its Broadway run, straddles the line between comedy and tragedy remarkably well.
Sean Hayes is a revelation. Known for his comic timing, here he offers something far more gutsy and raw. His Oscar Levant is chaotic and caged, as his genius and illness are fighting for space inside his frame. Hayes never asks for sympathy, instead, he dares the audience to look away but they simply can’t. From the fidgeting hands to the clipped, compulsive responses, it’s a physical performance as much as a verbal one. You can’t help but feel sorry for Levant, working and living in the public eye has taken its toll on him and his family and no amount of self medicating can bring him back.
Ben Rappaport’s Jack Paar walks a tricky tightrope. He is part ringmaster, part friend and part opportunist. A man who profits from Oscar’s unraveling whilst pretending he doesn’t. Rosalie Craig brings depth to June Levant, Oscar’s long suffering but fiercely protective wife. In lesser hands, the role might have faded into the background, but Craig makes June a quiet force to be reckoned with. David Burnett makes the perfect cameo as George Gershwin which rattles a few skeletons in Levant’s cage and Eric Sirakian brings in a young fresh energy as Max the studio runner.
Lisa Peterson directs with eerie precision, the production captures a man and mind on the edge without ever tipping into caricature. There’s a moment, deep into Good Night, Oscar, when the audience wonder if he will ever play. But just as you think it is game over, the noise drops, the lights dim just enough to set the atmosphere and Sean Hayes as the tortured Oscar Levant lowers his head to the piano. What follows is not just music, but a masterpiece and boy is it worth the wait. The set design is both minimal and menacing. A sterile dressing room morphs into a glitzy stage in mere seconds, echoing Oscar’s own psychological shifts.
What sets Good Night, Oscar apart from other theatre is its refusal to neatly package suffering. It doesn’t offer redemption or clear resolution. Oscar is not cured, understood, or forgiven he is merely seen, for one long night, under very bright lights. Good Night, Oscar at the Barbican gives you the chance to be a fly on the wall backstage, so don’t miss out!
This experience was reviewed on the 7th August 2025 at the Barbican Centre, London where it runs until the 21st September 2025. Tickets here: Good Night, Oscar | Barbican
Review written by Sam Sadler
AD/Gifted
Photo credit : Johan Persson
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