Cole Escola Can’t Process the Meteoric Success of Broadway’s ‘Oh, Mary!’

Rebecca Rubin
·4-min read

Up two treacherous flights of stairs at the Lyceum Theatre, Cole Escola sits demurely in their dressing room, awaiting the delivery of a green smoothie. It’s a rare moment of downtime for the 37-year-old star and writer of “Oh, Mary!,” the unconventional smash that’s become the toast of Broadway.

“I feel like I’m in the eye of a hurricane,” Escola , who’s nonbinary, says from their Pepto Bismol-colored quarters, which have been decorated to the nines by their friend, comedian Amy Sedaris. Instead of the “bratty curl” wig and hoop skirt they wear to portray a madcap version of Mary Todd Lincoln, Escola is dressed comfortably in a red cardigan, striped socks and fuzzy pink slippers. “I can’t process any of it. The only way I can wrap my head around it is by pretending I’m looking back on it from 20 years in the future.”

More from Variety

“Oh, Mary!” is a cultural tempest that has the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Aniston and Steven Spielberg leveraging their celebrity status to get seats — and braving those stairs to say hello.

“Oh, Mary!” isn’t all that interested in facts: Escola plays Lincoln as an alcoholic aspiring cabaret singer married to this closeted gay guy who’s trying to end the Civil War. Yet no less than Diane Sawyer told Escola that she learned something about the former first lady after seeing the play. “I made some stupid joke, like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s very historically accurate.’ She was like, ‘No, I learned something about her emotional life.’ I almost broke down in tears,” Escola recalls. “It means a lot to me when anyone sees there’s heart in the show apart from it being funny.”

Of course, Escola’s slightly demented, unabashedly queer sense of humor is exactly what turned “Oh, Mary!” into a cult favorite. And it’s a sensibility that Escola, who grew up in Oregon, without much access to Broadway, has refined in YouTube videos — where they parody Bernadette Peters and suburban moms — as well as television shows like “Difficult People” and “Search Party.”

But moving “Oh, Mary!” to Broadway from its intimate downtown home at the Lucille Lortel Theatre after a twice-extended run has been their highest-profile moment yet. They’ve been invited to the Met Gala, appeared on talk shows and been profiled in glossy magazines. Yet they say their rapid rise hits them in the quieter moments, like late-night grocery-store runs or subway rides to Times Square. “I’ll just be walking to the train and I’m like, ‘I’m on Broadway….’”

Conrad Ricamora and Tony Macht 8987 in Oh, Mary! - Photo Credit Emilio Madrid
Conrad Ricamora and Tony Macht as Mary’s husband and Mary’s husband’s assistant in “Oh, Mary!”

Most of their week is spent giving a frenetic performance of Mary, which opens with the speed of a bottle rocket and doesn’t stop until they take their final bow. By the time the curtain comes down, Escola says they’re “vibrating with energy” and need to listen to “Baroque and medieval music and ASMR” to relax. It can get exhausting, to be sure, but Escola is invigorated by the crowd. “On nights when I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can get through it,’ as soon as I hear the audience when I’m backstage, I get excited to tell them the story.”

And they’ve had plenty of famous people to lean on for advice. “I’ve been asking every single actor who’s ever done a long run if they have tips.” Some has been passed down through generations of theater royalty. “Jeff Daniels said that Brian Dennehy told him, “Just let the show take you.” So, I do my warmups, I put my body where it’s supposed to be. I’ve done it enough that it’s there on the stage for me.”

Though the show’s structure has remained the same, Escola says there’s been a learning curve with the larger venue. “We’re still working on the sound design. The laughs are much louder here. We have trouble hearing when it’s the right time to come in with the next line.”

That’s a challenge because “Oh, Mary!” is a riot. The 80-minute show is silly, purposefully stupid and tough for even Escola to categorize: “If I were to call it a farce or a screwball comedy, I feel like actual scholars of comedy would be like, ‘There’s not a single door slam, you idiot!’ I would call it … a dirty limerick.”

Though Hollywood has been turning out in force to the Lyceum, Escola insists their phone hasn’t been ringing with offers. “It’s not like someone would see ‘Oh, Mary!’ and be like, ‘That’s the perfect person for a Marvel movie.’ I think people want to see what I come up with.”

For now, Escola isn’t ready to part ways with Mrs. Lincoln. “I want to go to London and let them decide if I am any good or not,” they crack. “New York is too soft.”

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Latest stories