[music]

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. A piano genius with a blistering wit who struggles with mental illness and addiction would seem like a risky proposition on live TV. It's that tension that slowly builds over the course of the play Good Night, Oscar with my next guest 2023 Tony nominee Sean Hayes in the lead role. Oscar Levant was a real live piano virtuoso known for his interpretations of his frenemy George Gershwin's music. Levant appeared in 13 films, including An American in Paris, and was a staple on talk shows, where his quick wit and willingness to really go there made him a sought-after guest.

He said things like 'Schizophrenia beats dining alone' and 'I'm controversial, my friends either dislike me or hate me'. When we meet Levant in Good Night, Oscar, the year is 1958, and he's booked to appear on the West Coast premiere of Jack Paar's show.

There's just one problem, Levant is currently in treatment at a psychiatric facility. Oscar's crafty wife, June gets creative with the truth to get him out of the hospital and to the studio, but he seems in no condition physically or mentally to go on stage, never mind to play the piano. All of this leads up to a tense showdown in one epic performance. Sean Hayes is fully transformed in this role and uses his considerable skill as a pianist, which has earned him a Tony nomination for best leading actor in a play. Good Night, Oscar is running now at the Belasco Theater. Joining me now is Sean Hayes. Hi, Sean.

Sean Hayes: Hi. Can you hear me okay?

Alison Stewart: I hear you great. Can you hear me okay?

Sean Hayes: Yes. This is going wonderful so far. By the way, what do you need me for? That was just like an incredible retelling of synopsis of the play. That was amazing.

Alison Stewart: Get people interested, get them on board, engaged.

Sean Hayes: You could've ask me, I'm just going to repeat part of what you just said.

Alison Stewart: Then let's talk about how are you today [laughs]? When was the first time you became aware of Oscar Levant?

Sean Hayes: 2001. A friend of mine had said to me, "You should play Oscar Levant." I was like, "Who's Oscar Levant?" I didn't know who he was, never heard of him. I went to the Los Angeles Paley Center to look at archival footage and see what she was talking about. I was like, "Wow, he's fascinating." Then I read a lot of his books and he's an incredible writer. I don't know if you've ever read any of his books. Incredible writer, incredible wit. Then some years went by and another friend of mine, a very famous person said, "Hey, you should play Oscar Levant." I'm like, "What is this? What is this, the universe telling me?"

I could see what they were saying because I think they saw that I was classically trained since five-year- old. I studied piano and then I also had this funny bone in me. I can see the connection they were making, but it was really, really scary because I'm nothing like him at all. Cut long story short, to 20 some years later, here we are and met with this incredible script written by Doug Wright, directed by the masterful Lisa Peterson and an incredible, amazing cast that has become my family.

Alison Stewart: When you saw Levant as performer as someone who is a pianist, what was unique about him as a performer, as a musician?

Sean Hayes: He was most famous for-- he has the most famous recording Rhapsody in Blue, that he had George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. You can hear his fanatism in his piano recordings. You can hear his manicness, for lack of a better word. What I love about this story and about his, like you said, frenemy, George Gershwin, he was publicly and privately obsessed with George Gershwin, and then he became possessed by George Gershwin. That's what the play is somewhat about, is that love-hate relationship they had for each other.

Alison Stewart: At the moment we meet Oscar Levant in the play Good Night, Oscar, what is his public reputation at the moment we meet him?

Sean Hayes: In the play, Jack Paar's, played beautifully by Ben Rappaport has this great line. June says it'll ruin his reputation if this gets out that Oscar's been in a mental health institution, mental health facility, excuse me. Jack says, "Ruin his reputation? It is his reputation. Everybody knows he's certifiable," which sets up the audience for what they're about to see, which is a man who's been struggling with mental health and addiction in the latter part of his life, and Oscar would speak about these mental health issues on live television in the 50s and 60s.

