“Oh, Mary!” was so good, they had to see it twice.
Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber were in good company on Thursday night as they made their way into the Lyceum Theatre for the play’s Broadway opening night, with a crowd that included many show regulars.
“I’ve seen the show off-Broadway several times, and I’m excited to see it on Broadway,” said comedian Murray Hill on his way into the theater. “It’s a big deal when a performer from downtown travels 30 blocks uptown. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
The hit play transferred to Broadway after a twice-extended off-Broadway run, lauded by critics and audiences alike. “This is like Christmas morning mixed with my birthday, mixed with losing my virginity, all in one night,” said writer and star Cole Escola, who walked the carpet in a custom corseted Wiederhoeft gown before heading into the theater to change into a different, more voluminous, black gown for the show. Escola leads the comedy as first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, reimagined as a manic aspiring cabaret performer.
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“I’m just surprised that people still want to come see it. I’m surprised that it’s selling out on Broadway. That’s wild,” they added. “And I’m surprised that I still love doing it and I still find new things to love about it every night.”
Not even the 90-degree heat could keep the VIP crowd from turning out in full force. Guests included Patti LuPone, Maude Apatow, Ruth Negga, Amy Sedaris, Rebecca Hall and Morgan Spector, Ziwe, and Matthew Broderick, who brought his three kids along.
“It is a celebratory moment,” said show director Sam Pinkleton, dressed in a full Thom Browne look. “I’m sweating and I want to vomit, but it’s a good kind of sweat and a good kind of vomit.”
James Scully, who stars in the show as an acting coach who happens to be named John Wilkes Booth, was looking forward to the friends-and-family performance.
“Family and friends and boyfriends,” he added, as partner Julio Torres stopped on the sidewalk to snap a photo of Scully working the carpet. “The alt queer comedy community in New York is such a community, and it’s so nice to feel like everybody knows each other and they’re all rooting for each other,” he said. For the occasion he wore a gold “Oh, Mary!” necklace that costar Conrad Ricamora gifted the cast during the show’s off-Broadway run.
“I’m just excited to go out on stage tonight and have fun and then really relish in celebrating Cole, and celebrating this,” Scully continued. “It’s such a sweet thing that whoever started theater as it exists now was like, we really have to prioritize opening night parties. I can’t wait to have a cocktail, and pour everyone one and tell them how much I love them.”
After taking their bows onstage, the cast and crowd headed back downtown — well, a few blocks downtown — to iconic Chelsea leather bar The Eagle to continue the celebration.
