Anything can happen on live TV

The 2023 Tony Awards' BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY for Sean Hayes!

"There's a fine line between genius and insanity; I have erased this line"

As brilliant as he was troubled, Oscar Levant's genius has become the stuff of legend, despite the fact it was also his downfall. After winning critical and audience acclaim during its Chicago premiere and its recent Broadway run, this new play by Doug Wright comes to London's Barbican in the summer of 2025. Sean Hayes (Will and Grace) retains the role of the titular Oscar, (in a performance the Chicago Tribune called a "revelation") embodying the mordant comedian, actor, pianist, and wildcard as he makes an unforgettable appearance on Jack Paar's Tonight Show in 1958.

Known initially as a concert pianist and composer, it was Levant's acid-laced witticisms that truly bought him to public attention, betraying his own demons within. A regular on the late-night circuit and radio panel games of the time, his frank approach to his own neurosis gained him fans and an influence that still continues to this day.