‘Oh, Mary!’ Is Broadway at Its Most Deliciously Unhinged
There are Broadway comedies that want you to giggle politely, clap appreciatively, and head home feeling like a well-behaved patron of the arts. Oh, Mary! is not that.
This is the kind of show that grabs American history by the lapels, shakes it hard, and then dares you to admit you are having the best time. It’s a dark, fast, one-act comedic fever dream about Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, stuffed with “unrequited yearning, alcoholism, and suppressed desires,” and proudly filtered “through the lens of an idiot.” If you go in expecting a respectful period piece, you are in the wrong building. If you go in wanting a razor-sharp, boundary-pushing comedy that treats “prestige” like a toy it can throw across the room, congratulations. You found your show.
[Warning: Spoilers from Broadway’s Oh, Mary! are below!]
Oh, Mary! is a historical “what if” with a knife behind its smile
The official synopsis tells you everything you need to know about the tone: Mary Todd Lincoln is miserable, suffocated, and spiraling in the weeks before the assassination. That is the backbone. But the show’s true achievement is how it weaponizes that setup into comedy that feels both absurd and oddly specific. The joke is not “Mary Todd Lincoln is quirky.” The joke is the collision between a woman who is desperate to be seen and a world that only wants her to behave. It’s the pressure cooker of expectations, public image, and personal longing, turned into something chaotic enough to feel like catharsis. And the “lens of an idiot” line matters. It gives the production permission to be shameless. It can be smart and stupid. It can be emotionally pointed and wildly inappropriate. It can be theatrical in the biggest possible way, then snap back into something tight and controlled. That balancing act is why it’s become the kind of comedy people don’t just “enjoy.” They evangelize.
Because Oh, Mary! is built like a precision machine disguised as a messy night out, casting is everything. The show lives or dies on commitment. If the actors flirt with realism, the whole thing collapses. If they go all in, the audience goes with them. During our performance, the title role was played by Jinkx Monsoon, who returned for a limited stretch from January 8th through February 1st. And that choice makes perfect sense for a character who needs both theatrical size and sharp control. You need someone who can deliver “big” without losing specificity, someone who knows how to build a moment and then detonate it exactly when the room is ready.
Across from her, John-Andrew Morrison is Mary’s Husband, with Jenn Harris as Mary’s Chaperone, Tony Macht as Mary’s Husband’s Assistant, and Cheyenne Jackson as Mary’s Teacher. Even if you know nothing else, those character titles tell you how the comedy is structured: Mary is the sun. Everyone else is orbiting her, managing her, containing her, enabling her, or losing control around her. It’s a relationship map, not a traditional cast list, and it screams “this is a pressure cooker farce with emotional teeth.” And if you are planning ahead, John Cameron Mitchell will be stepping into the role from Feb 3 through April 26, with Simu Liu joining as Mary’s Teacher for much of that window. That kind of rotating casting is a flex. It says the part is iconic enough that different performers can put their stamp on it while the show’s engine stays strong.
The creative team makes “unhinged” feel engineered
It takes a very particular kind of director to stage chaos so that it looks accidental while being totally controlled. Oh, Mary! has that in Sam Pinkleton, with the script written by Cole Escola. The show also has a notably clean, modern design lineup for a “period” piece: costumes by Holly Pierson, lighting by Cha See, and sound by Daniel Kluger and Drew Levy. That combination is part of why the show reads as sharp rather than dusty. It’s not trying to recreate history. It’s using history as a stage. And the accolades back up that this wasn’t just a cult hit that got lucky. The Broadway production won Tony Awards for Best Leading Actor in a Play (Escola) and Best Direction of a Play (Pinkleton). That’s the industry basically saying, “Yes, this chaos is craft.”
Oh, Mary! moves fast. There’s no “settling in.” The show is only 80 minutes with no intermission, and it uses that format like a weapon. It’s built for momentum, for escalation, for jokes that stack on top of each other until the whole room is vibrating. And that is what I love most about it as a Broadway offering right now: it doesn’t waste time trying to be digestible. It knows exactly what it is. It is dark, daring, and intentionally ridiculous, and the production leans into that with confidence. It also feels like the kind of comedy that rewards repeat visits, because when a show is this tightly calibrated, you catch new choices every time. A look held a beat too long. A line that lands differently depending on who is in the role. A moment of physical comedy that is funny on the surface, then funnier when you clock how precise it had to be to look that effortless.
Final verdict on Broadway’s Oh, Mary!
Oh, Mary! is one of those rare Broadway comedies that feels like an event without feeling like a gimmick. It’s brash, tightly made, and gleefully uninterested in being “nice.” If you want a night that’s short, sharp, and leaves you buzzing on the walk back through Times Square, this is absolutely the move. It’s currently running at the Lyceum Theatre and extended through July 5, 2026. Tickets are available via Telecharge, and if you’re playing the discount game there’s a $43 in person rush and a $47 digital lottery.
If you go, do yourself a favor: don’t read too much ahead of time. Let it hit you the way it wants to hit you, fast and unfiltered.
Know before you go
Venue: Lyceum Theatre, 149 W 45th St, New York
Run time: 80 minutes, no intermission (bless this pacing)
Now extended through: July 5, 2026
Typical schedule: Tue–Fri evenings, Sat matinee and evening, Sun matinee and evening
Tickets: Official tickets are sold through Telecharge
Budget options: $43 in person rush, $47 digital lottery
Box office hours: Monday–Saturday, 10 am–8 pm
Check out Oh, Mary!’s website for more information about the production, such as the current cast! Have you seen this show yet? What were your thoughts? Let us know @bsb.insider on social media!
