‘Oh, Mary!’: Spoof is funniest show in years

‘OH, MARY!’ Cole Escola. Photo: Emilio Madrid.

OH, MARY!
By Cole Escola
Directed by Sam Pinkleton
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 49^th Street
https://www.ohmaryplay.com/

By Scott Harrah

Don’t go to Oh, Mary! expecting an historically accurate portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln. Do go if you want to see Broadway’s funniest show in many years. The show recently transferred to the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway after a sold-out run downtown at the Lucille Lortel. Original comedies are almost unheard of on Broadway nowadays, and no one ever thought we would get one that’s consistently hysterical from start to finish.

Cole Escola wrote Oh, Mary! and stars as Mary Todd Lincoln in a show that is like a very raunchy, family-unfriendly extended skit from TV’s “Carol Burnette Show” with shades of humor similar to the absurdist gender-bending genius Charles Busch and his many farcical shows. However, Cole Escola has a unique comic style all their own, from their manic energy to the endless pratfalls and exaggerated facial expressions.

There’s not much a reviewer can tell you about the show without giving away all the crazy comic twists but here’s the basic premise in this totally unauthorized, inaccurate “historical” bio-comedy: Mary Todd Lincoln is an alcoholic diva who will do anything for booze. She tries hiding it and her husband, President Abraham Lincoln (Conrad Ricamora), goes to great lengths to keep her away from the bottle but is always unsuccessful. The president is watching the Civil War wind down and is worried that news of Mary being a boozer will damage his already fragile public image, but he has a scandalous secret of his own: He’s gay and has the hots for his assistant, Kyle (Tony Macht).

Mary is also at odds with her friend and chaperone, Louise (Bianca Leigh). Mary insists she is a cabaret star and her time would be better spent working the cabaret circuit around the country rather than sitting around bored, being First Lady of the United States in the White House.  The humor is tasteless, silly, stupid and completely juvenile, and that’s what makes Oh, Mary! so much fun. From Mary desperately drinking paint thinner when she can’t find her booze to puking in a bucket, Cole Escola’s comedic sensibility is shamelessly lowbrow, in the same way that early John Waters films were vile, gross, inane but also hysterical. Everything is done for cheap laughs here—and it always works.

To humor Mary’s dreams of being in show business, Abe hires a handsome young acting teacher (James Scully) to teach Mary how to act in classic Shakespearean dramas. Mary reacts like a spoiled brat of a child, insisting the Bard is beneath her and she’s much more suited to wearing showgirl costumes in a ridiculous cabaret act.

This reviewer will not give any more of the story away, but of course we all know how the story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln ends on that fateful night at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Or do we?

Director Sam Pinkerton gets outstanding performances from the entire cast and manages to keep all the insanity together for 80 glorious minutes. Conrad Ricamora as “Mary’s husband” (as he is listed in the Playbill) gives a gleefully goofy portrayal of Abraham Lincoln as a horny closeted gay man, and his performance shows what great range he has as an actor considering that, last year, he played Philippine senator Ninoy Aquino in Here Lies Love on Broadway. Bianca Leigh, Tony Macht and James Scully are all marvelous supporting players. Cole Escola as Mary is simply brilliant, a true master of the absurd. Cole Escola is Broadway’s newest, most original gender-fluid clown, and they have set a new high standard for comedy in the American theater.

2024 is year when most Americans have little to bring us joy and something so absurd and mirthful that it makes us guffaw and howl with delight. Oh, Mary! is a gift to a troubled city and a deeply divided nation in need of genuine laughs.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 11, 2024
Reviewed at July 9, 2024 press performance

‘OH, MARY!’: (left to right) Tony Macht, Cole Escola, Conrad Ricamora & Bianca Leigh. Photo: Emilio Madrid.

‘OH, MARY!’: Cole Escola & Bianca Leigh. Photo: Emilio Madrid.

‘OH, MARY!’: Cole Escola & James Scully. Photo: Emilio Madrid.

‘OH, MARY!’: Cole Escola & Conrad Ricamora. Photo: Emilio Madrid.