Transcript

Mary Todd Lincoln as a cabaret star? How Cole Escola's 'stupid' dream came true | Fresh Air

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· 35 min · 5,253 words · 36 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Mary Todd Lincoln as a cabaret star? How Cole Escola's 'stupid' dream came true | Fresh Air", an episode of Fresh Air published May 23, 2025 (35 min, about 5,253 words). It mentions 15 people, works and ideas, including Cole Escola, Mary Todd Lincoln, Pulitzer Prize, Klatskani, Oregon, Grapes of Wrath.

What this episode is about

The Broadway comedy "Oh Mary," written and performed by Cole Escola, presents a whimsical and anachronistic portrayal of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, focusing on her desire to express herself through cabaret amid the turmoil of her husband's presidency and the Civil War. With its campy and imaginative approach, the play has garnered five Tony Award nominations and critical acclaim for its unique blend of humor and historical fiction.

Key takeaways

  • Oh Mary flips historical accuracy on its head, proving that comedy thrives on subverting shared expectations.
  • A fictionalized Mary Todd Lincoln yearns for cabaret fame, highlighting how society's narratives can overshadow personal dreams.
  • Escola's journey from cabaret to Broadway shows the power of niche art in reshaping mainstream storytelling.
  • Dramatic license helps 'unlearn' history—who knew neglectful parenting could be a comedic goldmine?
  • Set against the backdrop of a war, the absurdity of a First Lady chasing dreams challenges norms—why not get sensational?

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Mary Todd Lincoln, Pulitzer Prize, At Home with Amy Sedaris, Difficult People
  2. – 15:00: Klatskani, Oregon, Joe's Pub
  3. – 20:00: Grapes of Wrath, Missoula Children's Theater
  4. – 25:00: Fiddler on the Roof, Grapes of Wrath, Limizer Rob, Little Shop of Horrors
  5. – 30:00: Mary Todd Lincoln
  6. – 35:00: Cole Escola, Mary Todd Lincoln

Notable quotes from "Mary Todd Lincoln as a cabaret star? How Cole Escola's 'stupid' dream came true | Fresh Air"

  • Our guest today, Cole Skola, wrote the play and stars as Mary. Escola uses they them pronouns. They spoke with Fresh Air's Enry Baldinado.
    about Cole Escola · at
  • Broadway in 2024 before transferring to Broadway. In addition to all the Tony nominations, the play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama. Kollescola first came up in…
    about Pulitzer Prize · at
  • Yeah. Yeah. So, there was this monthly cabaret show called Our Hit Parade at Joe's Pub, and it was 10 different cabaret or musical or performance artists performing the top 10…
    about Joe's Pub · at
  • Cole, can you describe where you grew up in Oregon? yeah. I grew up in a town called Klatskani, Oregon. It's also the birthplace of Raymond Carver, by the way. So, you will see…
    about Klatskani, Oregon · at
  • Week a year. but then yeah, my first professional acting job was in a production of Grapes of Wrath.
    about Grapes of Wrath · at
  • Now you were in shows like you said you were in Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors, Limizer Rob. Like what kind of parts did you play? H well because I was a you know for all intents and.
    about Fiddler on the Roof · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Cole Escola — Person · Main guest · 1 mention · first at
    Playwright-performer interviewed about their Broadway comedy "Oh Mary," their cabaret/alt-comedy background, and portraying a fictionalized Mary Todd Lincoln.
  • Mary Todd Lincoln — Person · Central character (historical figure reimagined) · 6 mentions · first at
    The play’s protagonist is an intentionally improbable, camp reimagining of the former First Lady, used to explore ambition, repression, and comic subversion of shared historical expectations.
    Should definitely look elsewhere because this play is a reimagining based on very few facts. Here the first lady is depressed, sad, beside herself and constantly drinking not…

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • Missoula Children's Theater — Company · 1 mention · first at
    There we didn't have performing arts in our town in Klatskani. but there was this company called Missoula Children's Theater and every year they would two adults from this…

