This summer, while children are off at day camp or sleepaway camp, adults have the opportunity to check out a thoroughly hilarious piece of camp performance, namely Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!”
The irreverent, unhinged farce of alternative history stars Escola as an alcoholic, foul-mouthed, self-obsessed, perverted, needy, and dim-witted reinvention of 19th century First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.
Five years ago, when the theme of the 2019 Met Gala was “Camp: Notes on Fashion” (alluding to Susan Sontag’s famous essay “Notes on ‘Camp’”), media publications found themselves trying to explain the meaning of the nebulous concept, which is often associated with exaggeration, gay culture, vulgarity, drag, and, to quote a memorable episode of “The Simpsons” in which filmmaker John Waters (who is himself a camp icon) was a guest star, the “tragically ludicrous” and “ludicrously tragic.”
“Oh, Mary!,” which pretty much encapsulates the concept of camp, premiered earlier this year at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village and quickly became a sold-out sensation. Even Sally Field, who played Mary Todd Lincoln in the 2012 film “Lincoln,” checked out the show alongside the film’s director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner and took photos with the cast.
While downtown hits occasionally lose luster upon transferring uptown, “Oh, Mary!” gains some by playing the Lyceum Theatre, the oldest continually-operating Broadway theater, which reflects the play’s 19th century time period and conjures the presence of Ford’s Theatre (which, not surprisingly, turns up as a location in the play). The scenic design too is intentionally low-tech and old-fashioned.
Set in Washington, D.C. at the end of the Civil War, Escola’s Mary (wearing a bun wig of ringlet curls and heavy-duty black taffeta hoop skirt that somehow buzz with personality) is first seen searching feverishly for liquor and torturing her hired chaperone (Bianca Leigh), much to the frustration of her vexed husband Abe (Conrad Ricamora, also employing over-the-top theatricality), who here is gay, closeted, and carrying on sex acts with his underling “special friend” (Tony Macht).
Mary, a one-time cabaret artist turned manic-depressive alcoholic who longs to return to the stage, is unexpectedly encouraged by the president (who is desperate to keep her occupied) to take acting lessons with an attractive instructor (James Scully), who encourages her to audition for a character role in the new play “Our American Cousin” (which leads to one of the show’s best sequences) and elope with him to Canada.
The show’s producers have implored journalists to not spoil the play’s various surprises and twists, which eventually lead to a delirious grand finale which, for all we know, might take place in Mary’s head while she is locked up in a mental hospital.
The one-liners are witty, physical comedy (ranging from doors slamming to vomiting paint thinner into a bucket) is unrelenting, the direction (by Sam Pinkleton) is brisk, and the performances are gleefully insane. Escola leads the way in a fierce turn that burns with vitality, self-deluded diva grandeur, and comic invention.
In other words, it is camp, building on the work of earlier drag comics including Charles Ludlam and Charles Busch while injecting a heavy dose of brash, dark contemporary humor.
Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45th St., ohmaryplay.com. Through Sept. 15.
