Broadway<\/a> as the troubled pianist-raconteur Oscar Levant, who died in 1972. Three years after its American debut, Good Night, Oscar is transferring to London with Hayes stepping back behind the keys and into Levant\u2019s shiny black wingtips. That one-year break was necessary: \u201cThey had asked me about transferring towards the end of the New York run,\u201d he recalls, reclining in his chair. \u201cThey said, \u2018Do you want to go to London?\u2019\u201d He raises his eyebrows past his thick black frames. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018No, I want to go to bed.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\nPlaying Levant is demanding. The pianist was as famous for films like An American in Paris as he was for his volatile TV appearances that showed off his wicked wit and far-ranging intellect. His struggles with mental health and addiction to prescription drugs were not obstacles to his charm, but fodder for it. On air in front of millions, Levant would crack jokes about his fragile mental state. Asked what he did for exercise, he responded: \u201cI stumble and then I fall into a coma.\u201d <\/p>\n
As roles go, Levant is an actor\u2019s dream: a real meaty character with a network of sinews and tendons, layers of flesh to tear into. It\u2019s the hard stuff. \u201cNobody would have ever cast me in this role,\u201d Hayes admits. That he landed the part was the result of 20 years of hard work campaigning for himself, together with the production\u2019s team. \u201cWhen you\u2019re an actor like I am, you have to create your own path,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to become self-generating because nobody\u2019s going to do the work to see you in other roles. They\u2019d rather just check boxes, which I get.\u201d He\u2019s forgiving of the industry\u2019s blinker vision: \u201cIf I were in the same position, I\u2019d probably do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, it has been satisfying for Hayes to show off the other tools in his kit, not least his skills as a classically trained pianist. He began lessons at age five; his teacher was his neighbour. By his teens, he was performing in competitions, and later, at college, he was hired as the music director of a dinner theatre. In a virtuoso final scene of Good Night, Oscar, he puts this lesser-known gift to spectacular use with a fast-fingered rendition of \u201cRhapsody in Blue\u201d. <\/p>\n
Though it\u2019s taken a while to reach this point, Hayes has long made peace with the slow burn of his career. \u201cHad this come to fruition earlier,\u201d he says, \u201cI don\u2019t know that I would have been ready to avail myself to an audience in the way that I do with this. It kind of happened when I stopped giving a s***.\u201d He rushes to clarify: \u201cBy that I mean, not giving a s*** as in embracing the fear of expressing myself.\u201d He needn\u2019t have clarified; if anything is clear from his performance, underpinned by a careful study of Levant\u2019s tics and mannerisms, it\u2019s that Hayes cares. A lot.<\/p>\n
In a sense, he has been waiting for this since Will & Grace initially came to an end in 2006. The groundbreaking NBC sitcom helped normalise gay characters in the 1990s and in doing so, made stars of its cast. As for the criticism that Jack\u2019s character, ebullient and loud, perpetuated gay stereotypes, Hayes says he tuned it out. \u201cI never thought deeper than I\u2019m an actor who needs to act,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t want to think deeper than that. We educated America without them knowing it, and we did it through comedy.\u201d <\/p>\n
What comes next is an age-old tale: actor gets famous doing one thing and is tied to it forever. \u201cOnce you\u2019re on a hit show like that, you know it\u2019s going to be tough,\u201d he says now. \u201cI loved it and I love the people, but even when I was in it, I was like, \u2018OK what\u2019s the plan to get out of this?\u2019 And so, I would go to meetings and this and that, but I wasn\u2019t ready. I am now, but it might be too late, and that\u2019s OK too.\u201d Ready for what? Hayes pauses a moment. \u201cTo take on new challenges in a way that I was never open to before.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Mid-century](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sean-Hayes-(Oscar-Levant)-2--Credit-Johan-Persson.jpg\")
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Mid-century man: Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant in \u2018Good Night, Oscar\u2019 (Johan Persson)<\/p>\n
In person, dressed in a zip-up sweater and jeans, Hayes is to the point and affable. He speaks efficiently like a doctor with back-to-back patients, every sentence packed with the maximum information in the fewest words possible. On where his impulse to perform comes from, a question that typically tugs spools of thought from actors, Hayes reels off his reasons in rapid fire: \u201cYoungest of five; needing attention; no dad; somebody love me!\u201d He smiles. \u201cI think it\u2019s the same with any performer, and if they tell you anything different, they\u2019re lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
