In a theater season saturated with glittery revivals and Hollywood-adapted musicals, Cole Escola has crashed the party with a flamboyant, filthy-funny original that refuses to play it safe. That play, of course, is Oh, Mary! — the deranged, irreverent, and infinitely creative Broadway farce about Mary Todd Lincoln’s booze-soaked, fantasy-fueled descent into cabaret stardom. And with five Tony nominations under its sequined belt, including two for the 38-year-old Cole Escola (for best actor and best play), this isn’t just a smash hit—it’s a cultural reckoning.
From Downtown Darlings to Broadway’s Boldest Breakthrough
“Oh, Mary!” wasn’t born in a writer’s room or shaped by a studio notes brigade. It was forged in the fiery trenches of downtown theater, where Cole Escola honed their craft with grimy solo shows, edgy sketches, and a wholehearted embrace of what makes audiences laugh, squirm, and love them. Escola’s journey from underground fame to Tony-nominated playwright is the kind of origin story that Marvel and DC crave—a hero rising not from cosmic accidents, but from pure creative grit.
Escola didn’t just star in Oh, Mary!; they wrote it. And they wrote it with a fearless eye on fantasy over fact. The play gleefully rewrites history, imagining a world where Mary Todd Lincoln isn’t trapped by tragedy, but liberated by it. “What if Abraham Lincoln’s assassination wasn’t such a bad thing for Mary Todd?” Escola said, reflecting on the 2009 spark that ignited the script. For more than a decade, the idea simmered. And now, it’s scorching Broadway.
“Oh, Mary!” Is the Lovechild of Chaos, Comedy, and Costume Changes
Ask anyone who’s seen the show, and they’ll tell you it’s like watching a confederacy of camp, wit, and emotional firework explode on a proscenium stage. Mary Todd Lincoln, as imagined by Escola, is a mess in the most mesmerizing way—a soon-to-be ex-first lady with dreams of sequins and spotlights, drowning her frustrations in booze and punchlines. The tone is never stable, the jokes fly like daggers, and the historical accuracy... well, let's just say it's flexible.
“No one’s coming in like, ‘I thought this was historically accurate,’” Escola laughs. And they’re right. The show’s subversion lies in its honesty. It’s not about rescuing Mary from her reputation; it’s about arming her with glitter, guts, and gonzo monologues. It's a show written for Escola’s own troupe of downtown devotees—not for the widest possible audience, but for the one that gets it. And now, that audience is Broadway.
Behind the Persona: Cole Escola’s Journey Through Identity and Industry
What makes Cole Escola’s story even more compelling is how intimately it’s tied to their sense of self. Growing up in rural Oregon, in a family fractured by poverty and trauma, Escola found refuge in stories—first from their grandmother, then in theater. They describe their gender identity with the same clarity and humor that colors their work: “I have always felt not male, not female... it just has to make me laugh.”
Escola’s use of they/them pronouns isn’t a trend or statement—it’s another layer of authenticity in a career built on defying boxes. Whether playing a deranged character on At Home with Amy Sedaris or unleashing a cocktail of absurdity and pathos on a Broadway stage, Escola is never aiming to fit in. They’re aiming to resonate.
What’s Next for Cole Escola: Beyond the Tonys and Into the (Meta)Gala
With Oh, Mary! breaking box office records and earning critical love from everyone—Catalyst Mo Rocca, Marvel-admirer Darren Criss, even Steven Spielberg (who reportedly attended Oh, Mary! downtown with Tony Kushner and Sally Field)—Escola’s star is ascending fast. And it’s not just about theater anymore. Fans who’ve followed Escola’s eccentric brilliance in cole escola shows like At Home with Amy Sedaris and their viral Mom Commercial persona are clamoring for more.
Will we see cole escola movies on the horizon? Perhaps. Will they make an appearance on cole escola stephen colbert? One can hope. And when (not if) Escola graces the cole escola met gala—decked out in something deliciously gender-defying and historically irrelevant—we’ll all be watching.
The Unsung Superpower of Cole Escola: Writing for Joy, Not for Approval
In a recent cole escola interview, Escola confessed how deeply personal Oh, Mary! was—that they wrote it for themselves and their friends, for the audience they’d built in basement clubs and black box theaters. That kind of creative honesty is rare. It’s what turns a show into a phenomenon and a performer into a Tony nominee.
“There is something special about that,” Escola said. “The fact that it’s successful makes it that much sweeter.”
And that sweetness? That’s the real power behind Cole Escola. Not just surviving the journey from trailer parks to the Lyceum Theatre, but smashing it with a glittery, swearing, bleeding heart in hand. Cole Escola isn’t just a name on a marquee—they’re Broadway’s most deliciously subversive new superhero.