You can imagine then. We have a problem talking about it now, we can imagine then how shocking and wild that was for the audience to hear that, but he did it in such a funny way where he took ownership of it back from the audience. There's a great line in the play that Oscar says, "I say it about myself before they can, I make them laugh, but I have the last one." It's just a reference to the fact that he gets to own all of his issues before anybody else can own them.

Alison Stewart: Let's actually listen to a little bit of Oscar Levant. To your point, he was willing to talk about it with Jack Paar. This is a clip. Let's take a listen and we can talk about it on the other side.

Jack Paar: You've got to be all right. You've got to be swell. We just keep moving around. What do you do for exercise?

Oscar Levant: I stumble and then I fall into a coma.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: That voice, right?

Sean Hayes: Yes.

Alison Stewart: The voice is so specific. How did you work with Director Lisa Peterson to make sure that you were creating a character of Oscar Levant, not an impersonation?

Sean Hayes: It's difficult. It's my interpretation of a person, someone famously said if Oscar Levant didn't exist, he could not be imagined. It's my interpretation of this man who can't be imagined. In a lot of the ways, I'm not really Oscar Levant, I'm playing Oscar Levant. A lot of the ways you could pick hundreds and thousands of actors. Philip Seymour Hoffman, it was his interpretation of Truman Capote. He's not actually Truman Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

It took a lot of deep discovery on my part to get the confidence enough to even start with the voice, then the mannerisms, then the quirks. Lisa and I just went really slowly day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, talking about where they come from, the organicness, the authenticity of being true to who he was, and not just doing mannerisms, just because.

Alison Stewart: Let's listen to a clip of you from the show. This is you as Oscar Levant. This is Sean Hayes. This is Oscar Levant being interviewed by Jack Paar after taking a lot of unprescribed medication. This is from Good Night, Oscar.

Jack Paar: Bring us up to date, Oscar. What have you been doing with yourself lately?

Oscar Levant: Well, my behavior has been impeccable. I've been unconscious for the last six months.

Jack Paar: Really? Flat out on your back?

Oscar Levant: Yes. I'm in the middle of a breakdown. It's my fifth in two years.

Jack Paar: Sorry to hear it.

Oscar Levant: Oh, don't be. That's the thing about schizophrenia.

Jack Paar: Yes.

Oscar Levant: It sure beats dining alone.

[laughter]

Jack Paar: Maybe if you got out more, the bracing walk in the morning, an evening jog. What do you do for exercise?

Oscar Levant: I stumble then I fall into a coma.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: That is Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant.

Sean Hayes: It's crazy listening to that.

Alison Stewart: It's so interesting after hearing him just say those words as well.

Sean Hayes: It's wild. It's so interesting too, because I would do it so differently for film than I would on stage, because you have to project so much more live. I'd probably do it differently if it was film.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Sean Hayes, he is starring as Oscar Levant in the Broadway play, Good Night, Oscar, now at the Belasco Theater. He has this famous line, people have repeated it over and over again, "There's a fine line between genius and insanity, I have erased that line." As an artist, what do you think of that statement?

Sean Hayes: Between genius and insanity, I don't know. I'm only one of those things, and it's not the first one.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Do you think that held true for Oscar?

Sean Hayes: No. Oscar was a genius for sure. I know we throw that around a lot. He truly was, man. Wow. Forget about the world-famous pianist that he was, he was such a virtuoso on the piano, and forget about his just natural wit. I'm so impressed with his writing, which this play is not even about. If you get a chance to read his writing, it's incredible. Just his gift of the English language and the efficiency, he's just this funny in print as he is out loud. The fact that he could do all of those things, and all of those things brilliantly, I think qualifies him as a genius.

Alison Stewart: Sounds like reading his work was as useful, if not more so, than looking at footage of him.

Sean Hayes: Yes, for sure. Well, I don't know, probably both. It's probably even. I don't know about that. That's debatable.

Alison Stewart: Just hearing you talk about it, because you've mentioned it twice already.

