Margaret Qualley and Andrew Scott co-star in a true-life tale that can’t help but feel stagey and stilted despite game performances

Berlin: Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater on their new film 'Blue Moon,' in which Hawke plays American lyricist Lorenz Hart.

Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley star in Richard Linklater's new film "Blue Moon," about American lyricist Lorenz Hart.

The story plays out almost in real time on that May 1943 evening. Unimpressed by the show, Lorenz Hart (Hawke) has drifted across the street before the end to legendary Broadway restaurant and drinking hole Sardi’s (reconstructed with loving fidelity on an Irish soundstage) where the first night party will take place.

Hawke is unrecognizable as the 5-foot balding Broadway genius in Richard Linklater’s new film. "It was demolishing to my vanity," he says from Berlin.

Set on one night and almost entirely in one location, ‘Blue Moon’ features Ethan Hawke in every scene giving a virtuoso performance as the manic, self-aggrandizing and self-loathing