Ok, Mary! Oh, Alaska!
Cole Escola . Photo by Frank Rizzo.
By FRANK RIZZO
Here’s the pitch: A wild comedy about a bored and hyper-anxious Mary Todd Lincoln, oblivious to husband’s Abe’s Civil War stress, and desperate to be — a cabaret star.
If suggested by any other theater creator, producers would laugh the proposer right out the door.
But this was not just any theater creator and the laughter instead began when they first read the Cole Escola’s loopy script about an unhinged First Lady.
The non-binary Escola, while not well-known at the time, had developed an on-line following for the off-beat YouTube clips featuring the performer as twisted, demented and unironic characters: a suburban mom whose sunny spiel on nutrition gives way to the dark side or another titled “Bernadette Peters Does Her Taxes.”
Fortunately, producer Lucas McMahon was a fan so when he read the script to “Oh, Mary!” and then saw the hysterical reaction to a 2023 reading, “We knew we had something special.”
Next came an off-Broadway production — which became a downtown sensation. “No one believes us when we say we really didn’t set out to go to Broadway — and conquer the world,” says McMahon. But with producing partner Kevin McCollum and others, the show moved to a 900-seat Broadway theater where it became the surprise hit of the 2024-25 season.
The show was nominated for five Tony Awards, including best play. Escola became the first non-binary person to win as best actor in a play, memorably hiking up their gown and galloping to the stage to accept the prize. Escola joins musical theater actors J. Harrison Ghee (“Some Like It Hot”) and Alex Newell (“Shucked”) who have also won a Tony.
After two years, the show is still selling out and is one of Broadway’s top grossing shows, behind such blockbusters as ”The Lion King,” “Hamilton” and “Wicked” — and grossing as much as $1.4 million a week.
Its national tour launches Sept. 19 to 23 in Hartford at The Bushnell’s 900-seat Belding Theater. McMahon said the Belding choice was due to which theater space was available for the tour's timetable. The full creative team will be in Hartford for the six performance run before the tour moves to the West Coast.
McMahon said besides being drawn to Hartford because of Connecticut’s tax credits, the closeness to New York City and its “smart and enthusiastic” audiences were also part of the draw. Any concern that the show would not be on theatergoers’ radar beyond New York were eased when Hartford’s run nearly sold out months in advance of the opening.
Life After Cole
When Escola decided to step away from the role after had played Mary for nearly 400 performances, producers were faced with the casting challenge.
“We didn’t know what the show would be like without Cole,” said McMahon. “But this is a role for anyone who feels passionately that they have something in them that they need to let out into the world.”
Succeeding Escola — now 39 — were nearly a dozen comedy, television, drag, and theater performers reinventing the role of “Mary,” attracting audiences eager to see a fresh interpretation.
They include: “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”’s Tituss Burgess, “Hedwig”’s John Cameron Mitchell and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Jinkx Monsoon. In London, the Marys were Mason Alexander Park, Catherine Tate and Monsoon again. (In July, Escola returned to the role during its London run to film a live performance of the show.)
When plans began for the tour, the question was: Would producers play it safe and cast a TV star or — wary of the drag restrictions in some states — avoid the issue by casting a woman in the role. After all, “Nurse Betty”’s Betty Gilpin, “30 Rock”’s Jane Krakowski, “Saturday Night Live”’s Maya Rudolph and “Hacks”’ Meg Stalter have all become Broadway Marys.
Lucas said producers and the creative team wanted to remain authentic to “the show's content and humor rather than making accommodations," noting that the Broadway production successfully attracted diverse audiences for its wide range of performers.
In a bold move, drag performer Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 — best known as one of the most memorable stars of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” series — would play Mary for the first half of the tour. (BTW: The drag monicker of the self-described “gender non-conformist” is based on a potent strain of marijuana.)
Appearing as “Mary’s Husband” (you know who) is Tony Award-winner J. Harrison Ghee. The gender-fluid actor will take over as Mary in the tour’s second half.
For my 2023 VOICE interview with Ghee: https://ctvoice.com/2023/03/03/the-essential-j-harrison-ghee
It’s not the first time a drag performer has played Mary or expanded their careers to “go legit” and star in major musicals: Peppermint (“Head Over Heels”), Willam (“Titanique”), Bob the Drag Queen (“Moulin Rouge”), Latrice Royale (“Little Shop of Horrors”), Valentina (“Rocky Horror Show”) and Nina West (“Hairspray”).
“There are more people paying attention to drag as an art form,” said Alaska, speaking on Zoom from Amsterdam’s World Pride events. “That means drag performers are getting more opportunities to just do different things and be in different arenas.”
An Erie Alaska
Primarily known for dry humor, high-hair and a lithe silhouette, the six-foot-one Alaska was a theater kid from the get-go with a passion for the stage. The fledgling star even played Harold Hill in “The Music Man” at Erie (Pa.) High School. “I was wearing so much makeup, way more makeup that a teenage child in high school should be wearing.”
Following her run as a drama student at the University of Pittsburgh,, Alaska’s professional drag career began in 2007, followed by a career boost as a finalist in the fifth season of “RuPaul's Drag Race” in 2013. (Monsoon took top honors then.) But Alaska finally got the crown in 2016 in the second season of “RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.”
In New York magazine’s “Most Powerful Drag Queens” story in 2019, Alaska also placed seventh out of 100. But she also faced personal and professional challenges — including a turbulent romantic relationship with drag star Sharon Needles — which were revealed in her 2021 memoir “My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska?”
Alaska, also proved her eight-performance-a-week discipline over the years as Dr. Frank ’N’ Furter in a Texas production of “The Rocky Horror Show,” “Head Over Heels” at the Pasadena Playhouse and in 2024 and 2025 off-Broadway’s “DRAG: The Musical.”
But Alaska has a special connection to the role of Mary. “Mary is a self-absorbed, preposterous, ridiculous, mean, and she doesn’t do everything right and she often says the wrong fucked-up things to say —
— but she’s also vulnerable, so yeah, I guess I see a little bit of myself in her. When I saw the play on Broadway, it spoke to my soul.”
Drag restrictions concerns
The show will not be playing in any red states with restrictions on drag performances until Florida and Texas in the spring, though those laws are being challenged. In March, the show will play North Carolina, where some lawmakers have proposed — but not passed — restrictive legislation.
“I just had gigs in Kentucky, Florida and Texas,” said Alaska, “\and the way I think about it is wherever you go there are gay and queer people who need sustenance so I’m thinking about the people who have hate in their hearts. Im just thinking about the people who love us, need us and want us.”
The tour forges ahead regardless. “We want to stay true to what ‘Oh, Mary’ is and not change the way we talk about the show or pretend the show was something other than a hysterical 80-minute romp, not apologizing for any of the content or humor, and not apologize that The New York Times called it ‘the gayest show in New York City.’ We are very proud of that.”
But McMahon added the producers are talking to marketeers in each of the tour’s cities “to think strategically about how we want to communicate to audiences in each market.”
When asked if America was ready for ‘Oh, Mary!”’s comedic brand of stupidity, Lucas laughed saying, “America was built on stupid — oh, don’t quote me!” But the then allowed the quote in context: “Gathering to laugh at something that is so proudly stupid for such shows as “Oh, Mary!” help unite people through the share experience of theater and laughter.”