Look out Broadway, there's a new first lady in town! Cole Escola has finally arrived, as Oh, Mary! opened July 11 to rave reviews from critics and raucous laughter from the crowds. When asked how they were feeling making their Broadway debut, Escola (who wrote and stars in the play) responded with full sincerity: "Like the luckiest idiot girl in the world."

In the exceedingly campy Oh, Mary!, Escola plays Mary Todd Lincoln who yearns to become a cabaret star. Meanwhile her husband, Abraham Lincoln, is battling the Civil War and homosexual urges. The show initially had a modest Off-Broadway run earlier this year at the Lucille Lortel Theater, before quickly selling out and extending.

Though many in Oh, Mary! expressed surprise at the show transferring to Broadway, Conrad Ricamora (who plays Abraham, or as the New York Times now calls him, "Gaybraham Lincoln") says he knew the play was special from the beginning: "I think if you look on paper, it isn't the obvious Broadway show. But if you actually experience it, you're like, 'Oh, everybody will die laughing at the show.' So, I'm surprised that it's on Broadway just because it's not an obvious commercial hit. But I'm not surprised because from day one, I was dying laughing." 

In transferring it to Broadway, director Sam Pinkleton has felt particular pride in being able to maintain the show's madcap energy and its entire downtown team. He and Escola have described Oh, Mary! as stupid in its absurdity, but in the best way. 

"The show was made by the weirdest, smartest, stupidest people I've ever worked with. And getting to come uptown with a whole cast and the whole team has just felt really special and rare," says Pinkleton, who makes his Broadway debut as a director with the piece (he was previously a choreographer for Broadway shows such as Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812).

Below, see the cast and red carpet attendees of Oh, Mary! play a little game of Madcap Mad Gab. And scroll down to see more red carpet coverage.

Aside from Ricamora, who was on Broadway last season in the short-lived Here Lies Love, the cast of Oh, Mary! is made up entirely of artists who were making their Broadway debuts. 

For James Scully, who plays Mary's acting teacher, "I've wanted this for a really, really long time. I've thought about it a lot—I'd like imagine what it would be like and who I would do it with and what the show would be. And I could never have been creative or clever enough to think of this...It's just a really, really special thing."

The sentiment was echoed by Bianca Leigh, who plays Mary's chaperone who has a particular love for dairy products. For Leigh, who previously thought Broadway was closed to trans artists like her, being able to make her debut in a queer show like Oh, Mary! has been particularly poignant. "Broadway was closed to girls like me for so long for so many years," she says. "It's opened up. It's been a few years that it's opened up. It's just wonderful to be a part of everything and a full participant in the Broadway experience."

When asked what has felt different about performing the show in the Lyceum Theatre, which has 922 seats, versus the modest 299 at the Lortel, an overarching theme was just how much louder the audience laughter has been.

For Tony Macht, who plays the assistant to President Lincoln (and the source of the President's yearnings), he's loved surprising the audience with the show: "I'm excited for people, who wouldn't know about a show downtown, but since it's on Broadway, they'll be like, 'Alright, let's give it a shot.' Because it actually makes the twists and turns of the show that much more exciting. I think people are coming in blind and still are like not used to a show like this."

As always, Escola could always be counted on to point out the most important details: "We each have our own dressing room now. Before we were all sharing one tiny, sort of rat-infested hallway upstairs at the Lucille Lortel—which I love, by the way. But now we have our own dressing rooms. And that's the biggest difference."

Below, see photos from the red carpet, which included guests Patti LuPone (in a sun hat), Will Chase and Ingrid Michaelson (dressed in full show merch), Bridget Everett (who brought her own fan), Ruth Negga, and Laura Benanti.

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Photos: Oh, Mary! Opening Night on Broadway

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Onstage during the show's curtain call, Escola gave a speech that truly summed up their unique mix of passionate heart and absurdist humor: 

“When you have an idea, it’s really embarrassing to really care about something that doesn’t exist yet and it’s really vulnerable," they told the audience. "It’s like trying to convince your doctor that you have a tumor, based on nothing except you just kind of feel like you probably have one…And then you meet people who are not doctors, but they are convinced, 'Yes that is a tumor. And in fact, we also think we have tumors.' Let’s all cut ourselves open right now and put it out for the world to see. And everyone back here have really committed to cutting themselves open and pouring their tumors out onto the stage tonight. The point I’m trying to make is, you all thought the doctor was a man didn’t you?”

And then it was back to frivolity and celebration, as the Oh, Mary! team celebrated their opening night with an after party at gay leather bar The Eagle. 

Oh, Mary! is produced by Kevin McCollum and Lucas McMahon and Mike Lavoie and Carlee Briglia, along with co-producers Bob Boyett, The Council, Jean Doumanian Productions, Nicole Eisenberg, Jay Marcus & George Strus, Irony Point, Richard Batchelder/Bradley Reynolds, Tyler Mount/Tommy Doyle, Nelson & Tao, Palomares & Rosenberg, and Showtown Productions.

Visit OhMaryPlay.com.