Oh, Mary! has found success on Broadway through constantly reinventing itself. While the show stays the same, every new actor who dons the bratty curls of Mary Todd Lincoln brings a new spin to the character and makes it their own. Following Jinkx Monsoon's latest run as the titular character, Hedwig and the Angry Inch writer and star John Cameron Mitchell was revealed as the next performer to play Mary Todd.
The actor stepped into the fictionalized version of Mary Todd Lincoln at the beginning of February and will be wearing the hoop skirt at the Lyceum Theatre until April 26. No stranger to troubled characters, Mitchell brings Mary to life as a drunk, wannabe cabaret star who sneaks around with her acting teacher while her husband lives a second life.
The role was originated by the show's creator, Cole Escola, who won a Tony Award for their performance. Since then, other insanely talented comedians have been cast to play Mary, such as Jinkx Monsoon, Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess, Betty Gilpin, and Hannah Solow. The roles of Mary's Husband and Mary's Teacher have also been played by some well known actors such as Conrad Ricamora, James Scully, Michael Urie, Kumail Nanjiani, Cheyenne Jackson, and John-Andrew Morrison. At the moment, Mitchell is playing opposite Marvel's Simu Liu, who is slipping into the tight pants of Mary's Teacher.
(L-R): John Cameron Mitchell as Mary Todd Lincoln and Simu Liu as Mary's Teacher in 'Oh, Mary!' on Broadway. Emilio Madrid
Mitchell tells Out that he's seen Oh, Mary! three times and posted about it on Instagram, prompting the show's director, Sam Pinkleton, to reach out out and suggest that they should work on something together. According to the actor, this was when he "threw [his] wig in" for Mary. A few months later, the production made him an offer.
Once Mitchell signed on, it was off to the races. Each actor has about eight rehearsals before facing their first audience, so the performers are encouraged to know their lines before the real practice begins. Mitchell says that he did memorize his lines before working on rehearsals — even still, he says, "it's like being shot out of a cannon."
The thing that makes every new casting announcement so exciting is seeing how each actor puts their own spin on Mary. For Mitchell, that started in the rehearsal process. "I thought that perhaps, since Mary has always been obsessed with showbiz and performance, she may have homeschooled herself in elocution," he explains. "She's a bit more pretentious than some of the other Marys. She speaks a certain way, which sort of collapses when she doesn't pay attention and becomes more street-wise, so to speak."
"I'm sort of doing it like a silent movie star," Mitchell goes on to say. "Someone like a Theda Bara or a Louise Brooks. Someone who is high on their own supply."
The actors are also given room to improvise and play with the character a bit more, which Mitchell certainly does with his version of Mary. The gags, jokes, and reactions find their way into the production. "There's some things I've prepared and some that happen spontaneously, and that's the fun of it," the actors shares. "I think Jinkx freed me up more, because her Mary was completely out of control. Not in her mind, but her Mary was much more committable from the beginning."
Mitchell recalls an Instagram post shared by Monsoon after he was announced as the next actor to play Mary Todd. In the caption, Monsoon called Mitchell her "hero," and a "legend," adding that it "feels right" for him to don the bratty curls. The Hedwig writer says that he and Monsoon have a queer sisterhood along with Mason Alexander Park, who plays Mary on the West End.
"This is the kind of play that would never have been on Broadway in the past and the way Hedwig couldn't have been," Mitchell says. "It comes out of a tradition of drag theater that a lot straight audiences don't know about." He goes on to say, "Cole put their spin, that kind of ridiculous historical drag theater that's very traditional to downtown New York. It's just only now that regular audiences are able to experience it, and they're a little stunned. It took Cole's delicious spin on that form to come to the masses."
As one Mary closes the doors to the Oval Office, the question always becomes: Who is going to be the next Mary? Mitchell has some ideas: "Maya Rudolph. I mean, there's a number of Saturday Night Live people, like Sarah Sherman. I would love to see Cecily Strong. I'd like to see Laverne Cox do it, she also comes from the Squeeze Box scene, where Hedwig came from, and was doing zany shit before she got fancy."
Mitchell went on to name Matt McGrath, who was his favorite Hedwig, as well as Julio Torres, Patti Harrison, Kate McKinnon, and Bill Hader. "Drag is for everybody," he says. "Doesn't mean you have to be a male to be female or female to be male. It's all about exaggeration, extremity," which is exactly what Oh, Mary! is all about.
For tickets, dates, and more information about Oh, Mary! on Broadway, visit OhMaryPlay.com.
