Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!” is the best kind of stupid: a broad, wildly funny comedy that spits in the face of American history and uses it as joke fodder for some endlessly campy humor. In theory, the play is about Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to her husband’s assassination, but it has almost no interest in the Civil War or politics. Instead, it’s primarily about Mary’s burning desire to perform. Escola’s version of the famous first lady describes herself as a “well-known niche cabaret legend” beloved for her “short legs and long medleys.” Her husband, though, looks down on cabaret and says it would be a bad look for the first lady to be on the stage (particularly amidst a war).
Much is made of the difference between cabaret and what is called (especially in the 19th century, when the play is ostensibly set) the “legitimate theater.” One of the key distinctions, at least according to a character who mansplains it to Mary, is the presence of subtext: While theater is founded upon it, cabaret supposedly lacks it. “Oh, Mary!” questions that very distinction, often in quiet, dare we say subtextual, ways.
On the surface, “Oh, Mary!” — which is both written by and stars Escola (“Difficult People,” “Search Party”) in the title role — is a gay romp which imagines Mary as a manic-depressive alcoholic, a force of chaos whom her husband, played by Conrad Ricamora (“Fire Island”), struggles to wrangle. He must attempt to save the nation while he keeps Mary off the booze and off the stage. To help, he enlists a paid-companion (Bianca Leigh, “Disclosure”) and even hires an acting teacher (James Scully, “You”) as a distraction. Lincoln, meanwhile, is also dealing with a more personal crisis, namely his repressed homosexuality.
Everything is treated with farcical wit, from Mary drinking paint thinner (and her own vomit) to her husband requesting sexual favors from his Union soldier assistant (Tony Macht). The puns, bits, and gags zip by in quick succession, and the audience laughs nearly the entire 90 minutes. It is unquestionably the funniest, gayest, campiest play Broadway has seen in years. To borrow from the play itself, it is ”one hell of a night at the theater.”
That said, there is quite a bit lurking just under the slapstick surface. Escola has incorporated significant personal material in their Mary Todd, including alcoholism and addiction, depression and mental health, the struggles of being adored but obscure, and a passion for what is seen as a lesser and less intellectual art form. Perhaps most subtly, Escola deftly folds in gender commentary and nonbinary experience, highlighting the ways we use both fashion and performance to explore and embody our genders — and how for some people, these can be vital forms of expression. In this, Escola’s performance of Mary offers a fascinating, legitimately queer and trans riposte to the man-in-a-dress stock character — a trope usually riddled with transphobia, including in its recent Broadway iterations, but here transformed into something much more gender-affirming.
“Oh, Mary!” was a sensation Off Broadway at the Lortel Theatre, and quickly became required viewing for every New York City gay. The play’s plot contains a host of delightful reveals and unexpected turns, which upon first viewing have shock value with great payoff. This Broadway iteration confirms that “Oh, Mary!” rewards repeat visits: You can not only enjoy the same ridiculousness, but you can appreciate jokes anew and explore layers which may not have been as obvious the first time around.
While Off Broadway the show’s design felt fitting for the somewhat dilapidated Lortel Theatre, on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre it is purposefully not scaled up, which gives the effect of a low-budget high school production on a Broadway stage. That is entirely the point, and the contrast with the luxurious new environment only adds to the campy aspect of the entire production. The sets, by the design collective dots, are mostly cheap flats that are far too short for the size of the Lyceum proscenium. Daniel Kluger and Drew Levy’s sound design is magnificently unsubtle, and Kluger’s interstitial piano music is spot-on: vaguely period with the quality of being played on the side of the stage on a rinky-dink upright. The costumes by Holly Pierson are a triumph, and include a cheap rental top hat and flimsy antebellum hoop skirts. The real design star, though, is Mary’s now-famous “bratty curls” wig, by Leah J. Loukas.
If you’ve yet to piece it together, it’s really all about Mary. The program lists the character names in reference to her, so even Lincoln becomes merely “Mary’s Husband.” This centering of Mary is playful but meaningful, a bit of revisionist history meets ego-trip for its star and writer, who is finally getting to bask in a very large spotlight. Believe the hype: It’s hard to avoid hyperbole when discussing the sheer comedic genius and star power of Escola as Mary Todd. It is a revelatory, award-worthy performance (they already won a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle Award), and one that will hopefully force the Tony Awards to confront their binary gendering of acting categories.
Prior to “Oh, Mary!” Escola was known for this exact type of satiric, gay, over-the-line humor, but it is the masterful touch of director Sam Pinkleton that takes it to new heights here. Pinkleton’s direction makes the unhinged tone work and keeps it sustainable as a full-length work of art, helping Escola’s signature schtick go beyond a well-executed cameo or a high-concept short-form video. Pinkleton walks a razor’s edge in keeping the show well-paced and grounded, even as things become increasingly absurd.
The play itself is a masterclass in comedy, relying on the impeccable timing of the actors to keep each joke perfectly in tune with the audience. Escola and Ricamora in particular know exactly how long to milk each joke for its full potential.
The audience absolutely eats up every bit. “Oh, Mary!” not only receives enthusiastic applause after each scene (a rarity for a play), but thoroughly earns it. Escola’s humor might be decidedly gay, but the uproarious crowd reaction of the Broadway audience (which unlike Off Broadway, is no longer primarily gay men) demonstrates the wide appeal of Escola’s brand of comedy.
The extremely talented cast remains the same for this limited Broadway run, but their performances have strengthened and the chemistry has only increased, especially between Escola, Ricamora, and Leigh. Ricamora finds the perfect balance of exhausted, angry, and horny, while Leigh expertly sets herself up, time and again, to be the butt of the joke.
“Oh, Mary!” is at once campy and complex, a manic bit of extended sketch comedy, but also an unequivocally queer play in which the female characters are played by a trans woman and a nonbinary actor, and the iterations of masculinity are rather gay. Sure, there’s sex jokes and gags galore, but there’s layers of substance behind all the choices, which often upend expectations about gender and sexuality, sneakily encouraging us to perhaps think a bit while we laugh.
The play ends with a fateful night at the (legitimate) theater — spoiler alert from 1865: Lincoln is shot! — paired with a memorable and moving cabaret performance. While the details of Mary’s madcap medley will remain a surprise, rest assured it is, surprisingly enough, both the deepest and silliest part of the show: camp incarnate. This finale is proof that cabaret might just be the superior storytelling art form after all, that it can be full of subtext, and maybe most importantly, that as the song goes, life is a cabaret, old chum.
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