Doug Wright’s GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR starring Sean Hayes will open at the Belasco April 2023

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 9:10am

Sean Hayes will return to Broadway this spring starring in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright's new play, Good Night, Oscar, directed by Lisa Peterson, at the Belasco Theatre, (111 West 44th Street) with performances beginning on April 7, 2023, and an official opening set for April 24, 2023. The 20-week limited engagement will end on August 27, 2023.

Sean Hayes plays Oscar Levant: Hollywood actor, concert pianist, and the most subversive wit ever to appear on television during its Golden Age.

Other cast members include Emily Bergl as June Levant; Peter Grosz as the network executive Bob Sarnoff; Ben Rappaport as TV host Jack Paar; and John Zdrojeski as George Gershwin. Additional casting will be confirmed soon.

CREATIVE TEAM: Rachel Hauck (Set Design), Emilio Sosa (Costume Design), Ben Stanton and Carolina Ortiz Herrera (Lighting Design), Andre Pluess (Sound Design), Chris Fenwick (Music Supervision). 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/theater/sean-hayes-oscar-levant-broadway.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Updated On: 9/19/22 at 09:10 AM

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 9:14am

Hmmmmm. I guess that means AIN’T NO MO is just going to be a limited engagement until February.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 9:29am

quizking101 said: "Hmmmmm. I guess that means AIN’T NO MO is just going to be a limited engagement until February."

Surely nobody sane believes AIN’T NO MO could last past its limited engagement, if it even makes it that long. This thing has been destined to be a prestige money-loser from the moment it was announced, not helped by all these plays cannibalizing each other in the fall (and I’ll HAPPILY eat my hat but I don’t think I’ll have to).

[JasonC3]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 9:56am

does anyone still wear, I mean, eat a hat?

sorry, should have resisted

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 10:06am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "quizking101 said: "Hmmmmm. I guess that means AIN’T NO MO is just going to be a limited engagement until February."

Surely nobody sane believes AIN’T NO MO could last past its limited engagement, if it even makes it that long. This thing has been destined to be a prestige money-loser from the moment it was announced, not helped by all these plays cannibalizing each other in the fall (and I’ll HAPPILY eat my hat but I don’t think I’ll have to)."

 

Everyone's probably on the same page there, but it's interesting that Ain't No Mo' opted not to advertise itself as a limited run. So we have an unusual situation where a current tenant hasn't publicly acknowledged its own closing date, yet the show moving in after them has publicly announced their run.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 10:57am

Ah, thanks for clarifying — I think my brain has been broken into believing every play is a “strictly limited engagement” unless specifically announced as open-ended. 

[Sauja]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 11:23am

Looking forward to this play, but $120 for the last row of the balcony at the Belasco is bananas. Surely Hayes isn’t THAT much of a draw…

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 12:19pm

Sauja said: "Looking forward to this play, but $120 for the last row of the balcony at the Belasco is bananas. Surely Hayes isn’t THAT much of a draw…"

Start the prices high. They can always be lowered. He sold very well in Promises Promises (which also had Cheno), but didn’t sell in An Act of God — though it had just been on Broadway the previous season with Jim Parsons, a bigger draw. I def don’t think he has the name value of, say, SJP and Broderick, but maybe reviews & buzz will help. 

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 12:29pm

This absolutely packed the Goodman in Chicago. So I don't blame them for starting sales off high. This show is a real treat. The play itself is good, not great but Hays is thrilling. I think the performance is tony worthy and I'm excited to see what New Yorkers think come this spring. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 12:40pm

I enjoyed this play but Sean is on another level with this one. It's a good play as Theatreboy said, but the highlight is Sean in a can't miss performance, honestly. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 1:02pm

Yes, it did eventually sell very well in Chicago after starting off a bit sluggish.  I got half-off tickets via Goldstar to early performances in the run. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 2:54pm

Damn, these out of the gate prices are some Billy Crystal - MR. SATURDAY NIGHT level of hubris.

