NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 21: Cole Escola as Mary Todd Lincoln during their final performance in their Tony-winning performance in “Oh, Mary!” on Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre on June 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
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Replacing the lead in any show requires careful deliberations. The new performer needs to fill the role and honor the story without feeling like an off-brand copy of the original.
Sitting backstage during a run of Wicked, I learned that “Popular” is considered a litmus test for Glinda replacements: no matter how well the new Glinda can sing opera, if she can’t get good laughs during “Popular,” she won’t be a good fit.
Wicked, which has seen decades of replacements, has had time to learn these nuances.
But if a show is built around a particular actor playing the lead – for example, the show’s author – it can be delicate to replace that person with someone new. Broadway anticipates that audiences do not like substitutions; they offer refunds when above-the-title stars cannot perform.
Hamilton, famously written by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, eased audiences into Miranda’s replacement. Javier Muñoz, Miranda’s understudy, began taking on the role every Sunday before he eventually took it over full time. It was a clever way to see how audiences fared with Muñoz. After proving he could handle the role, Muñoz kept it for 18 months before the next Alexander Hamilton took his turn.
The producers of Oh, Mary approached replacements quite differently. Since Cole Escola, the creator and star of Oh, Mary, stepped down one year ago, the role of Mary Todd Lincoln has already seen seven replacements.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 13: Tituss Burgess poses at a photo call for his return to Broadway in “Oh, Mary!” at The Museum of Broadway on March 13, 2025 in New York City. Burgess stars in Cole Escola’s hit play from March 18 to April 6. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/Getty Images)
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Titus Burgess, Jane Krakowski, and Maya Rudolph are just some of the stars who have taken up the mantle of Mary Todd Lincoln. Each new Mary feels like an exciting opportunity to catch a favorite comedian’s new spin on the role.
Oh, Mary takes the high-value ticket, limited run play model of Broadway plays, but rather than shutting down to increase scarcity, they simply switch out their stars. The popularity of the leading actors, in addition to the Tony-winning success of the show, allows Oh, Mary to charge an average ticket price of $214.78.
Oh, Mary is not the first show to use celebrity replacements to sell tickets. Moulin Rouge brought in Megan Thee Stallion; Waitress brought in Jordin Sparks; Chicago brought in Whitney Leavitt from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
What makes Oh, Mary special is the frequency with which the show brings in new stars. Jinkx Monsoon, Bettie Gilpin, John Cameron Mitchell – each new Mary comes in already famous for something else.
It suggests there’s something about Oh, Mary. Actors want to be a part of the show. There is no Tony for replacements. None of these artists joins the show expecting to win awards. They do it because they want to play Mary. Maya Rudolph is quoted as saying Oh, Mary is “the funniest play I’ve ever seen” and calls Mary “the role of a lifetime.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 28: Maya Rudolph takes her first curtain call as she makes her Broadway debut as “Mary Todd Lincoln” in “Oh, Mary!” on Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre on April 28, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/Getty Images)
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Cole Escola created something people are flocking to simply because they love it. So while other shows may work to bring in audiences by casting a star here and there, Oh, Mary will likely continue its run of giddy celebrities taking their chance at the bratty, alcoholic, cabaret-obsessed and intentionally based on “less than zero research” Mary Todd Lincoln.