Writer: Cole Escola
Director: Sam Pinkleton
With so many restrictions on what the press can divulge, it’s perhaps best to start off with some superlatives. Oh Mary!, transferring from Broadway, is the funniest and most surprising show in the West End this Christmas. Unashamedly American – it’s occasionally as unsubtle as a SNL sketch – Cole Escola’s take on Mary Lincoln, wife of the assassinated president Abraham, is a hoot.
Leading proceedings in the titular role is Mason Alexander Park, who spends another Christmas in London, but surely a better one than last year, when they played Ariel alongside Sigourney Weaver as Prospero in Jamie Lloyd’s turgid version of The Tempest. As Ariel, Park seemed to spend most of the time suspended in mid-air above the stage at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Here, at the sumptuous Trafalgar Theatre, Park can really let loose and show off their comedy talents.
Addled with drink, Park’s Mary Lincoln appears already in mourning, wearing an impressive black frock, the skirt of which spins in the air like that of the best pantomime dame. She drinks because she wants to be something other than a president’s wife. She hides whiskey in the presidential office, adeptly and wobblily designed by dots in true sitcom style.
British actor Giles Terera plays Mary’s Husband, and it’s great to see him do comedy rather than Shakespeare. Sporting a wig and beard, Terera leans into the rumours that have circled around his character in recent years, and he receives the loudest laughs when he’s praying to God; except that he isn’t.
As Mary’s Teacher, Dino Fetscher, wearing tight breeches, appears to have walked in from Little Women, and he’s the perfect foil to Mary’s ambitions. Bursting with period drama charm, it’s not unexpected that Mary will fall for him. Kate O’Donnell gives a spirited performance as Mary’s Chaperone – she also wears a swirling dress created by Holly Pierson – and Oliver Stockley is hilarious as dim-witted Mary’s Husband’s Assistant.
There might be a few people in the audience who think it’s still too soon to make a mockery of events that occurred in 1865, but even they will be won over by the cast’s determined, zany antics, all finely and tightly directed by Sam Pinkleton. In the end, however, this is Mason Alexander Park’s show, and they mine every laugh, every joke, to its deepest. They even channel a bit of Kiki (from Kiki and Herb), Justin Bond’s alter ego, giving a history to Mary every bit as tragic as Kiki’s.
Outrageous and iconoclastic, Oh Mary! is queer, delicious fun. If this is how Americans do panto, then the likes of Aladdin and Snow White have some serious competition.
Runs until 25 April 2025
The Reviews Hub Star Rating