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Oh, Mary, why are you doing this to us?
Broadway’s Oh, Mary! just announced its first-ever national tour. But Cole Escola’s smash hit play is completely skipping the playwright’s home state.
The 17-city Oh, Mary! tour launches Sept. 19 in Hartford, Conn., and concludes May 16, 2027, in West Palm Beach, Fla. The closest it comes to Portland is a run at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre from Nov. 3 to 8. Tickets for those shows are on sale now for $91–$275, but are going quickly.
Escola, who is from Clatskanie, Ore., wrote Oh, Mary! and originated the role of Mary Todd Lincoln on Broadway. They went on to become the first openly nonbinary artist to win the best actor Tony Award in 2025. No word on why they are cruelly snubbing us two-plus years into our intense yearning to see this play, the most important theater production of the decade, which also happens to be written by a fellow Oregonian.
Oh, Mary! is a one-act comedy that delves into the life of Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. She is a drunk with unrequited dreams of being a cabaret star; President Lincoln is deeply closeted.
The play has been widely praised, including by The New York Times (“one of the best comedies in years”), Entertainment Weekly (“the funniest play on Broadway”) and The Hollywood Reporter (“a theatrical sensation”).
After Escola’s initial run, performers such as Jinkx Monsoon, Maya Rudolph, Meg Stalter, Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski have taken up the role of Mary Todd Lincoln.
Drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck and actor J. Harrison Ghee will star as Mary Todd Lincoln in the touring production. The Seattle shows, as well as all of the California stops—San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles—will have Thunderfuck in the lead role. Thunderfuck is a RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars champion.
“It is a dream come true that I get to play Mary Todd Lincoln on tour through January 17, 2027 in the greatest play of the generation,” Thunderfuck said on social media.
