It was only a matter of time before Cole Escola’s brilliant and hilarious new play about Mary Todd Lincoln, Oh, Mary!, made its way to Broadway — where it opened Wednesday at the Lyceum Theatre to an earthquake of belly laughs that threaten to topple the roof off that storied venue . (It’s a small disappointment that it’s not playing at the Booth Theatre, though perhaps it will one day tour to Ford’s in Washington, D.C.) After a long run Off Broadway this spring, Oh, Mary! is a triumph that blends a clever conceit, from-left-field verbal humor, and old-fashioned slapstick to degrees that Broadway has not seen in ages.
Escola, who both wrote the show and stars as Mary Todd Lincoln, is a veteran of the alt-comedy circuit and gained modest fame on TV shows like Difficult People, Search Party and the lo-fi Logo series Jeffery & Cole Casserole. But it’s clear that Escola (who uses they/them pronouns) has a sense of theatricality and live performance that owes a great deal to earlier Queens of Camp like Charles Ludlum and Charles Busch. They wear those influences as casually as their chunky heels and voluminous hoop skirts (designed by Holly Pierson).
In this cross between Drunk History and a well-crafted SNL sketch, Mrs. Lincoln is an overly dramatic alcoholic oblivious not only to the weighty demands on her husband as president but to the very fact that the nation is at war. (“With who?” she asks more than once and when told, “The south!” replies without hesitation, “Of what?”) Aside from digging up a hidden bottle of hooch, Mary’s chief concern is to return to the stage as a cabaret performer — a passion she once shared with her now-very-much-closeted husband. (“You always said you loved my madcap medleys!” she reminds him.)
It’s easy to sympathize with poor Abraham, brilliantly played with barely-contained straight-man stoicism by Conrad Ricamora, who is distracted not only by the pressures of the Civil War but also by his longing for sexual release, principally with his decidedly male uniformed assistant (Tony Macht). After all, Escola’s Mary is an over-the-top mess whose boozy bellicosity would shame two dozen seasons of Real Housewives. Escola leaps into the role, modulating their raspy clarinet of a voice to get unexpected laughs, contorting their expressive face to punctuate a thought, and flouncing about the stylishly well-appointed set (designed by the collective dots) in a billowy, aptly period-seeming crinoline-supported frock.
The president tries multiple methods to control his wife, enlisting the help of a chaperone/companion named Louise (Bianca Leigh) whom Mary goes to great lengths to shrug off. Asked about Louise’s whereabouts after she succeeds in ditching her, Mary blurts out, “Why would I throw an entire woman down the stairs? Because it’s hilarious? That doesn’t make any sense…. It was an accident. It could have happened to anybody I wanted to get rid of.” It’s jokes like these that reveal how Escola has taken the camp sensibility of Ludlum and Busch while updating it with more contemporary rhythms and levels of absurdity.
To appease Mary’s cabaret obsession, Abe eventually agrees to hire an acting coach (You alum James Scully) in hopes that the lessons will prove enough of a distraction to give him some space. Scully, looking irresistibly hunky, soon grows exasperated by his assignment to delightful comic effect. Mary’s lust for fame proves indomitable. “I don’t need acting lessons,” she proclaims. “There’s no difference between theatre and cabaret. Theatre is just fewer feathers and flatter shoes.” And indeed, the entire show is building to an over-the-top antihistorical climax — and a medley-laden finale that would be right at home at the Carlyle. That is, some bizarro world version of the Carlyle that would welcome a performer who both upholds and undermines the conventions of the genre in equal measures.
Under Sam Pinkleton’s clockwork-perfect direction, Oh, Mary! delivers a solid 80 minutes of gut-busting laughs without overstaying its welcome. The best divas know when to milk a laugh, when to cede the spotlight to a supporting player, and when to get off the stage. Escola understands all of this — and they clearly have learned these lessons from the best. In this master class of millennial mayhem, Escola slyly embraces multiple generations of queer comedy and storytelling. This is a serious work that knows how to play. It’s also the funniest show to hit Broadway in years.
OH, MARY!
Lyceum Theatre, Broadway
Running time: 80 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through June 28, 2025
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