(seen at the afternoon performance on 14th August 2025)
Not to be confused with Jimmie “The Schnozz” Durante, or indeed Eva Duarte, Oscar Levant (Sean Hayes) was a gifted pianist and even more gifted comedian, actor, radio host and more.
Addicted to prescription drugs, haunted by delusions of failure, he died aged just 65 and is little known to today’s generation, for whom his film appearances are not even a memory.
Doug Wright’s play takes many liberties with facts to concoct a scenario which sees faithful wife June (Rosalie Craig) breaking him out of a psychiatric hospital to appear on Jack Parr’s (Ben Rappaport) “Tonight Show.”
The action takes place prior to Levant’s arrival, in his dressing room, during the recording and after.
Studio boss Bob (Richard Katz) is right to be nervous, even as Jack (in a delightfully oily way) convinces him that Levant is a star with mass appeal – worth taking a massive chance on. This is America 1958 where television is “I Love Lucy” and politics, domestic issues and most of all sex are absolutely taboo.
Naturally, Levant (egged on by his host) breaks them all, making up for it with a stunning rendition of his signature party piece, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue.” Gershwin in reality was a friend and mentor, and is seen in flashback here as a symbol of Levant’s instability.
It is a device as clunky as it reads. David Burnett’s “Amadeus” style outfit (Emilio Sosa) is as odd as his ghostly scenes. Burnett gets away with his dignity, author Wright almost does not.
Both structure and dialogue suffer similar turbulence throughout. When Wright incorporates Durante’s own lines, the scenes fly. Left to his own devices, he lumbers Katz, in particular, with stilted movie-screen cliches the actor does well to chip neatly into the wings.
Fortunately, his cast are experienced, as most are forced to follow Katz’s example. The simple trick of an “Applause” / “No Applause” sign from director Lisa Peterson may have saved Ben Rappaport from two horribly exposing front-cloth sequences covering set changes.
In fact, had Rachel Hauck considered a revolving or even flying set design, they may have been rendered unnecessary. Hauck’s work is attractive (Amazon.com photos of past stars, amusing) and oddly familiar from similar period designs used for the Sidney Poitier work “Retrograde” earlier this year.
Sean Hayes is a shuffling, twitchy, unpredictable Oscar in the throws of serious mental illness. There is no nuance, and sadly the writing does not allow us close enough to truly interpret the glimpses of the background that lead him to this state. That the monkey gasped at his most outrageous punchline is proof of the delivery he must have had, and it wanted more of it to really gauge Levant.
As his wife, Rosalie Craig delivers a caring and thoughtful woman doing her best to keep an entire family moving forward. With her every scene seemingly truncated, her impact is even more impressive.
Nurse Alvin (Daneil Adeosun) gets the biggest laugh of the piece, with immaculate timing. Strong work too from production assistant Max (Eric Sirakian), whose foot never leaves his mouth – forcing good intentions to divert around them.
This is not the best example of a “fragile genius” piece, but nor is it the worst. Ego in this case drives it to a successful, if unnecessarily elongated conclusion. We leave understanding the condition, but not truly the man.
Still, we have an idea of who he was, if not precisely what, and the talent he represented. Good night Oscar, and thank you.
3 stars.
Photo credit: Johan Persson. Used by kind permission of Todaytix.