"Oh, Mary!" (c) Emilio Madrid
Theater: “Oh, Mary!”
On Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre
Premise: Actor and comedian Cole Escola has created some truly memorable characters on TV and YouTube (including Jesus’ sister Jessica Christ, Bernadette Peters doing her taxes and the spoiled Chassie from At Home with Any Sedaris), and now they have turned their attention to the legitimate stage with “Oh, Mary!” The sold-out hit off-Broadway, directed by Sam Pinkleton, has moved to Broadway, with Escola doing memorable national TV appearances with Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, sometimes even in character to promote it. And that character is Mary Todd Lincoln. It is the waning days of the Civil War, and President Abraham Lincoln (Conrad Ricamora) is feeling the pressure to find a resolution, so he can’t possibly also deal with his bored and drunk wife, Mary (Escola), who yearns to return to the cabaret stage. As a compromise, Abe agrees to let her be in a play if she takes lessons from a handsome, acting teacher (played charmingly by James Scully, reuniting with Ricamora, his Fire Island film co-star), whom Mary takes a liking to, so she agrees. Also in the play are Bianca Leigh as Mary’s much-maligned companion and Tony Macht as a soldier who is Lincoln’s closest (wink, wink) confidant. It’s an understatement to say "Oh, Mary!” is not historically accurate, but it is hysterically inaccurate.
"Oh, Mary!" (c) Emilio Madrid
My Take: Based on the title of the play, I assumed Escola’s Mary Todd Lincoln would be a take-off of Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy. I was wrong as their inspiration seems to be more Rhoda Penmark from The Bad Seed as memorably played by Patty McCormack (although Mary doesn’t have pigtails, her period accurate side curls are very close). Escola and Ricamora start the play at a farcical 10, which gives them no place to go for the rest of the 80-minute run time. However, as much as their 10 is very, very funny, I would have liked some kind of character development before the Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf spousal power struggle began. Every couple of seasons, Broadway sees a production that is more comedy presentation than actual play. I’m thinking of shows like Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s The Oh, Hello Show; Kiki and Herb’s Alive on Broadway; Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben’s The Play What I Wrote and the myriads shows by Dame Edna. I do think Escola’s effort is more play than those other shows, but it’s hard to shake off its improv comedy sketch nature, especially when the Broadway audience is already primed by the Off-Broadway hit status as well as their genuine affection for Escola to enthusiastically show their support. Every time Escola said anything naughty or did anything risqué, the audience busted out in guffaws before the punchline, thus dulling my enjoyment of the moment. Not to say that the audience’s joy wasn’t warranted, but I felt sort of bombarded by it. Still, two moments that involve Abraham Lincoln’s abused office desk (sets are by dots) did tickle me organically: one on top of it (involving Mary trying to get down off it) and one below (involving Abe praying). “Oh, Mary” is less a successor to the plays of Charles Busch and Charles Ludlam and more a delirious hybrid of TV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race sass with The Real Housewives of Illinois self-generating drama. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. This is a cheerful night of theater (including a raucous finale), especially if you’re on Escola’s wacky yet endearing wavelength.
"Oh, Mary!" (c) Emilio Madrid
VIP: The preshow music. Whoever chose gay icons like Patti LuPone, Ethel Merman and Bette Midler singing disco versions of showtunes, be it Escola, Pinkleton or sound designers Daniel Kluger and Drew Levy, they have created an energetic party atmosphere that is the most fun one can have without hiring an actual DJ (as did Here Lies Love, Cats: The Jellicle Ball and The Collaboration). But it’s not until you walk out of the theater that you realize those song choices actually have a sly connection to the plot. Well done!
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