Latest news with #BenRappaport
The Guardian
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Good Night, Oscar review – Sean Hayes brings panache to tense talkshow encounter
There is a small set of stage plays in which the younger, upstart medium of television is the hero: Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon, James Graham's Best of Enemies and Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention. This genre is swelled by Doug Wright's Good Night, Oscar, a 2024 Broadway success now transferring, with some English cast substitutions, to London. In common with the Morgan and Graham dramas, it is set around a notable television interview. The early realisation in TV that millions of viewers would happily sit on sofas to watch celebrities chatting on chairs meant that the role of talkshow host – Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, David Frost, Michael Parkinson – soon evolved a breed of alpha guests: Peter Ustinov, Kenneth Williams, Robin Williams and, in America, Oscar Levant, a classical pianist and movie supporting actor (An American in Paris) who became a waspish and risque late-night anecdotalist. Wright imagines a 1958 encounter between Paar (Ben Rappaport) and Levant (Sean Hayes), in which, just before a ratings-crucial broadcast, the presenter discovers that his star guest, who will also play out the show at the piano, has recently been committed to a mental health facility. Scenes of off-air and on-air tension alternate. As in the 1996 movie Shine – also turning on whether a psychiatric patient will succeed with a complex piano piece – there is a risk of glorifying the myth that men (as they generally are) with identified conditions can do much what they want. Also, in a play that explicitly hymns integrity and honesty in the entertainment industry, it feels queasy that the events depicted in Good Night, Oscar never occurred as shown. Levant was once released from a mental health facility to guest on a quiz show but the play's fictional transference of this incident to The Tonight Show on its first transmission from the west coast injects false jeopardy and adds to a sense of moral confusion. Wright follows the standard stance of stage plays set in television – also found in Sorkin's screen-about-screen work, The Newsroom and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – that a potentially beautiful and influential medium is ruined by greedy and censorious executives. That's a fair view but in Good Night, Oscar the spoilsport NBC honcho must decide whether someone is physically fit to appear. Audiences encouraged to despise network chief Bob Sarnoff (Richard Katz) for trying to keep a seriously unwell man off air would perhaps soon join calls for the sacking of broadcast bosses who failed in their 'duty of care' by allowing such a vulnerable person to broadcast now. As Levant, Hayes gives a performance of such busyness – twitches, tics, lip curls, cigarette business – that you wonder if the stage has a fast-forward button. He also, in the moment that surely guaranteed his Tony award, delivers the piano climax live at a Steinway with exceptional panache. Lisa Peterson's slick, whizzy production, co-starring Rosalie Craig as Levant's wife June, is a thrilling theatrical experience but, perhaps perversely for a play arguing for television to be more serious, does not bear looking at too closely. At the Barbican theatre, London, until 21 September
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
AnnaSophia Robb, Melissa Fumero React to ‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society' Cancellation
Members of the Grosse Pointe Garden Society are reacting to the show's cancellation. It was announced Friday that NBC canceled the crime drama after its first season. NBCUniversal was initially considering shifting the Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs-created show to Peacock, though a deal didn't come to fruition. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Grosse Pointe Garden Society' Canceled at NBC After a Single Season NBC Sports Names Maria Taylor Lead NBA Studio Host Hollywood Flashback: When 'Hollywood Squares' Won Big in 1975 AnnaSophia Robb, Melissa Fumero, Ben Rappaport and Aja Naomi King starred in Grosse Pointe Garden Society as a group of members of a garden club that become connected due to a murder. Robb, Fumero and Rappaport all reacted to the news of the show's cancellation on Instagram. Robb took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of the show's core four, writing, 'damn. I will miss our GPGS family. Grateful and proud of all that we made together.' She shared a subsequent video on her Stories on-set thanking the rest of the cast and crew, writing, 'We really did have the best crew. Thanks for making it a truly magnificent experience. It's a blessing to do what you love, and an even bigger one to work with kind, talented and fun folks.' Fumero posted a heartfelt tribute to her character, Birdie, on Instagram. There, she wrote, 'Oh, Birdie. You were one for the books.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Melissa Fumero (@melissafumero) 'You felt like an amalgamation of every role I've ever played. I'll miss so many things about this job, but most of all I will miss the incredible group of humans it brought together. I won't miss the shoes,' she added. 'It's really hard to make a show. Even harder to keep it on air. I'll forever be proud of what we made. Thanks for watching.' Rappaport also took to Instagram to commemorate the end of Grosse Pointe Garden Society, writing, 'I've said it before and I'll say it again. Showbiz ain't for the faint of heart. Our beloved Grosse Pointe Garden Society was canceled today. I'll sure miss working with these (and all of our) amazing folks every day. This was a special one.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ben Rappaport (@ben_rappaport) The series notably premiered in February on Sunday but was shifted to air on Friday nights in hopes of boosting its viewership. Though Grosse Pointe Garden Society saw its audience grow after moving its airdate, it still averaged fewer than 2 million viewers for the season in Nielsen's seven-day linear ratings, becoming NBC's least-watched regular series. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Melissa Fumero Opens Up About Grosse Pointe Garden Society's Cancellation: ‘I'll Forever Be Proud of What We Made'