Sean Hayes: Yes, for sure. Memoirs of an Amnesiac is such a great book. How about the title alone? Memoirs of an Amnesiac. It's hysterical. I grew up around mental illness and addiction, and so for me and being an actor, we're observers. To observe behavior and then get a chance like this to get that out of my body, what I've observed since I was a child, is somewhat therapeutic. The role has done a lot for me too, not just as an actor, but as for Sean, just to, "Oh, I get to get out now all that stuff that I had to absorb and had no one to talk to about when I was little."

Alison Stewart: What did you learn about the kinds of mental health issues that he had and about the ways they were handled in the late '50s?

Sean Hayes: For sure. Obviously, we didn't know what we know now back then. I personally believe, I haven't read anything about it, that he was probably misdiagnosed several times. The doctors probably didn't know what he had, other than depression and massive anxiety. They started medicating him, as they didn't with lots of people, as we probably still do today to a major fault.

Oscar, he just got addicted to those medications, and no one there to help him-- all the wrong things to try to wean him off of it. It's just, even in the play June says, played by the brilliant, Emily Bergl. June says, "One doctor prescribed him Demerol to get him off of Paraldehyde. The other doctor prescribed him Paraldehyde to get him off Demerol." It was just a screwed up situation.

Alison Stewart: You've mentioned, the cast is so great in this play.

Sean Hayes: Amazing.

Alison Stewart: Everybody is really, really strong. What's something you've learned from working with this particular group of people that you think will be useful? Even though you're a seasoned, you're a veteran actor, but we all learn things from the people with whom we work.

Sean Hayes: Gosh, it's such a good question. I have to go through each person because I have learned, and then that would take another hour and a half. Collectively, I'm going to speak on their behalf as well. I think we all learned how important it is to collaborate. I know that also gets thrown around a lot, but you'd be surprised how many people aren't open to that in probably lots of occupations.

In this, we really, truly created a safe space for everybody to just fail and thrive. It's not so much something I've learned, but something I try to implicate and they, as well, did too. We recognize in each other that that's the kind of work environment we like. We just all lucked out that we all think the same way.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Sean Hayes, he is on Broadway now playing Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar at the Belasco theater. There's this tension building up, will Oscar be able to play? Will he play on live television? Will he be in any shape to play on live television? Are you someone who practices piano regularly, or is it for fun for you at this point? Because, right now, it's part of your job, but when you're not playing someone who plays piano?

Sean Hayes: Yes, no. I started studying piano when I was five years old. I literally came home from preschool and my mom said, "This family just moved in across the street. Do you want to take piano lessons?" At five years old, I said, "I'm not doing anything else, so, why not?" I did, stuck with it all through high school and college. I got a scholarship to go to Illinois State University, which is a fantastic university for theater and music and everything else. That's my little plug.

Alison Stewart: Nicely done.

Sean Hayes: Then I became a music director at a theater in Chicago, a dinner theater in Chicago. I thought I was going to be a composer and concert pianist and write music and conduct and all that. I got the acting bud because I thought, I still continued to keep it up because it was a skill I'd had honed for 20 or 15 years or so, 15, 20 years. Then I slowly started to realize, as I'm playing Chopin and Tchaikovsky and Mozart in my living room by myself, I look up, and I'm like, "Nobody's listening." [laughs] I'm like, "Why am I doing this?"

I maintained it just enough because there's no outlet for me since I wasn't a touring concert pianist. Really, now, other than this, after this play is over, I can't imagine ever playing for audiences again.

Alison Stewart: Really?

Sean Hayes: Why? Who's going to go?

Alison Stewart: Some people. I think there's some people who might go.

Sean Hayes: I don't know about that.

Alison Stewart: On your Instagram, there's pictures of you with your arms in ice baths, and holding, I think they're bags of ice.

Sean Hayes: Yes, and right now I have a compression fixed on.

Alison Stewart: Tell me about the physical part of this, the physical toll of playing the piano the way you do every night.

