Cole Escola, 37, the writer of the hit musical “Oh, Mary!” doesn’t let fame get to his head. (Escola identifies as nonbinary and uses “they/them” pronouns.) When he arrives a few minutes late for a Zoom interview with Just for Variety, he explains that it’s because he was busy installing an air conditioner in his apartment. “Yeah, I installed it myself,” Escola says. “I’m going to Broadway, but I’m still a person.”
The darling of New York theater circles, Mary Todd Lincoln’s scandalous performance as a sex-crazed, alcoholic cabaret singer is self-centered. She’s holed up in the White House while her boy-crazy husband Abraham Lincoln tries to end the Civil War. “Oh, Mary!” was the most requested song in town during its five-month run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. The play is not a historical revisionist play; it’s an entirely made-up play. However, I confess to Escola that I Googled Honest Abe’s widow after seeing the show because I wasn’t sure what could be true.
“Oh, wow. I hadn’t even thought about that,” says Escola, who is familiar to viewers from “Difficult People,” “Search Party” and “At Home With Amy Sedaris.” “Maybe I could fool people into thinking, ‘Wait a minute, did she want to be a cabaret star?’ Oh, my God!”
Next, Escola wants to get back to writing. “I’d like to write something that’s not about me and just be in a rehearsal room as a writer,” he says. “But I love theater. I only want to do theater from now on. I mean, it’s not entirely true, but it’s 96 percent true.”
“Oh, Mary!” opens on Broadway July 11 at the Lyceum Theatre.
We’re going to get to the show, but we have to talk about the Met Gala. This was your first time going this year. Tell me how you got the invitation. Who invited you? Who did you sit with? Who did you meet and think, “I can’t believe I’m at the Met Gala talking to this person?”
I was invited by Vogue the week before. The whole process was a whirlwind of events. I literally open my emails every day and I’m like, “Okay, I have to get my body here at 8 o’clock. I have to get my body here at 12 o’clock. I have to get my body…” I didn’t have time to think about any of this. So I feel like I’ve almost forgotten what happened… A fever dream.
Do you remember walking on that carpet? Climbing those steps?
No, I really don’t. I just remember thinking, “What part of the museum are we in right now? I don’t think I’ve ever been in this part before.” That’s what I remember. Like, “Is this the main entrance? I don’t know where I am spatially.”
Are you the kind of person who, when you find yourself in a situation like this, takes a moment to ask yourself, “Where am I? And how did I get here?”
It’s so annoying to talk about imposter syndrome, but I have such a hard time understanding it. I’ve been doing my own work for so long, without anyone, that the fact that I’m doing something that’s produced, that has PR and producers behind it, it’s surreal. It’s another overused word, I guess. But yeah, it’s weird.
Cole Escola, in Thom Browne, attends the 2024 Met Gala on May 6 in New York City.
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You’ve stressed in interviews that you did no real research on Mary Todd Lincoln in writing the play.
I’ve gotten comments from people who say, “Oh, you didn’t do any research and now you’re going to go to Broadway?” And I’m like, “No, no. It’s not that I haven’t done any work.” There’s decades of work and refinement and honing to get to this point, but I just haven’t done any research because it’s not really about her. It’s about all of us. I’m guilty of being so casual in interviews for the sake of comedy. But, I don’t know, it makes me nervous sometimes that I’m too casual and people think I just farted and now I’m going to go to Broadway.
Have you heard of Mary or Abe beyond the grave? Do you believe in such things?
I visited the grave of Laura Keene, who was the lead actress and producer of “Our American Cousin” (the play the Lincolns were watching at Ford’s Theatre when the president was assassinated). To be honest, I feel more spiritually connected to her than to the Lincolns. If there is a ghost protecting me or trying to sabotage me, it is Laura Keene.
Has there been any talk of making “Oh, Mary!” in the style of Hamilton or of making a film adaptation of it?
I don’t think it needs to be made into a movie, but I would love to have a film version of it, like PBS Great Performances. I have it just for archival purposes, but also so that more people can see it. It’s my favorite thing in my life. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I want as many people as possible to see it. And that’s why I’m doing it on Broadway, because at first I was like, “No, no, it shouldn’t. We’re getting too big for our britches. Let’s not push it.” I don’t want to bring in people who are like, “Oh, let’s see what’s so great about this,” and take us down a notch, which they have every right to do because we’re asking too much of everyone. But I really want as many people as possible to see this show.
Could you imagine the play taking place with someone else playing Mary?
Absolutely. I would love that. I would love to see Hannah Solow, the current understudy, do it. I fantasize about Tituss Burgess, I think he would be amazing. Donna Murphy. Real actors. I would love that.
Have you rehearsed a Tony speech?
No, absolutely not. First of all, the Tony Awards are in a year. By then, I’ll be back making YouTube videos in my bedroom, and no one will remember me, and George Clooney will win Best Leading Actor in a Play (Clooney is set to make his Broadway debut in “Good Night, and Good Luck” in the spring of 2025), and I’ll be watching the movie at home like everyone else.
I love that you mentioned George’s name, because it’s not like you were thinking about it.
It’s not like I think about it. Of course not. It’s about work. It’s not about rewards.
Is there anyone you would like to write something for?
Name me an actress over 40 and I want to write for her. I fantasize about so many people. So many people who came to see “Oh, Mary!” and then I’m like, “Oh, good. That way they’ll know who I am, if I write something for them later, they’ll watch it.”
So you use “Oh, Mary!” to network?
Yes, exactly. I try to connect with great actresses that I admire. I mean, J. Smith-Cameron, Cherry Jones, Tonya Pinkins, Jessica Lange, Frances McDormand, Sally Field, just actresses. I love actresses.
Many people came to see the show. The night I was there, I saw a photo of you and Pedro Pascal on social media, taken the same day.
Pedro was so nice. Everyone was so nice.
How about Pedro Pascal as Mary Todd?
I would love to see Pedro as Mary. I would love to see him as Abe. Maybe I’ll write something for him, Cherry Jones and Tonya Pinkins. A trio.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed. You can listen to the full conversation with Escola on “Just for Variety” above or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
