Good Night, Oscar
Good Night, Oscar - 2025 West End History , Info & More
Barbican Centre [Barbican Theatre]
Barbican Centre Silk Street London EC2Y 8DS London
Emmy and Tony Award-winner Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) brings his acclaimed, Tony Award-winning performance to the Barbican this Summer in Good Night, Oscar – direct from a critically acclaimed Broadway season.
It’s 1958, and Jack Paar hosts the hottest late-night talk-show on television. His favourite guest? Character actor, pianist, and wild card Oscar Levant. Famous for his witty one-liners, Oscar has a favourite: “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity; I have erased this line.” Tonight, Oscar will prove just that when he appears live on national TV in an episode that Paar’s audience—and the rest of America—won’t soon forget.
Full of humour, with an unmissable, virtuosic performance from Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar masterfully explores fame, artistry, and the fragility of genius. This strictly limited one time seven-week summer season at the Barbican will sell out quickly – advance booking is strongly advised.
Good Night, Oscar - 2025 - West End Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Good Night, Oscar
Will & Grace's Sean Hayes is master and maestro in this heartbreaking comedy
10 / 10
Much like the orchestra Levant imagines, this show is layered and comes out in full force. Its themes run one after the other, from misogyny to TV censorship to mental illness, building up to a crescendo that encompasses everything from the exploitation of public figures to the uncredited influence of Black culture in music. Yet, while so many shows find themselves muddled by the noise of competing topics and in-your-face messaging, Good Night Oscar's string together in one note-perfect symphony.
Tony-winning Sean Hayes exudes awkward brilliance and pathos as a troubled pianist
6 / 10
As Wright’s play emphasises, Levant’s worldview was ahead of its time – and so were the people who hired him, presaging an era of reality tv where uninhibited, unself-aware participants are wheeled on to scandalise viewers, with little thought given to the toll it takes on them. Still, this drama doesn’t feel quite as forward-looking in its perspective on mental illness. Levant’s madness here is romanticised, stylised: his hallucinations are used as a convenient way to flesh out his backstory. There’s something of a debt to Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus here, with its tale of an ageing composer haunted by his more successful rival Mozart. Levant sees visions of a sleekly suited George Gershwin, who taunts his loyal discipl, and imprisons him in an identity as a favoured interpreter of “Rhapsody in Blue”, nothing more.
Category
by Aliya Al-Hassan - August 7, 2025
Emmy and Tony Award-winner Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) brings his acclaimed, Tony Award-winning performance to the Barbican this Summer in Good Night, Oscar – direct from a critically acclaimed Broadway season. What did the critics think?
by Gary Naylor - August 7, 2025
Long forgotten talkshow guest has plenty to say about culture today
by Kat Mokrynski - July 18, 2025
After runs in Chicago and on Broadway, Good Night, Oscar arrives at the Barbican Centre in London this month. The show, starring Sean Hayes as the titular character, follows famed character actor and pianist Oscar Levant on an unforgettable night as a guest star on Jack Paar’s late-night television talk show. Recently, we had the chance to speak with Ben Rappaport, who plays the role of Jack Paar in Good Night, Oscar. We discussed what it’s been like to be a part of the show since 2022, how he has worked on the role and how it feels to be bringing the show to the West End.
by Backstage Live with Richard Ridge - June 4, 2025
Ben Rappaport has a lot to be happy about this year. Fresh off the first season of the NBC drama 'Grosse Pointe Garden Society,' the stage and screen star is getting ready to make his West End debut in Good Night, Oscar. Watch in this video as Ben tells us more about the show and getting ready to hit the stage in London!
by Stephi Wild - May 6, 2025
Acclaimed award-winning actor Rosalie Craig will return to the West End stage this summer to star as June Levant in the London premiere of Good Night, Oscar.
by A.A. Cristi - April 23, 2025
Further casting for the West End premiere of Good Night, Oscar has been confirmed, with Ben Rappaport joining Emmy and Tony Award-winner Sean Hayes this summer, reprising his acclaimed role as legendary talk show host Jack Paar.
Good Night, Oscar History
Other Productions of Good Night, Oscar
| 2021 | Regional (US) |
Goodman Theatre's Premiere Production Regional (US) |
| 2023 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2025 | West End |
West End |
Videos