Video: Jane Krakowski Praises Joe Mantello, Talks Broadway Return in OH, MARY!
Krakowski is returning to Broadway as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary, playing the role in a limited eight-week engagement from October 14 to December 7.
By: Josh Sharpe Sep. 23, 2025
This summer, Jane Krakowski hopped across the pond to perform in the West End production of Here We Are, the final musical of Stephen Sondheim. Directed by Joe Mantello, the production ran at The National Theatre, which the actress called a "bucket list" experience.
"I love him!" Krakowski said of the Tony Award-winning director on a recent visit to Live with Kelly and Mark. "He's one of the premier directors in our business, so that was a real honor for me to get to work with him."
With a rich performance background on Broadway, she shared how the audiences in the UK differ from those in the US. "I think that they're a bit more reserved than the audiences are here at the moment," explained Krakowski. "I think that the British audiences are very sophisticated, educated audience members because the theater tickets are cheaper, so I think they can see more theater. But, right now, I feel like the Broadway audience are at this gorgeous fever pitch, and I hope they keep up when I return to Broadway!"
Krakowski will be back on Broadway next month, taking over as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! This is her first Broadway role in nearly a decade. "I think that's part of what's fun about Oh, Mary!- that everyone comes back for each new Mary that goes in. So I hope you'll all come back for my Mary!"
In Oh, Mary!, Krakowski joins an esteemed group of actors to play ‘Mary,’ including Jinkx Monsoon, Emmy Nominee Tituss Burgess, Emmy Nominee Betty Gilpin, and the Tony Award-winning original star and playwright, Cole Escola. Krakowski will play the role in a limited eight-week engagement from October 14 to December 7.
Directed by 2025 Tony Award winner Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! opened on Broadway on July 11, 2024 at the Lyceum Theatre, where it became the first show in the theater’s 121-year history to gross more than $1,000,000 in a single week. Oh, Mary! has since broken its own box office record twelve times, and became the first show of the 2024-25 Broadway season to recoup its investment.
Inspired by two of Luis Buñuel’s iconic films, Here We Are has a book by Tony Award-nominee David Ives (All in the Timing/Venus in Fur) and was directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello (WICKED /Assassins). The UK premiere of Here We Are ran at The National Theatre’s Lyttelton theatre from 25 April 2025 until 28 June.
