'Oh, Mary!' review — Mason Alexander Park is a force of nature in this sensational comic romp

Read our review of Cole Escola's Tony-winning Oh, Mary!, now in performances at the Trafalgar Theatre to 25 April 2026.

Summary

• Cole Escola's Tony Award-winning Oh Mary! makes its anticipated UK premiere
• Sam Pinkleton directs this production at the Trafalgar Theatre
• Mason Alexander Park is dynamite as a cabaret-loving version of Mary Todd Lincoln
• Giles Terera is excellent too as her exasperated husband

The West End has a totally outrageous new star – and, in a mind-boggling twist, it’s a fabulously subversive, queer spin on a former American First Lady. Cole Escola’s Tony Award-winning comedy Oh, Mary!, centring on Mary Todd Lincoln and her president husband, takes historical revisionism to new heights. It really is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

The bold conceit is that Mary is an alcoholic, frustrated wannabe cabaret star, more interested in getting back on the stage than whatever’s happening with the civil war. The form of the show echoes that: it’s a proudly camp farce, each pithy section punctuated with a blackout like a sitcom or a live-action cartoon.

You don’t need to have any prior knowledge, other than that Abraham Lincoln is about to be assassinated at Ford’s Theatre. The taboo aspect of this irreverent treatment of American icons likely hits very differently across the pond, but what does translate is the gleefully deranged humour and jaw-dropping plot.

However far you think the show might go, it pushes much further. I won’t spoil the many shocking reveals and punchlines, but suffice to say unforgettable moments include Mary gulping down the foul contents of a bucket, a very intimate encounter, and the triumphant deployment of dirty language.

It’s an incredible showcase for a performer – which, on Broadway, has included Escola, Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, and Jane Krakowski – and London is treated to a tour-de-force turn from Mason Alexander Park, who tears into the material like a ravenous tiger. Park hits every note with absolute comic precision: Mary’s infantile narcissism, crippling boredom, devilish humour, and, when presented with a hunky new acting teacher in tight breeches, all-consuming lust.

It’s a dynamite character study that also allows Park to show off their physical comedy chops. Their Mary sniffs out hidden booze like a truffle pig, takes tiny trotting steps like a show pony, and, in a slapstick sequence that had me in hysterics, gets stuck up on a desk and whirls around desperately like a spinning top in a hoop skirt.

Giles Terera – who, of course, was in the original West End cast of another historical US import, Hamilton – is brilliant value too as Mary’s beleaguered husband, who is nursing hidden desires of his own. In fact, for all its unabashed silliness, there is a potent point here about the dark consequences of shame and repression: neither Mary nor Abe can be their true selves. Park and Terera allow notes of vulnerability to creep in.

Dino Fetscher is a hoot as Mary’s passionate teacher, Oliver Stockley’s earnestly obedient assistant is a good foil for Terera, and Escola adds another clever layer to this upending of gender roles with Mary’s chaperone (the wonderful Kate O’Donnell), a parody of traditional femininity.

Holly Pierson supplies effectively heightened costumes, Leah J. Loukas the now-iconic “bratty” ringleted wig for Mary, and Sam Pinkleton’s tonally assured production riffs off the melodrama that Mary often embodies with overblown piano music and storm effects.

When Mary’s exasperated husband asks how it would look if she followed her cabaret dreams in the ruins of war, she cries defiantly “Sensational!”. That really sums up this entertaining romp: it’s a wildly unlikely sensation.

Oh, Mary! is at the Trafalgar Theatre to 25 April 2026. Book Oh, Mary! tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Oh, Mary! (Photos by Manuel Harlan)