Video: Cole Escola Talks Tony Awards Bernadette Peters Tribute on LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS

Following their Tony win for Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola visited Late Night with Seth Meyers this week to discuss the honor, the continued success of the play, and what it is like watching other actors take on the iconic role of Mary Todd Lincoln.

During the Tonys, Escola paid tribute to Bernadette Peters with an outfit resembling the one that she wore at the 1999 ceremony. "This was a formative gown for me," explained Escola of Peters's outfit. "A formative moment of, 'Wow, she's the most beautiful woman in the world.' And so, if this was my 'Cinderella goes to the ball one night,' I want to look as perfect as possible."

Escola also recalled the first time they watched Betty Gilpin play the role, following their departure from the show. "It was surreal in that it was not surreal at all. I was in the audience expecting, like, 'Oh, this is going to be so weird watching this play, this role that I did.' And I watched it and I was like, 'What a lovely show.'"

Directed by Tony Award Winner Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! received 5 Tony nominations, winning two. It opened on Broadway on July 11, 2024 at the Lyceum Theatre, following a twice-extended, sold-out engagement at the Lucille Lortel Theatre Off-Broadway. At the Lyceum, it became the first show in the theater’s 121-year history to gross more than $1,000,000 in a single week and has since broken its own box office record twelve times. The play was also named a 2025 Pulitzer Prize Finalist.

Since Escola originally departed the show on January 19, 2025, Betty Gilpin and Tituss Burgess have both donned the now-infamous bratty curls. Escola returned to the role on April 8, 2025, with other members of the original cast for an encore run through June 21, 2025. Escola has received a Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Theatre World, and Outer Critics Circle Award for their work on the show.

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