Fresh Air
Cole Escola's 'Stupid' Dream Came True With 'Oh, Mary!'
Mon, 19 May
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Escola gives former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln a wild second act in the Tony-nominated play Oh, Mary! "This play is about a woman with a dream that no one around her understands," Escola says. The actor spoke with Ann Marie Baldonado about growing up in rural Oregon, the inspiration for the play, and making sense of its surprise success. Maureen Corrigan reviews Ocean Vuong's new novel, The Emperor of Gladness.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
What is the story behind 'Oh, Mary!'?
You know, the grieving mother stuff, I mostly – I didn't want to have to, like, cast children or figure out children. So I just sort of decided, oh, she hates her kids. And that solved that. They both do. They both do. Yeah. They both hate their kids. And then, you know, funny enough, I read something not long ago about how the Lincolns were, you know, neglectful parents, like –
Abraham would just let them run rampant in his work study when he was a lawyer. This is literally based on like reading three sentences of an article. It's true then. And so it's true. And I'm saying it on NPR. Yes. Well, you've said that this play is very personal. And I'll say it again. It's very personal. Well, you you've said Mary is me. Yeah. How is this play about you?
This play is about a woman with a dream that no one around her understands. A dream that the whole world is telling her is stupid and doesn't make any sense. And I feel that way.
You've also said that the feeling that Mary has, that everyone is annoyed with her, is something that you relate to. Because Abraham thinks that Mary is too much and her dreams are too much. And you worry about that with the way people felt about you.
Yeah, this play is about a person that everyone thinks is annoying, which is my worst fear. So I'm sort of playing out, basically, can the audience root for someone... annoying. Can a character be so incredibly annoying and you still root for them? But is part of it that Mary, you know, she just wants to express herself. She wants to live her truth. Yeah.
While, you know, when in her marriage, her role in society, her gender have sort of prevented her from doing any of that.
Yeah. Yeah. And that also applies to the rest of the characters in this play. Every one of these characters is dealing with... a deep secret desire that they think they shouldn't have. You know, Abraham Lincoln's sexuality. Every character in this play has a want that they think they shouldn't want. For people who haven't seen you as Mary, can you describe your wig and your dress?
They're like so fun to put on and run and jump around in. I mean, the curls in the wig are high and tight and they bounce in the most obnoxious, petulant way. And the skirt is... so big and cumbersome and yet light enough that I can rip it around like I'm a Tasmanian devil in a tornado.
I want to unpack what it is about cabaret that Mary loves and maybe that you love, too. What sets cabaret apart from other kinds of performing? There are some things that are maybe factual about cabaret. You know, it's intimate. There's interaction with the audience. It's about personal storytelling. It's about the story of the song rather than the singing mostly. And yeah.
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