He grew up poor in Chicago, Illinois, and frequently went without school lunches, his mother struggling to make ends meet for Hayes and his four siblings after his dad left when he was five years old. \u201cWe went through winter with no heat. Our phone was always turned off because we couldn\u2019t pay the bill. The car was repossessed. Sometimes we had no food.\u201d The tough times, Hayes adds, were blessings in disguise. \u201cWatching my mum work so hard and growing up like that gives you this incredible work ethic that all five of us have inherited. All five of us work really hard and I love that.\u201d (Hayes spent his first big pay cheque on a piano for $6,000.) <\/p>\n
After Will & Grace, his next big thing arrived courtesy of a supporting role in The Bucket List, which saw two Hollywood heavyweights join forces with Hayes in tow. \u201cIt was pretty mind-blowing to be in the theatre and see the billing: \u2018Starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, and Sean Hayes,\u2019\u201d he says. Only years before, he had been paid $100 to dance the Charleston at a lavish Beverly Hills mansion party where Nicholson was in attendance. \u201cIt was so dumb,\u201d he laughs. Released in 2007, the feelgood dramedy was one of Nicholson\u2019s final roles before his unofficial retirement in 2010. What was it like working with the screen legend? Hayes is oddly elliptical in his answer. \u201cIt was pretty… well, I mean, what I can say in this interview is that it was a wonderful experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Groundbreaking](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-158572098.jpeg\")
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Groundbreaking comedy: Debra Messing, Debbie Reynolds, Sean Hayes, Eric McCormack and Megan Mullally in \u2018Will & Grace\u2019 (NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal\/Getty)<\/p>\n
But back to Levant: plenty of people will have an Oscar in their life. The play\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Doug Wright said the pianist reminded him of his own \u201coutrageous, brilliant\u201d father, who was bipolar. Hayes is more coy. \u201cPeople in my family that have struggled with mental health issues, including myself \u2013 but I don\u2019t have severe mental health issues, although Scotty [his husband] would argue that\u2019s probably not true \u2013 but yes I\u2019ve been around it my whole life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Levant\u2019s sharp-witted outbursts on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar were shocking in their day, but celebrated for their candour. \u201cWe live in a world now where everybody\u2019s questioning what you can and can\u2019t say, because you\u2019ll be cast aside because of stating your opinions, and the backlash \u2013 especially in comedy \u2013 but I think it all depends on the messenger,\u201d Hayes says. \u201cThere are still comedians who are brave enough to do jokes or have opinions about what they believe is true, and they\u2019re unapologetic about it, and whether you agree with them or not, they\u2019re fearless. And I think Oscar was fearless. And I think part of how he coped with his mental health issues was talking about them publicly. I\u2019m sure it was a form of therapy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Head-to-head:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock_editorial_5884896a.jpeg\")
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Head-to-head: Sean Hayes played the efficient assistant to Jack Nicholson\u2019s dying billionaire in \u2018The Bucket List\u2019 (Warner Bros\/Kobal\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
Hayes is in therapy \u2013 and loving it. \u201cMostly because my husband is sick of being my therapist,\u201d he laughs. Another form of therapy for him is SmartLess, the podcast he hosts with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett that has steadily grown its audience into the millions. \u201cI\u2019m pretty open and honest. I talk about a lot, including my health problems [Hayes has atrial fibrillation, a condition that causes an irregular and rapid heartbeat]. I think it\u2019s healing for me to just talk about it, whether to two people or 20 million people.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speaking to Hayes, you can tell this is a man in therapy. There is a peaceful acceptance in the way he talks about how things have gone and the way they will go. When I ask if he hopes his Tony and Good Night, Oscar will yield similarly fulfilling opportunities in the future, he says plainly: \u201cFine if so. Fine if not.\u201d When he gets home to Los Angeles, Hayes plans to make an album on the piano. \u201cFor no other reason than to just do it. I don\u2019t care if anybody buys it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2018Good Night, Oscar\u2019 runs until 21 September at the Barbican Theatre; tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-324948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114987034677370311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}