NEED TO KNOW
Sean Hayes stars in The Unknown, a one-man psychological thriller running Off-Broadway through April 12
Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman and other stars surprised Hayes with a visit and joined a standing ovation
Hayes plays 10 characters in the 75-minute show, calling it a challenging and riveting storytelling experience
Sean Hayes may be solo on stage, but he was surrounded by friends off-stage on Friday, Feb. 13, when some of his famous pals visited him at his one-man Off-Broadway show, The Unknown.
Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Bradley Cooper, Gigi Hadid and Jesse Tyler Ferguson were among the stars in the crowd at the Studio Seaview theater in New York City, where Hayes’ play runs through April 12.
The psychological thriller sees Hayes, 55, playing a writer named Elliot, who is struggling with creative paralysis and finds himself being stalked by an out-of-work actor bitter that he wasn’t cast in one of Elliot’s plays.
It’s a striking departure for Hayes. The actor — known for his comedic and Emmy-winning turn in Will & Grace — ultimately takes on 10 different characters over the course of the 75-minute show, falling deeper and deeper into intensity while exploring the fine line between fascination and obsession.
The audience embraced the piece. At Friday’s show, which PEOPLE attended, all jumped to their feet upon the play’s conclusion — including Aniston, who was there with boyfriend Jim Curtis by her side, and Bateman, who was accompanied by his wife, Amanda Anka.
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Afterwards, the group greeted Hayes backstage. Among the crowd was also filmmaker Will Speck and Scott Icenogle, Hayes’ husband.
“This fun bunch caught me off-guard with their surprise visit to the play tonight 🥹,” Hayes wrote on Instagram, captioning a gallery of photos snapped by Curtis. “Jen, Jim & crew…you all warmed my heart. Thank you for coming ❤️.”
Hayes also posted a picture with Bateman and Arnett, his co-hosts on the No. 1 comedy podcast, Smartless. Hayes also appeared with Arnett recently in the film Is This Thing On?, which Cooper directed.
“My dear friends,” Hayes wrote in a second Instagram post. “Thank you so much for coming to the play tonight 💙.”
The Unknown began performances on Jan. 31. The play is written by David Cale and directed by Leigh Silverman.
Hayes most recently won the leading actor Tony Award in 2023 for his portrayal of American pianist and composer Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar. He was previously nominated for his Broadway debut in 2010’s Promises, Promises, and also led the 2016 play An Act of God.
That play was practically a solo show, though Hayes teased during a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers that playing multiple characters in The Unknown is far more difficult.
“I didn’t take the easy route, I took the harder route,” he said. “We rehearse every day, and I just started doing the run-through from the top to the bottom and I go, ‘That had to be four and a half hours long.’ And she’s like, ‘No, it was an hour and 10 minutes.’ I was like, ‘What?!’ It feels like climbing a mountain every time!”
He went on to say that he was drawn to the show because it had “an ending you will never see coming.”
“It’s crazy. It’s so clever,” Hayes noted. “It’s such a challenge to lose yourself as an audience member into the storytelling of whether it’s me or not me, of one person playing all these different characters. I can’t wait for people to see it. I mean, I may be brilliant, I may suck — who knows! But to see the story unfold is just riveting.”
Tickets for The Unknown are now on sale.
Read the original article on People