INTERVIEW: Alex Wyse on his ‘positive choices’ in ‘Good Night, Oscar’
Photo: Good Night, Oscar stars, from left, Alex Wyse and Sean Hayes. Photo courtesy of Joan Marcus / Provided by BBB with permission.
The new Broadway play Good Night, Oscar reimagines a moment in TV history when Oscar Levant (Tony nominee Sean Hayes) prepares for a visit on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar (Ben Rappaport). In order to make the taping, Levant needs to be signed out of a mental health facility by his wife, June Levant (Emily Bergl), and also face some of the reasons why he was checked in to the facility in the first place. Whether he can muster the courage to make it on TV depends on his antics backstage in the green room; that’s where he meets Max Weinbaum (Alex Wyse), an assistant who is a big Levant fan and who generally brings a positive vibe to the tense proceedings.
Along the way, audiences are treated to Levant’s witty humor and piano playing. In his time, he was one of the preeminent interpreters of George Gershwin’s music; in fact, Levant appeared in An American in Paris, and in the play he’s haunted by that experience and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” The show, which runs throughout the summer at the Belasco Theatre, has a lot to say about mental health, art, reputation and show business.
At the center of the narrative is Wyse’s interpretation of Max. The actor, who has appeared on Broadway in Waitress, Deaf West’s Spring Awakening and Lysistrata Jones, joined the production after a lengthy audition.
“I went through a two-month audition process,” Wyse said in a recent Zoom interview. “It was pretty grueling, and it tested me and asked of me to be confident and to be playful. … I was really excited that this came along when it did because I feel like I had been in my long winter’s nap between projects. It was pretty exciting to get an audition for something that was as inspiring as this is. I love everything about this world. I love that it’s about old Hollywood; that’s something that I’m passionate about. I love that it feels like a very New York neurotic kind of story; that’s something that really speaks to who I am. And I love that it starred Sean Hayes, who is someone I’ve looked up to for many, many years. So everything about it asked me to level up and bring myself to this project, so I worked really, really hard. And I was lucky enough that it went my way.”
For the character of Max, Wyse brings his “natural fan energy” to the role. The reason he’s a theater professional is because he started out as a fan of the art form, so he can identify with Max’s adoration of Levant in the play.
“There are so many performers, writers and people in this industry who inspire me with their bravery and their storytelling,” he said. “Sean is one of those people, and I felt like I could bring that passion I have for this art form into the character, someone who is naturally exuberant and wants to pour his devotion onto his idol, whom he gets to be lucky enough to sit in the same room with. So it felt like all the things that excite me about being an actor I got to channel into this guy.”
Although much of Good Night, Oscar is based on real people and real circumstances, ultimately the play is the creative work of Doug Wright, and Max is a fictional character who was created for the 100-minute dramedy. He’s a theatrical construct that helps the audience better understand the world of Levant.
“It’s a creation for the play, which is really nice because the only research I had to do was, you know, how to have a nice time,” Wyse said with a laugh. “I just kind of showed up and worked on opening my heart and warming up my body, so I could run around the stage and be excited and easily manipulated by Mr. Levant. … These are some actory thoughts, but when I was building this character, I thought that everything he does should be a positive choice. I wasn’t ever cutting anyone down or working to outsmart someone. I was always working to meet somebody where they were and putting everyone around me on a platform. I would always try to come to each moment with a sense of positivity, so that was fun working with that idea to build this guy.”
Wyse and the company of actors conducted a lot of table work with Wright and director Lisa Peterson to better understand the themes of the play and how they impact audiences in 2023. They also dissected the historical context of the late 1950s in sunny Burbank, California.
“How we can do the best work we can to make sure that it’s resonating for today’s audiences as well as being honest for the time period in which it was set,” Wyse said was the goal. “We worked very closely with Lisa Peterson, our director, who walked very beautifully that line between making sure it was relevant and honoring the past all at the same time, but, yeah, we certainly talked about mental health. We certainly talked about how this story hits us as people as well as how this hits each one of our characters and how we can bring that into the world of the play. It was really cool work. I was really having a ball.”
Wyse said performing eight shows a week at the Belasco can be tiring, especially because his character runs around the stage for nearly the entire duration of the play. He needs to ensure he’s taking care of himself in order to keep up the pace.
“It’s really hard work to make sure that my focus is very activated and that I’m doing everything I can to bring my creative energy and my physical stamina and my mental stamina to this play every night, so it’s hard work,” said Wyse, who is also known for the Emmy-nominated Indoor Boys with Wesley Taylor. “And sometimes I think to myself, gosh, I’d really love to sit on my couch and eat chips.”
But no matter the difficulties, Wyse is delighted to be back on Broadway. He is achieving the dream that he originally had when he was a child. Back then, performing in New York City seemed so far out of reach, but now he’s a regular presence in Midtown Manhattan.
“Every time this has happened for me, it has meant more and more and more because it feels like it’s not just a fluke,” Wyse said. “It’s further affirmation that I am worthy enough to be a part of this community. It’s an affirmation for that inner 10-year-old who had trouble believing in himself, that he should have believed in himself that whole time. … I can’t emphasize that enough, how much I love theater.”
Wyse added: “The best part of being in theater is the ‘hang,’ as we call it. Being with these people each night is wonderful. A show is only as great as the experience you have doing the show. If it’s made up of a bunch of jerks, then it’s really not much fun making art, but I like everybody in that building. It’s a very, very positive building, which is a tone that’s set by Sean Hayes, who is the most positive, silly, collaborative leader. He just couldn’t be a more wonderful person, and I think he, along with Lisa Peterson and Doug Wright our playwright, did such a great job of setting this tone of play and joy and collaboration. And so every time I go to work, I’m really excited. It’s a complete joy, and I get to be with these people whom I really love and tell this story, which feels important to me.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Good Night, Oscar, featuring Alex Wyse as Max Weinbaum, continues at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
