This compliment is extremely late in coming, so I hope it is taken in the spirit intended:
Writers of “Will and Grace,” wherever you are, you were good. Really good. But I never realized how good until I watched Sean Hayes host this year’s Tony Awards.
Portraying the character Jack on “Will and Grace,” Sean lit up the screen. He was larger than life and stole pretty much every scene he was in.
I had always assumed that the energy and imagination behind Jack was Sean’s creation. But after watching him host the Tony’s, I’m pretty sure everything we loved about Jack was due to the writers’ words and the director’s firm hand.
Without that character, Sean Hayes is colorless. Bland even. And the director of the Tony’s knew it, too. It’s no accident that Sean was a mere piano accompanist during the opening number. Or that they put him in costume repeatedly during the program — trying to give him personalities to play with (since he doesn’t appear to have one of his own).
I don’t mean to be harsh; I love Sean’s work. It was just a shock to see the real ‘man behind the curtain.’
And he should probably stay there.
