Sean Hayes rightfully won the 2023 Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar. The exhausting performance has Mr. Hayes transformed into a deeply flawed, insecure, filterless Oscar Levant, known as much for his music as his comedic wit. Mr. Hayes is better known to audiences for his lighthearted yet groundbreaking role of Jack McFarland in the hit TV show Will & Grace. His performance of Oscar Levant breathes new life into the legacy of the famed pianist, while showcasing Hayes theatrical and musical talents.
None of this would be possible without an equally strong supporting performance by Ben Rappaport, who stuns as late night talk show host Jack Parr. Good Night, Oscar reenacts a 1958 Tonight Show appearance by Oscar Levant, who was on a four-hour furlough from a psychiatric facility. Against the wishes of his network boss, Jack Paar goes forward with the highly risky interview, which concludes with Oscar Levant’s climactic performance of his signature Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.
The Echo was very fortunate to spend some time with Ben Rappaport in the midst of his hectic performance schedule and added demands of Broadway’s annual awards season. We hope you enjoy what follows below!
1) How did you get into acting?
I started when I was about 15 years old. I was in high school and I was very much an artistic kid – painting, drawing, playing guitar and things like that. Then in high school my sophomore year my school was doing a production of Romeo & Juliet that I went to go see and that performance really inspired me. And I thought to myself I don’t know why I’m not involved in this but I really feel like this is something I have inside of me that I really want to participate in. So that was the spark. I took acting classes that summer and the next year I auditioned for the high school play – and that was the beginning of it all.
2) What is your favorite scene from Good Night, Oscar?
My favorite scene from Good Night, Oscar is the interview scene between me as Jack Paar and Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant. Some of it is ripped from actual transcripts of the interview that happened between Oscar and Jack. So some of those things are influenced there. But a lot of it is the genius writing of Doug Wright. It changes every night because the audience is different every night. You never know where the laughs are going to be or how they will react to different things. So the fun in that scene is sort of being on the ride – riding the waves of whatever the audience is giving you on any given night. And also, Shawn and I have been doing that scene for over a year now – from Chicago to Broadway. I really enjoy the easy going banter we have back and forth as friends and also as actors on stage.
3) You and Sean Hayes are great together. Did you know each other before the show?
We did not. I met Sean the first day of rehearsal when we did the show in Chicago at the Goodman. It was kind of like the first day of school. We’ve become good friends and I really enjoy working with him.
4) Good Night, Oscar is physically demanding. How do you make it through the show?
My roll in particular because Jack Paar has a very specific way of talking – and in all of my research and working with Stan Brown, who is our vocal coach, we discovered his way of speaking. He speaks in a more nasal way and Jack Paar came from a radio background. So his voice was very important in the way he expressed himself. So a lot of my warmup before the show is a very intense vocal warmup. I go all throughout the range of my voice and focus on my breathing to make sure I’m supporting what I’m doing. So, that’s the most demanding part, the vocal aspect of the role.
5) How did you develop your portrayal of Jack Paar?
Before we did the show in Chicago I had about six weeks from when I got the job to the first rehearsal. I dove into hours upon hours of YouTube videos of Jack Paar interviewing people and doing monologues. Night after night I would watch hours of Jack Paar and absorb him through all that. And between Chicago and Broadway we had about a year. I went to the Paley Center in New York to watch footage that is unavailable anywhere else – full Jack Paar’s Tonight Show episodes. So, I watched those – especially the ones with Oscar Levant. A lot of footage and also reading some of his autobiographies like I Kid You Not, and My Saber is Bent. I used all of those things to get a sense of who he was.
6) Did Jack Paar and Oscar Levant stay friends after the show portrayed in Good Night, Oscar?
Yes. The show is a piecing together of things that happened in real life but the show itself is also an imagined event. But as far as I know Jack and Oscar remained in touch for quite a while. And they actually were good friends.
7) You’ve also been in so many great TV shows. What do you have planned next?
Thank you! I’m not sure what’s next. We’re continuing the run of Good Night, Oscar and we’ll see what happens.
8) What is the one question you wish people would ask you but they never do?
I think I’d like people to ask me about what kind of music I like to listen to on a daily basis. And the answer to that is it’s very much all over the place depending on my mood. So, to prepare for Good Night, Oscar I was listening to a lot of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman because Jack Paar came up during World War II and that’s when he became a comedian. I saw that as the music of Jack’s youth and I started to listen to a lot of that to prepare for the role. So, music is very important in my preparation. But just in terms of just me on a day to day basis, I grew up in the late 90’s and early 2000’s listening to pop, punk and emo – like The Get Up Kids, and The Used, Blink-182 and Green Day. So, I listen to those things a lot.
9) What advice would you give to aspiring high school actors?
I would say to learn as much as you can about the craft of acting before you start diving into doing it outside of high school. I would read any books you can get your hands on – Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen. And now that we have so much available on YouTube, watch videos, watch interviews of actors from throughout the decades who you admire and listen to them talk about their process and where they came from. For example, one of my favorite videos to watch is Marlon Brando’s interview on Dick Cavett. He’s a fascinating guy and some of the things he said in that interview always stick with me as a good way to look at the art form. I would say stay curious – stay open and do as much research about the craft as possible. And let your love for it grow.
The Facts:
Location: Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036
Running Time: Approximately 1 hour and 40 minuteswith no intermission
Ticket Price Range: $58 to $318
Website: https://goodnightoscar.com/
