Oscar Levant once said, “There is a fine line between genius and insanity, I have erased that line.” In Good Night, Oscar, now playing at WaterTower Theatre through April 12 at The Addison Performing Arts Centre, audiences will experience what erasing that line might have looked like on live national television in the 1950s.
From the 1920s to the 1960s, Oscar Levant was a brilliant staple of American culture, beloved as a concert pianist, composer, conductor, game show panelist, talk show host, actor, comedian and author. He also struggled with his mental health, and he was open about it decades before celebrities publicly discussed such private matters.
The play is a fictionalized version of a true event in Levant’s life. Levant was frequently institutionalized, but he was allowed to temporarily check out of the hospital to perform. In this show set in 1958, Levant is given a four-hour leave to appear on NBC’s Tonight Starring Jack Parr. Sean Hayes, best known as Jack McFarland in Will & Grace, originated the role of Oscar Levant, winning a Tony Award for the performance in 2023…