Broadway Licensing Global's Dramatists Play Service imprint has picked up Cole Escola's multi-extended Broadway hit Oh, Mary!. The title is not yet available for licensing, though the company is already taking pre-orders for their published edition of Escola's script at Dramatists.com.
The work, which premiered Off-Broadway last spring, is currently playing Broadway's Lyceum Theatre. Performances are currently set to continue through January 19, 2025 with Escola also starring. Read the reviews for the Broadway bow here.
Oh, Mary! centers on famous First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In Escola's demented take (or as press notes put it, "through the lens of an idiot"), Mary Todd becomes a madcap, cabaret-obsessed alcoholic.
The piece premiered at Off-Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theatre earlier this year in a run that was extended three times. The production earned two 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Outstanding New American Play and Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway play, both for Escola. The show also won the 2024 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play.
“Imagination and originality are two keys to theatre—and Cole Escola has had both from the very beginning,” says BLG Chief Executive Officer Ted Chapin in a statement. “With Oh, Mary!, they have created a work that has been called ‘genius’—not to mention the Broadway debut of a unique modern voice giving us the funniest new show in years.”
READ: Camp and the Art of Being Cole Escola
Escola's screenwriting credits include At Home With Amy Sedaris and The Other Two, and they've appeared as an actor in Difficult People, Mozart in the Jungle, At Home With Amy Sedaris, and Big Mouth, among others. They released a comedy special on YouTube titled Help! I'm Stuck With Cole Escola in 2021, and an homage to '70s westerns Our Home Out West in November.
Cole Escola in Oh, Mary!
Cole Escola and Bianca Leigh in Oh, Mary!
Conrad Ricamora and Cole Escola in Oh, Mary!
Conrad Ricamora and Tony Macht in Oh, Mary!
Cole Escola and Conrad Ricamora in Oh, Mary!
Cole Escola and James Scully in Oh, Mary!
Conrad Ricamora, Cole Escola, and Bianca Leigh in Oh, Mary!
Tony Macht, Cole Escola, Conrad Ricamora, and Bianca Leigh in Oh, Mary!
