Hear From Cole Escola and the Cast of Broadway’s 'Dumb' Oh, Mary! on Opening Night

Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola’s masterfully idiotic play about Mary Todd Lincoln and the days leading up to her husband’s assassination, celebrated its Broadway opening at the Lyceum Theatre on July 11. The production, which built buzz off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, marks Escola’s Broadway debut as both a writer and performer.

“Of course I always dreamed I would be on Broadway, but I never dreamed it would be for something this dumb that I made up,” Escola told The Broadway Show on the red carpet. “The fact that it’s happening feels so surprising, but also so right.”

“It’s like being on stage with a wild animal,” said Conrad Ricamora, the Abe to Escola’s sharp-tongued Mary. “As a performer, Cole is so unpredictable. To have that face in your face is a terrifying thing in front of hundreds of people when you’re just trying to white knuckle it and hold on for dear life.”

Sam Pinkleton, who makes his Broadway directorial debut with the show, flashed back to his first time reading the script. “It made me cackle out loud. I’ve never had that experience reading a play,” he said. As actor Tony Macht explained, “It’s like an HBO miniseries meets Looney Tunes meets Mel Brooks,” with fellow cast member James Scully adding, “It’s like any good piece of theater,” noting the play’s impressively broad appeal. “Anybody who comes and sees it is gonna laugh at something, is gonna be moved by something, is gonna be walking away from the theater [saying], ‘There was something in there for me.’”