The one-act play Oh, Mary! – ‘the stupidest, funniest thing possible’ – to open after blockbuster run in New York
What if, in the final weeks before Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the first lady could not care less about the American civil war and was instead hell-bent on becoming a cabaret star?
That is the question posed by Oh, Mary!, the smash-hit show that reimagines Mary Todd Lincoln as a gloriously unhinged alcoholic who despises her closeted husband.
The 80-minute, one-act play opens in London’s West End next week after a blockbuster run in New York, where it was called “one of the best comedies in years”. It received Tony awards for best leading actor in a play (Cole Escola, who also wrote the show, and became the first non-binary performer to win the award) and best director (Sam Pinkleton).
Its runaway success drew a star-studded audience, including Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner and Sally Field – who made the 2012 drama film Lincoln – as well as Meryl Streep, Robert Downey Jr, Sarah Paulson and Amy Adams. Observers are already asking whether it is “the new Hamilton”.