Places & events

Media & podcasts

  • Search Party — Media · 1 mention · first at
    To the city 20 years ago. They also gained a cult following through their online shorts. They have starred in shows including Search Party, Difficult People, and At Home with…
  • Difficult People — Media · 1 mention · first at
    Gained a cult following through their online shorts. They have starred in shows including Search Party, Difficult People, and At Home with Amy Sedaris and have written for…
  • At Home with Amy Sedaris — Media · 1 mention · first at
    Online shorts. They have starred in shows including Search Party, Difficult People, and At Home with Amy Sedaris and have written for shows like Hacks, Z-Way, and The Other…
  • Z-Way — Media · 1 mention · first at
    People, and At Home with Amy Sedaris and have written for shows like Hacks, Z-Way, and The Other Two. Colola, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you for having me. I couldn't have put…
  • Fiddler on the Roof — Media · 1 mention · first at
  • Little Shop of Horrors — Media · 1 mention · first at
    Now you were in shows like you said you were in Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors, Limizer Rob. Like what kind of parts did you play? H well because I was a you know for all intents and.
  • Limizer Rob — Media · 1 mention · first at
    Now you were in shows like you said you were in Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors, Limizer Rob. Like what kind of parts did you play? H well because I was a you know for all intents and.
  • Hacks — Media · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. The Broadway comedy Oh Mary is nominated for five Tony Awards, including best play and best leading actor in a play. The comedy follows a very fictionalized, intentionally improbable version of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln in the time leading to her husband's assassination. Our guest today, Cole Skola, wrote the play and stars as Mary. Escola uses they them pronouns. They spoke with Fresh Air's Enry Baldinado. The New York Times calls the play Oh Mary unhinged, so campy, and so unexpected. They've also called it one of the best comedies in years. Those looking for a close to historically accurate version of Mary Todd Lincoln should definitely look elsewhere because this play is a reimagining based on very few facts. Here the first lady is depressed, sad, beside herself and constantly drinking not because of the civil war or even the deaths of her children. She longs for her only true

love cabaret. And her husband, the president, will try anything to stop her. Just another ploy to keep me from drinking and tucked away in the drawing room where no one can see me. Contrary to what your paranoia tells you, I'm not some evil mastermind conspiring to keep you miserable. When you keep me off the stage, you make the whole world miserable. God, for God's sake, Mary, how would it look for the first lady of the United States to be flitting about the stage right now in the ruins of war? How would it look sensational?

That's Tony nominee Kascola as Mary and Tony nominee Conrad Rickamura as Abraham Lincoln. Kascola first received rave reviews for Omary when it premiered off Broadway in 2024 before transferring to Broadway. In addition to all the Tony nominations, the play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama. Kollescola first came up in the cabaret and alt comedy scenes of New York after moving to the city 20 years ago. They also gained a cult following through their online shorts. They have starred in shows including Search Party, Difficult People, and At Home with Amy Sedaris and have written for shows like Hacks, Z-Way, and The Other Two. Colola, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you for having me. I couldn't have put it better myself. That is exactly who I am. Okay, great. Well, do you remember when you first learned about Mary Todd Lincoln and what you learned about her or at least like what your early memories of

were of her or the president? She's one of those people that that everyone just has sort of background knowledge of, you know, like Mrs. Claus or like, you know, toasters have two slots. It's just things you accept. Um, and those kinds of things and people are what interests me most because I guess comedy relies so much on expectation that um, if I know there's a shared expectation by the wide audience, then it's easier to subvert it. Well, can you talk about how you first came up with the idea? I think it was in uh, 2009. Yeah. I don't remember what sparked it. I just remember walking around Lincoln Center and I had the thought, what if Abraham Lincoln's assassination wasn't such a bad thing for Mary Todd? And it was just an idea that tickled me so much. And originally in my mind it was the seed of an idea for like Mary's second chapter like like a sort of um Nancy Meyers style divorce romcom like what did Mary Todd

