Oh, Mary!
Original Broadway windowcard, photo by Daniel Rampulla
Original language	English
Written by	Cole Escola
Characters	Mary Todd Lincoln Mary's Husband Mary's Chaperone Mary's Husband's Assistant Mary's Teacher
Genre	Comedy
Setting	White House, Washington, D.C., 1865
Premiere
Date	February 8, 2024
Place	Lucille Lortel Theatre
Official website

Oh, Mary! is a comedy play written and originally performed by American comedian Cole Escola.^[1] The show opened on Broadway on July 11, 2024, at the Lyceum Theatre, transferring from its off-Broadway run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre,^[2] earning critical acclaim and being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.^[3][4] The show was nominated for five Tony Awards, winning Best Direction of a Play as well as Best Actor in a Play for Escola, the first non-binary winner in the category. The West End production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play in 2026.

Synopsis

The play is a spoof of the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. It is set in the days leading up to Lincoln's assassination, which occurred while he and Mary were watching Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre. The show portrays Mary as a temperamental alcoholic, stuck in an unhappy marriage with the deeply closeted President Lincoln and desperate to return to her past glory days as a cabaret star.^[5] The title is taken from a slang phrase used among gay men going back decades.^[6]

Plot summary

In April 1865, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln's husband struggles to cope with both the close of the Civil War and his erratic, alcoholic wife. After he and his meek assistant Simon fail to hide a bottle of whiskey from her in the Oval Office, he forces Mary to take painting lessons with her constantly abused and ridiculed chaperone Louise, despite Mary demanding to return back to her lifelong passion of performing in cabaret. Sometime later, she returns to the Oval Office passed out, having consumed a bucket of paint thinner; she is awoken by the phrase, "Places, Ms. Todd!"

Now forbidden from paint lessons, she and Louise take up cross-stitching. Louise encourages her to find enjoyment in her life outside of cabaret, and Mary asks what Louise would do if she had no concerns or obligations in life. After hesitating, she confides in Mary that she would want nothing more than to "enjoy" ice cream, after it one day fell on her lap and aroused her. Her Husband enters to announce the end of the war and Mary immediately blurts out her secret, betraying Louise, though he dismisses it.

Meanwhile, Her Husband -- who is deeply closeted -- struggles to decide how to rebuild the country and looks to Simon, now his mistress, for help. During an office tryst, he decides to provide Mary with acting lessons to keep her from drinking. He hires a down-on-his-luck acting Teacher to introduce her to the world of William Shakespeare. After trial and error, she begins to take it on well, and after her Teacher confesses his love, they kiss; Louise secretly witnesses it. The couple devise a plan for Mary to audition for a recently opened part in the upcoming Ford's Theatre production of Our American Cousin, following which it would go on tour and the two would elope in Canada. Mary's audition goes awry when she improvises the role of Nurse from Romeo & Juliet but declares it went well and sneaks off to a local saloon to celebrate. Louise tells Mary's Husband of the tryst, eliciting no concerned reaction.

At the saloon, Mary hides when her Husband arrives, and shortly after her Teacher as well, for a secret meeting. It is revealed that after her Husband hired the Teacher to keep her from drinking, the Teacher fabricated the audition to placate her. After it seemed to have worked, the Teacher proposes that he and her Husband rekindle their long term, on-off romance, but her Husband ends the relationship. Heartbroken, the Teacher threatens to out him, but he remains defiant and exits the saloon. The Teacher chases after him in desperation and Mary is left despondent. A few days later, at the opening of Our American Cousin, Mary and her Husband watch the play as usual. The Teacher shows up in their booth and moves Mary out of her seat to get on his knees to beg her Husband to take him back; Mary pulls a gun and shoots her Husband, drops the gun in his hand, and leaves. The Teacher leaps from the box and runs offstage through the audience.

In the near future, Mary and Simon launch a traveling cabaret show, in which Mary performs a "madcap medley" of some of the actor playing Mary's favorite tunes.

Production history

Off-Broadway (2024)

Under the direction of Sam Pinkleton, the play premiered Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on February 8, 2024,^[7][8] with previews beginning January 26, 2024.^[9] The show had a planned closing date of March 24, 2024; however, due to high ticket sales and critical acclaim, the play extended twice, first from March 24 until May 2, and then until May 12.^[10]

The main poster and Playbill design (yellow background with red and black lettering and the tagline "The Greatest Play of the Generation" over a circular photo of the lead performer in character) used for both the off-Broadway and Broadway productions of Oh, Mary! is a close reference to the promotional design for the original production of Lillian Hellman's 1939 play The Little Foxes.^[11]

Original cast and characters

Critical reception

Joshua Barone of The New York Times described it as "silly, nasty, tasteless and, in the end, good theater." He described how the play stretches a "stupid joke" to its limits but still leaves audiences "gagging" with laughter.^[5]

Amelia Merrill of the New York Theatre Guide emphasized the campy, irreverent nature of Oh, Mary!, calling it both absurd and heartwarming. She pointed out how Escola's reinterpretation of Mary Todd Lincoln, though not historically accurate, explored the First Lady's mental health struggles through comedy.^[55] Jesse Green of The New York Times echoed these sentiments, noting the play's deft combination of camp and discipline. He praised the production for finding a balance between chaotic comedy and choreographed precision. Green also called it "one of the best crafted and most exactingly directed Broadway comedies in years" despite Escola's own admission that it's "the stupidest play."^[56]

Howard Miller of Talkin' Broadway emphasized the show's success in balancing a "queer-infused raucous, farcical, campy" energy while maintaining emotional depth beneath its absurdity.^[57] Sara Holdren wrote for Vulture that "Oh, Mary! is hilarious and, underneath the mayhem, both structurally rock solid and sneakily moving",^[58] while a Variety reviewer described the play as "a broad, wildly funny comedy" that was also irreverent.^[59] TheWrap wrote: "Escola has somehow managed to turn the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln into an inspired, rollicking comedy."^[60] Adam Feldman, for Time Out New York, gave Oh, Mary! a five-star rating, saying that the play "is dizzyingly, breathtakingly funny, the kind of funny that ambushes your body into uncontained laughter."^[8]

However not all reviews were positive, with critic Michael Sommers writing for New York Stage Review giving the play 2 out of 5 stars describing the script as "flimsy" adding it's more of "a ribald cartoon more hysterical than historical".^[61]

Awards and nominations

See also

• Abe Lincoln in Illinois
• The Last of Mrs. Lincoln
• The Day Lincoln Was Shot
• Lincoln
• Cultural depictions of Abraham Lincoln

References

External links

• Official website
• ​Oh, Mary!​ at the Internet Broadway Database