Sean Hayes to Star as Pianist Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar at Chicago's Goodman Theatre

Emmy winner and Tony nominee Sean Hayes will portray music icon Oscar Levant in the upcoming bioplay Good Night, Oscar, set to arrive at the Goodman Theatre next year. Tony nominee Leigh Silverman, currently represented on Broadway by Grand Horizons, will helm the Chicago production, scheduled to begin performances in January 2021.

Penned by Tony- and Pulitzer-winning playwright Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife), Good Night, Oscar explores the nexus of humor and heartbreak, the ever-dwindling distinction between exploitation and entertainment and the high cost of baring one's soul for public consumption, all through the eyes of one of America's most memorable and subversive wits.

Levant was an American concert pianist, composer, actor and raconteur who eventually became one of the most celebrated and sardonic wits of his era. The son of Russian immigrants, he moved from New York to Hollywood in 1928 where he met and befriended George Gershwin. Over the next two decades he composed the music for more than 20 movies. At the height of his popularity, Levant was the highest-paid concert artist in America.

Hayes is an Emmy winner and six-time Golden Globe nominee for his turn as Jack McFarland on Will and Grace. He earned a Tony nomination for his Broadway-debut performance in Promises, Promises and most recently appeared on the Great White Way in An Act of God.