When Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! first opened Off-Broadway, it became an instant sensation with a certain Bode-wearing, $8 iced latte-drinking population of gay men in Brooklyn. Then it transferred to Broadway, scoring a new viewer in the creatively curious Long Island commuter. Now, a new population has descended upon the Lyceum Theatre: A-list, mother-tier actresses.
On Sunday, the geniuses behind the Oh, Mary! X account posted a photo of Escola with some starry guests. Placing a hand softly on their shoulder was Amy Adams, who seemed to take a break from rueing the Oscars and fleeing JD Vance questions to see the hit play. Next to her was Melissa McCarthy, smiling buoyantly with a Playbill in hand. McCarthy even posted about it on Instagram, writing that the play “just might be the funniest thing I have ever seen!!!!!” The X account then analogized the photo to Mount Rushmore.
Oh, Mary!—which recently extended its Broadway run through November 10—reimagines the life of Mary Todd Lincoln as a wannabe cabaret star with an angry streak. Escola gained their own virality from a variety of moderately unhinged YouTube sketches; now, they wrote the play and star as Mary herself.
The show also features a variety of gay-famous actors: Conrad Ricamora, of those deliciously sweaty How To Get Away With Murder scenes, plays “Mary's Husband,” while Fire Island heartthrob James Scully offers a supporting performance. The play is now one of Broadway’s hottest tickets: No wonder the Hollywood goddesses are knocking down its door.
Opening night was a starry bash filled with some infamous mothers. Patti LuPone, the belting diva and menace to audience recorders, arrived looking like she was ready for a trip to the White Lotus. Amy Sedaris took on a spectacled corporate chic vibe, while Bridget Everett fanned herself through the red carpet, blonde locks blowing in the wind. Even Laura Benanti, fresh off her stint as a zesty MILF in The Gilded Age, attended the opening. The afterparty was fittingly hosted by The Eagle.
Appearing on Watch What Happens Live, itself a host of many A-list actresses, Escola walked through the list. Sally Field visited Off-Broadway with Steven Spielberg. When asked what Field said to them backstage, Escola joked, “Back off, bitch!” before explaining that she was sweet and gracious. Madonna also visited—Escola couldn’t see her through the fog of their performance. Madonna herself has been on a tear with queer creatives: She’s been touring with Bob the Drag Queen, and made a surprise appearance at Brooklyn’s LadyLand festival. Oh, Mary! is the next big queer thing; of course Madonna would grace its audience.
The list goes on: Jennifer Aniston took a break from the oil-spilling chaos of the Morning Show set to visit, joining Whoopi Goldberg (and the less motherly Bill Hader). Goldberg herself raved about the show during Escola’s appearance on The View. Joy Behar, a comedy titan if you ask the boys of Las Culturistas, herself had seen it twice. As she’s known to do, Behar made it about politics: “Kamala’s laughing, she’s funny, I want to bring joy and laughter back. This is depressing stuff. I can’t take it anymore!” No sooner did Escola jab at Goldberg: “You forgot to flush.”
Oh, Mary! also has some Sex and the City ties, as any good New York production does. Sarah Jessica Parker saw it with her husband Matthew Broderick. Parker wore a Carrie-esque dotted black overcoat; next to her, Broderick looked rather homely in his basic black polo and scruff. It’s not clear whether Cynthia Nixon has herself seen the show, but she did gamely wear the Oh, Mary! merch to the Theatre World Awards. Meanwhile, Kristin Davis is surely shooting some oddball dating show, and Kim Cattrall is too busy keeping herself out of situations for even an hour where she’s not enjoying herself.
Then there are the B-list, gay-twitter-famous stars who don’t exactly make the mother tier, but have gaggles of stans nonetheless. Lea Michele said she “laughed so hard she might go into labor,” cradling her baby bump as Escola smized. Look closely and you might just spot Julie Benko hiding around the corner, ready to sing a bigger and better “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” Zoë Kravitz saw the show twice: Once by herself, and once with boyfriend Channing Tatum so he could inevitably doze off (Oh, Mary! is not for straight boyfriends!). Carly Rae Jepsen, free from the confines of her attempts to quit sugar, also attended.
And just this week, Rosie O’Donnell and Sarah Paulson attended.
Escola is certainly a force. They’ve written a play that’s so comically brilliant, so universally appreciated, that it’s become a mother summit. There’s a certain caché to seeing Oh, Mary!, proving you have good taste and appreciation for the theatre. Clearly, the A-list actresses want in on the action. In the immortal words of Neil Patrick Harris: It’s not just for gays anymore.