Sean Hayes: For those who don't know, I play the Rhapsody in Blue, the Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, a cut down version of it. Otherwise, they'd have to sit there for a grueling 20, 25 minutes. This is a shorter version, and it's about eight minutes. It is. I was talking to another pianist who does it for a living, a concert pianist, and she said, "I don't even play every night like that." Not saying, "Look at me." I'm just saying, "Look how dumb I am for saying yes to this." [laughs]

Alison Stewart: It's super intense the way you play it, because he's in a crisis moment, and so your body is into it when you're playing.

Sean Hayes: As Doug Wright wrote it in a play, in the script, it says it's Oscar versus the music. If you see the play, you'll see I'm unwittingly forced to play it by the ghost of Gershwin for many reasons, which are explained in the play. I do. I go through the process of playing Rhapsody in Blue while high on Demerol. It's probably the only time it's ever going to be played like that.

Once I'm into it, it takes a toll on my arms and my hands every night from playing it, so I'm just trying to do as much self care as I can by ice-bathing my arms right after the show every night. Then I take some vitamins that are hopefully anti-inflammatory-ish, and I wear these during the day, and I'm showing you, they are compression sleeves. What else?

Alison Stewart: I also wondered about your posture, because I thought about your spine because he's concave, and he's shlumping, for lack of a better word.

Sean Hayes: Yes, exactly. If you see clips of him when he was older as when we're playing, not when he was younger, but when he was older at the time of the play, he does. Even June describes him as Eeyore in a suit, where it's just shlumped over, chain smoker, not really worried about his own health, really, as most addicts aren't. No one was there to tell him sit up straight, except for his wife.

Alison Stewart: The actor who plays the wife, she's-

Sean Hayes: Emily Bergl.

Alison Stewart: -Emily. Thank you. She's terrific.

Sean Hayes: She's incredible. She's amazing and an incredible person too.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Sean Hayes. We're talking about Good Night, Oscar, which is at the Belasco theater. Before you go, I have to ask you because we do this for a living. I need to ask you about the podcast SmartLess. Folks, I'm sure a lot of people listen to it with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett. Have you been keeping up with it during the show?

Sean Hayes: Oh, yes. We record one a week, maybe two a week. The schedule's all over the place because of everybody else's schedule, just to combine. Yes, I do that, and then I also have a new podcast coming out in June. It's a Will & Grace rewatch podcast called Just Jack & Will that I do with Eric McCormack, which is also under the SmartLess umbrella, SmartLess Media. Yes, I love podcasting when I'm not on stage.

Alison Stewart: I'm so excited that you just said that because we've had Megan Mullally on the show. She's been in the studio.

Sean Hayes: She's Great. Amazing.

Alison Stewart: We've had Debra Messing when she was on stage last year.

Sean Hayes: Amazing.

Alison Stewart: We've had you now and now we have a reason to get Eric McCormack in here.

Sean Hayes: He's the greatest interview. He's the best.

Alison Stewart: What do you like about interviewing people, by the way? I do it for a living.

Sean Hayes: I'm genuinely, truly, I'm one of those few actors that really likes people. I was just talking to Kate.

Alison Stewart: Kate. Your new BFF. We were watching you. I was watching you guys.

Sean Hayes: Yes, actually we talked for two hours. I would ask you questions, but I can tell by the energy, the way this is going that I'm not allowed to ask you questions.

I would ask you where you're from, why you like this job, what are you doing there, how many hours have you worked so far? Who did you interview today? Who did you like?

Who don't you like? What's going on with you outside of this?

Alison Stewart: I'm so glad we just found a guest host for when I go on vacation, Sean Hayes. [laughs] Sean Hayes is playing Oscar Levant at the Belasco Theater in Good Night, Oscar. Sean, it's been a pleasure.

Sean Hayes: Thank you, Alison. It's been a pleasure here too.

Alison Stewart: Let's go out on a little bit of Oscar Levant playing Rhapsody in Blue.

[music - George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue]

 

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