Melissa Fumero is mourning the cancellation of Grosse Pointe Garden Society after the dramedy was axed by NBC after just one season. The actress took time on Saturday to say goodbye to her character via Instagram. 'Oh, Birdie. You were one for the books,' she wrote. 'You felt like an amalgamation of every role I've ever played. I'll miss so many things about this job, but most of all I will miss the incredible group of humans it brought together. I won't miss the shoes. It's really hard to make a show. Even harder to keep it on air. I'll forever be proud of what we made. Thanks for watching.' More from TVLine Grosse Pointe Garden Society Cancelled at NBC After One Season Farmhouse Fixer Cancelled at HGTV, Host Jonathan Knight Says: 'Still Processing the Reasons' HGTV's Married to Real Estate Cancelled After Four Seasons - Read Co-Hosts' Statement On Friday, Ben Rappaport (who plays Brett) also commented on the show's cancellation. 'I've said it before and I'll say it again. Showbiz ain't for the faint of heart,' he wrote. 'Our beloved Grosse Pointe Garden Society was canceled today. I'll sure miss working with these (and all of our) amazing folks every day. This was a special one.' Grosse Pointe Garden Society's cancellation came after NBC opted to relocate the series following its first three episodes; it switched from Sundays at 10/9c to Fridays at 8 pm. The dramedy, which hailed from Jenna Bans (Desperate Housewives, Scandal, Good Girls) and Bill Krebs (No Tomorrow, Good Girls), followed four suburban gardeners: Birdie (played by Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Melissa Fumero), Catherine (Lessons in Chemistry's Aja Naomi King), Brett (For the People's Ben Rappaport) and Alice (The Carrie Diaries' AnnaSophia Robb). But the ragtag group of gardeners wasn't just planting your garden-variety gardenias — they were also covering up a death. Thoughts on the cancellation? Eulogize in the comments below. Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Not Even Ben Rappaport Knows What's Coming on ‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society' — and That's What ‘Excites' Him (Exclusive)
Not Even Ben Rappaport Knows What's Coming on 'Grosse Pointe Garden Society' — and That's What 'Excites' Him (Exclusive) originally appeared on Parade. Grosse Pointe Garden Society may have concluded its first season on NBC, but fans of the TV drama are still left with questions — even star Ben Rappaport is looking for answers! 'We were really building suspense,' the 39-year-old actor, who plays Brett, a divorced father who works as a manager of a gardening store in Grosse Pointe, Mich., exclusively tells Parade. Without spilling too many beans for those still wanting to stream the show on Peacock, Grosse Pointe Garden Society follows four members of a suburban garden club who find themselves caught up in a murder they're trying to conceal. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Throughout the season, the big question on everybody's mind was: Who is the dead body? 'We didn't know who the body was until later on in the season,' Rappaport reveals. 'Jenna [Bans] and Bill [Krebs], our showrunners, wouldn't tell us. So it was a mystery for us, too. There is something fun about playing when you don't know what it is. Each [cast member], I think internally, decided who it was for ourselves, so it created interesting reactions.' As fans await to hear if the show will be renewed for a second season, Grosse Pointe Garden Society ended on a big cliffhanger when the finale aired last month. Flashing forward to Halloween, viewers see Brett, Birdie (Melissa Fumero) and Catherine (Aja Naomi King) confronting someone in a duck costume who is tied to a chair. With the person's identity unknown, fans — and even the show's stars — are dying to quack the case. Related: 'It's between two people, for me, who I think it is. We don't know,' Rappaport insists. 'I won't say who, but I'm cool with one of those two.' 'I'm someone who just really enjoys the surprise aspect of it all,' adds the actor, who is excited to see what's in store for Brett if Grosse Pointe comes back for more. 'Brett is a divorced dad of two, and you see throughout the season, he's in this really interesting dynamic with his ex-wife, who is now with the guy that she cheated on him with,' he says. 'Throughout the season, you see Brett kind of step up and stand up for himself in ways that he wasn't before. He was sort of like this put-upon guy at the beginning and not quite sure what to do. Throughout the season, you see him really take ownership. And I'd like to keep seeing him do that. He's really evolved a ton throughout the first season. At the end of Season 1, they have this massive secret that they have to keep, and it's going to make things really hard. I want to see him get creative in how he manages keeping this secret.' Now that his days with the gardening club are temporarily on pause now that Season 1 has wrapped, Rappaport is going back to his theater roots as he travels to London to reunite with friend Sean Hayes in the play Good Night, Oscar. Related: 'Sean has become a very good friend of mine, and we have a very special bond, especially on stage,' says Rappaport, who plays talk show host Jack Paar opposite Hayes' portrayal of pianist and humorist Oscar Levant. The two starred in the play when it made its premiere in 2022 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and reprised their performances on Broadway. On July 31, it will begin performances at the Barbican Centre in London's West End. Rappaport, who is making his West End debut with the production, is looking forward to getting back on stage with Hayes, whom he calls his 'showbiz older brother.' After all, the Will & Grace alum has provided Rappaport with some sound advice as he juggles multiple projects both on stage and TV. 'His advice in show business in general is it's all about planting a million different little seeds and watering each one little by little as you go, in terms of having multiple projects going on at the same time,' Rappaport explains. 'At one point, one of them is going to bloom, and then the other one still growing. And you just keep watering. So it's kind of this idea of not getting too hyper-focused on one thing. 'He's really inspired me… I'm also writing a script right now, and sometimes I tend to get laser-focused on what I'm doing and what's in front of me at the moment, but he's really of inspired me to be a bit more of a creative multitasker.' All episodes of Grosse Pointe Garden Society are streaming now on Peacock, and Good Night, Oscar is currently scheduled to play through Sept. 21 in London. Not Even Ben Rappaport Knows What's Coming on 'Grosse Pointe Garden Society' — and That's What 'Excites' Him (Exclusive) first appeared on Parade on Jun 3, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 3, 2025, where it first appeared.
