Keala Settle and Hal Fowler on capturing the First Lady in 'Mrs President'

Mrs President is a new play about the friendship between a President’s wife and the photographer who immortalised her. We spoke with its stars, Keala Settle and Hal Fowler.

Summary

• The Greatest Showman star Keala Settle and West End performer Hal Fowler are starring in Mrs President
• It is one of two productions currently in London that are focusing on the former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln
• The show is running at Charing Cross Theatre

There are not one but two productions focusing on the life of Mary Todd Lincoln in London right now. Admittedly, the pair are polar opposites: Mason Alexander Park is currently leading Cole Escola’s immensely silly and riotous comedy Oh, Mary! at the Trafalgar Theatre, while Keala Settle and Hal Fowler are starring in John Ransom Phillips’s two-hander Mrs President about the former First Lady’s relationship with celebrity photographer Mathew Brady. The show returns in a newly reimagined version to Charing Cross Theatre following a run in 2025.

“They’re completely different,” exclaims Settle. “I’m booked until May, so I haven’t seen Oh, Mary! yet, but I want to, desperately. I’m a huge fan of Mason.”

The Greatest Showman actor, whose other credits include Hairspray, Waitress, Sister Act, & Juliet, Les Misérables, and Jesus Christ Superstar, and her co-star Fowler (Les Misérables, Tommy, Aspects of Love, Carousel) chat with London Theatre Magazine about why Mary Todd Lincoln is such a fascinating subject for a play and what they hope audiences take away from the show.

What is Mrs President about?
Hal Fowler: The play is based on a real meeting that happened between Mathew Brady, the father of photojournalism, [and former First Lady of the United States, Mary Todd Lincoln]. She is one of those powerful and famous women who was talked about far more than she was ever listened to. The play starts with Mary deciding she needs a new image to dispel the old ones of her. She’s often referred to as the worst First Lady in history, the most hated, the craziest. She lost three of her four children, and her fourth then had her committed to an asylum. When she comes for her photograph, Brady is very insistent on how that photo should be and imposes a view on Mary Todd Lincoln. It’s about Mary’s journey of breaking through the definitions of other people.

What kind of research have you done for this play?
Keala Settle: She didn’t have an autobiography, but there are books that were published by men and they had their version, and then there were women printing their version. Doing my own research, I had to find the most unbiased information. All we have are letters that she sent to other people, and their responses.
Fowler: Brady had this fantastic studio on Broadway, and he had quickly gained notoriety for taking pictures of generals, famous naval officers, and eventually celebrities. He was the person to go to for a photograph. Keala and I went to The National Archives a few weeks ago and there was a cutting from an old paper that had a drawing of his gallery and it said, “if you’re in New York, you must go.”
Settle: He was the Annie Leibovitz of his time!

Why do you think Mary Todd Lincoln is such an interesting historical figure to explore on stage?
Settle: What I love about the fact that Oh, Mary! and Mrs President exist at the same time is that it shows how layered this woman was. It’s an honour and a privilege to present this show.

Hal, Brady is described as the ‘first celebrity photographer’. What does your character tell us about images and power today?
Fowler: Brady represents the artist and the person who wants to be the owner of the identity. It’s so pertinent to the world we live in today. When everyone wakes up, the first thing they do is pick up their phone. It’s not to look at writing, it’s to look at pictures. And in the writing under the picture, we’ve been told what it is. This piece explores the idea that the image takers decide [how their subjects] should be seen.

Keala, this is your first professional play. Does it feel like a transition from doing musicals?
Settle: It’s a change for all of you, not me! Shakespeare was my gateway into theatre. When I was offered to read this and to talk with our beautiful director Bronagh [Lagan], the play spoke to me personally. There is a segment towards the end that is so hopeful, and that is what inspired me to grab this piece as quickly as I could. The journey is so intense, but it ends in one of the lightest places you could find in a theatre right now, without it having to be a song and dance.

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?
Fowler: This is less a show about who Mathew Brady is, or who Mary Todd is, it’s about who gets to decide.
Settle: The show is also going through this process of understanding a woman who has been through so much.

Are there any other two-handers you’d love to star in together?
Fowler: I think both of us would really like to do Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett together. Keep an eye out!

Book Mrs President tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Keala Settle and Hal Fowler in Mrs President. (Photos by Pamela Raith)

This article first appeared in the February issue of London Theatre Magazine.