Cole Escola Can’t Process the Meteoric Success of Broadway’s ‘Oh, Mary!’
variety.comCole Escola sits demurely in their dressing room, awaiting the delivery of a green smoothie. It’s a rare moment of downtime for the 37-year-old star and writer of “Oh, Mary!,” the unconventional smash that’s become the toast of Broadway. “I feel like I’m in the eye of a hurricane,” Escola , who’s nonbinary, says from their Pepto Bismol-colored quarters, which have been decorated to the nines by their friend, comedian Amy Sedaris.
Instead of the “bratty curl” wig and hoop skirt they wear to portray a madcap version of Mary Todd Lincoln, Escola is dressed comfortably in a red cardigan, striped socks and fuzzy pink slippers. “I can’t process any of it.
The only way I can wrap my head around it is by pretending I’m looking back on it from 20 years in the future.” “Oh, Mary!” is a cultural tempest that has the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Aniston and Steven Spielberg leveraging their celebrity status to get seats — and braving those stairs to say hello. “Oh, Mary!” isn’t all that interested in facts: Escola plays Lincoln as an alcoholic aspiring cabaret singer married to this closeted gay guy who’s trying to end the Civil War.
Yet no less than Diane Sawyer told Escola that she learned something about the former first lady after seeing the play. “I made some stupid joke, like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s very historically accurate.’ She was like, ‘No, I learned something about her emotional life.’ I almost broke down in tears,” Escola recalls.
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