Review: OH, MARY! at Curran Theatre
Natalie Joy Johnson takes on the title role in Cole Escola's Tony-winning historical farce at San Francisco's Curran Theatre.
Oh, Mary!
By Cole Escola
Directed by Sam Pinkleton
Curran Theatre
If ever there were a Broadway show tailor-made for San Francisco’s gender fluid tolerance, its Cole Escola’s Tony-winning Oh, Mary! The wild ’historical fiction’ centers on the weeks before Abraham Lincoln’s assassination as his deranged, alcoholic wife terrorizes all around her in her dream of becoming a cabaret star. The show moved to Broadway in July 2024 and became a sensation, catapulting Escola to fame becoming the first non-binary actor to win Best Actor.
The role of the temperamental Mary has rotated guest stars and replacement leads, such as Bowen Yang (current), Maya Rudolph, Jane Krakowski, and Jinkx Monsoon. The national touring production features drag star Alaska Thunderf**k, although she was absent opening night leaving the role to understudy Natalie Joy Johnson. The supporting cast match Johnson’s frenetic energy level: John-Andrew Morrison is hilarious as the closeted Abe Lincoln, Wesley Taylor as Mary’s acting coach John Wilkes Booth, and Pooya Mohseni as Mary’s tortured chaperone Louise.
The one act bounds from vignette to vignette and is chock full of vulgar, tasteless jokes and an absurd plot that defies logic. Such is farce and Oh, Mary!, named after a gay slang phrase, gays up history using Mary Todd’s mental anguish for comic relief.
Mary is blissfully unaware of the Civil War, drinks paint varnish, pushes Louise down the stairs and falls in love with Booth. She’s mean, crude, and self-absorbed, but I know some performers who match her persona. Her cabaret finale, mashing period songs like “She’ll Be Comin Round the Mountain” and "I'm a Little Teapot" with "Copacabana (At the Copa)" and "The Lady Is a Tramp" is ridiculously smart.
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A weary Abe is having sex with his assistant Simon (Michael Lepore) and Booth, all the while telling God it’s his last time. Happy that the war is over, he really needs to get Mary out of his hair. Booth is a failed actor who needs work, failing in his attempts to turn Mary into an actor. He’s framed for Lincoln’s murder by the devious Mary as his just reward. The LGBTQI+ community here has patiently waited this San Francisco run and Oh, Mary! delivers the high camp goods.
Oh, Mary! continues through November 1st. Tickets available at ticketsSF@atgentertainment.com or by calling the box office at 888.811.5040.
Photo credits: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade
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