I'm expecting these to come down quite a bit and I feel bad for the suckers who are going to pay this much out of the gate as a result of their impatience. (The show doesn't open for 7.5 months)

[broadwayindie]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 7:47pm

They need to market this show correctly. Hayes gives one of the most compelling performances I've ever seen on stage. He's going to have massive buzz when the reviews come out, but the marketing team needs to really show that he's not "Just Jack" and is doing really unbelievable acting (and piano playing) in this show for these prices.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 8:01pm

100%

[A Director]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 10:21pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: 
Surely nobody sane believes AIN’T NO MO could last past its limited engagement, if it even makes it that long. This thing has been destined to be a prestige money-loser from the moment it was announced, not helped by all these plays cannibalizing each other in the fall (and I’ll HAPPILY eat my hat but I don’t think I’ll have to)."

Dear Sniveling, It's a play; not a thing!  Why will the play be a prestige money-loser? Will the play upset the white-folks? Will the play upset the regulars who post here?

 

[pethian]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 10:29pm

JBroadway said: "Everyone's probably on the same page there, but it's interesting that Ain't No Mo' opted not to advertise itself as a limited run. So we have an unusual situation where a current tenant hasn't publicly acknowledged its own closing date, yet the show moving in after them has publicly announced their run."

 

Yes, that's what confused me. No announcement of a limited run yet another show  announced to succeed them. Strange.

 

[Dusoleilcanwhistle]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 10:50pm

I saw the show in Chicago and there was virtually no one under 60 years old in that theater (I brought the average age down tremendously).

That being said, Sean really is giving an incredible performance and could be a real contender to win the Tony for Leading Actor in a Play with this part. At the same time - the play itself was pretty bad - whenever Sean isn't onstage, the whole thing slows down and becomes practically boring and even silly at times. Sean really lifts it up and is worth the price of a ticket, but this is going to be all on him to keep delivering. I hope it succeeds!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/19/22 at 11:20pm

A Director said: "Why will [Ain't No Mo] be a prestige money-loser?"

I would venture to say ANY play is a money-loser these days if it doesn't have major stars. Between October 2 and December 20, 12 nonmusical plays will open on Broadway, with even more off-Broadway. The season will be rich with artistry, but most of these plays are going to collapse under the weight of each other.

The traditional Broadway full-priced audience has not come back in the way that they were expected to. There are no sustainable numbers of Black full-priced ticketbuyers. And we don't know what the economy is going to look like through the rest of 2022.

Like I said in a post above, I would LOVE to be proved wrong by the data. But this isn't something new or shocking: plays without stars or spectacle are always tough bets on Broadway, even when produced economically. There's a very real world in which the only commercially-produced play of the fall to recoup is The Piano Lesson –– and even that's not a sure thing.

It's kind of a grim state of affairs.

Updated On: 9/19/22 at 11:20 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/20/22 at 2:06am

I hope to see the production one day. I find Hayes completely endearing as one half of the team that brings us the podcast Hypochondriactor. He seems like a real mensch.

[inception]

Posted: 9/20/22 at 9:47am

I just rewatched Romance on the High Seas this weekend. Warner Bros remastered Blu-ray looks stunning.  I love Doris Day so much in this - it was her first film.

On Wikipedia it says that one of Oscar Levant's one liners later on was something like, " I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin."

In the film she's a nightclub singer and he is her pianist who constantly proposes but she always turns him down, saying they're just friends.  Whenever I've watched this I took it for code that she knew he was gay & didn't want to be his beard.  For some reason I've always assumed Levant was homosexual, so was surprised on his Wikipedia page there is no mention of any such thing and in fact he was married for 33 years up until his death & had 3 children.

[JasonC3]

Posted: 9/20/22 at 12:07pm

FindingNamo said: "I hope to see the production one day. I find Hayes completely endearing as one half of the team that brings us the podcast Hypochondriactor. He seems like a real mensch."

Agree, and I also enjoy him on Smartless with Will Arnett and Jason Bateman.