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A truth about being a theatre lover living in London is that there’s really no need to feel any FOMO about Broadway hits because anything good enough will end up here anyway.
And so it again proves with the hotly anticipated transfer of US playwright Cole Escola’s massively acclaimed comedy Oh, Mary!, which Time Out New York’s Adam Feldman described in a five star review as ‘not just funny; dizzyingly, breathtakingly funny, the kind of funny that ambushes your body into uncontained laughter’. And he wasn’t the only one: the Pulitzer-nominated, multi-Tony Award-winning comedy is probably the most critically acclaimed show to come out of America post-pandemic, and has been a stonking great hit on Broadway too (where it’s still running, US production pictured).
It’s an outrageous dark comedy about US first lady Mary Todd Lincoln in the last weeks of her husband’s Abraham Lincoln’s life - here she’s portrayed as a vituperative drunk with no interest in the Civil War or her deeply closeted husband (who she despises) but is instead fixated on becoming a cabaret singer.
If that sounds a bit wild – well yes, but evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact it’s very funny, and while it’s true that Mary Todd Lincoln is not as well known in this country as her own, it would perhaps not surprise you to know that it’s not a particularly historically accurate portrait. Plus Hamilton has done alright.
Speaking of which: Olivier-winning Hamilton star Giles Terera will play the role of Abraham Lincoln in the West End transfer of Sam Pinkleton’s production, while the role of Mary will be played by Mason Alexander Park, who has ratcheted up acclaim as a Jamie Lloyd regular and with a stint in Cabaret.
It was inevitable that Oh, Mary! would come our way. But what a thrill that it’s nipping in suddenly just in time for the holidays: the ultimate theatrical Christmas present.
Trafalgar Theatre, booking Dec 3 to Apr 25 2026.
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