The chaotic Broadway comedy hit “Oh, Mary!” by Cole Escola will begin its first national tour in Hartford in September.
Only two dates on the tour have been announced so far with unspecified dates in September at The Bushnell and Oct. 6-11 at The Smith Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. A press release announcing the tour mentions potential bookings in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
The show is extremely loosely based on the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, and is set shortly before his assassination at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 1865. It depicts Mary Lincoln as an unstable alcoholic cabaret diva. There is strong LGBTQ+ elements in the play, from its title (a classic phrase from early 20th century gay culture) to its portrayal of Abraham Lincoln as a closeted gay man, for which there has been some scholarly evidence, though “Oh, Mary!” is not considered an accurate historical play in any way.
Escola was the first non-binary actor to be awarded a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. “Oh, Mary!” also won the Tony for Best Play.
“Oh, Mary!”‘s Broadway run has been extended multiple times and is now said to be running through July 5, 2026.
No casting information for the tour has been released. Escola played the role of Mary Todd Lincoln on Broadway but left the show in 2024 and has been succeeded by an unpredictable stream of other performers in the role including Betty Gilpin, Titus Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, Jane Krakowski, John Cameron Mitchell and others. The star of the London production, which opened this year, is Mason Alexander Park, who starred in the play “I Am My Own Wife” at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven in 2020 and later streamed a concert special for the Long Wharf during the COVID-19 shutdown.
“Oh, Mary!” is the first show to be officially announced as part of the 2026-27 Broadway season at The Bushnell. The theater typically announces its forthcoming seasons in late March or early April.
If, once all the dates are announced, the “Oh, Mary!” tour does indeed start in Hartford, that would be a rare occurrence. While The Bushnell sometimes does get tours early in their runs, they tend to have already been rehearsed and built and premiered in other cities, notably at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island. When the national tour of the Broadway revival of “Spamalot” came to The Bushnell in December it was the second stop on the tour following rehearsals and performances in Cleveland, Ohio.
In Connecticut, national tours for shows such as “Six” and “Jersey Boys” have had their technical rehearsals at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven before having the the first public performances of those shows in other cities. New Haven has been a key “try-out town” for Broadway-bound shows or post-Broadway tours for around a hundred years now.