Maya Rudolph will be the latest star to don the bratty curls and hoop skirt for Cole Escola’s sensation “Oh Mary!” She is making her Broadway debut as former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln on April 28 for an eight-week run through June 20.
“Ever since I was a little girl I have dreamed of being Cole Escola,” Rudolph said. “’Oh, Mary!’ is the funniest play I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of plays, you’d be surprised. It’s such an honor to play the role of Mary, especially after so many iconic Marys have come before me. So making my Broadway debut in the role of a lifetime — as a miserable, suffocated, alcoholic woman — is a real dream come true.”
Producers also announced that “Oh, Mary!” has been extended on Broadway through Jan. 3, 2027. It’s unclear who will assume the role after Rudolph departs over the summer. Since Escola, who won a Tony for the role, left the production, several bold-face names including Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess, Betty Gilpin and John Cameron Mitchell have portrayed Mary. Other famous faces, like Kumail Nanjiani and Simu Liu, have joined the company in various parts including Mary’s Husband and Mary’s Teacher (if you know, you know).
Directed by Sam Pinkleton, the hit comedy is set in the days before Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and imagines Mary Todd Lincoln as a deranged wannabe cabaret star. She’s a menace to her husband (and the White House staff) as he’s trying to end the Civil War.
“Oh, Mary!” opened at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre on July 11, 2024 and became the first show in the venue’s 121-year history to gross more than $1 million in a single week. It has since broken its own box office record 12 times. And the play has transcended its humble Broadway origins; it’s currently running on the West End through July 18, with a North American tour starting in Hartford, Conn. in September.
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