Lincoln do after you know like she fully leaned into herself and then yeah slowly over 12 years I kept having other little ideas that eventually added up to the play. Now, in an article about the play, one writer says, "Escola mauls American history, and you, you know, you do take dramatic license." Um, when people ask you if you did research, you joke that you've tried to unlearn what you already knew, but can you talk about why you did not want to do research? Well, um, because it's a comedy and I I I had to make something with the same understanding that my audience has, like everyone in New York City, uh, I have seen the first 20 minutes of Ken Burns a Civil War documentary. And I do remember learning bits of information about her coming to New York, you know, during wartime and spending outrageous amounts of money um shopping for furniture and clothes and, you know, people in the government and people in America sort of

being angry at her for doing that at, you know, during wartime. And I I don't know. I just really related to her. Yeah. And she also remodeled Yes. the White House, right? With new china and new drapes. Yeah. I mean, she was stuck there. What was she supposed to do? I I sort of feel for her in a way that like the only option she was given is sit there and look sad. Sit there and be the nation's sadness. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's another thing that you kind of learn is that she was a grieving woman. I mean, even before her husband was assassinated, she had children who died young. She was grieving. She suffered from mental illness. Like, were those also parts of the inspiration for the play? You know, the the grieving mother stuff I 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. Um, and that that solved that. Um, they both do. They both

do. Yeah. They both hate their kids. And um, and then, you know, funny enough, I read something not long ago about how the the Lincoln 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. And 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. This play is very personal. Well, you you've said Mary is me. Yeah. How is this play about you? Um this play is about a woman with a dream that no one around her understands. um 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. Yes. 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 everyone 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 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 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. Um, 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 the curls in the wig are high and tight and they bounce in the most obnoxious, petulent way. And um the skirt is um so big and and cumbersome and yet light enough that I can rip it around like I'm um a Tasmanian devil um in a tornado.

I want to unpack what it is about cabaret that Mary loves and maybe that you love too. Like 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 it's about personal storytelling. Yeah. It's about the story of the song rather than the singing mostly. And Yeah. Well, like Mary, you are a well-known cabaret singer and you came up through this downtown New York scene with people like Bridget Everett and Murray Hill, who people might know from the HBO series Somebody Somewhere, among other things. Can you describe what that scene was like? This is the mid to late 2000s, yeah. Yeah. So, there was this monthly um cabaret show called Our Hit Parade at Joe's Pub, and it was 10 different cabaret or musical or performance artists performing the top 10 Billboard songs of the month, doing their own

interpretations of those songs. And um it was a monthly show, usually, you know, like over half of the same people and then a few, you know, special guests. Um, and we did that every month for like 3 years and I was a a a regular guest. And it's truly like I didn't go to school, but I feel like that's where I cut my teeth, so to speak, and learned like how to perform and how to write for an audience. Well, there's footage online of you performing at the last show in 2012, which was kind of a celebration of, you know, the show coming to an end. Would you mind if we played a little bit of your performance?

I I um I'll let you do that. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thanks. When I was three, my uh dad chased my mom and uh me and my little brother out of our trailer uh because he thought the government was after him. They weren't. But um we ended up going to my grandmother's. Anyway, uh actually we made a pit stop at my mom's AA sponsor's house, but that's for a different show. And um I remember when we got there, I was really scared and confused cuz I wasn't sure, are we living here now? And um I remember going to my mom and telling her that I was really scared and afraid. And she gave me the best piece of advice that I've ever received.

And um she she said, "Cool go away." And um 15 years later, I did. I moved here to New York City. I followed um Yes. That was seven years ago. And four years ago, I came on this stage and uh did my first our hit parade and I sang this song. Take a deep breath as I walk through the doors. It's the morning of the very first day. Say hi to my friends who I ain't seen in a while. Try and stay out of everybody's way. It's my freshman year and I'm going to be here for the next four years in this town. Hoping one of the senior boys will smile at me and say, you know, I haven't seen you around before. Cuz when you're 15 and somebody tells you he loves you, you're going to believe them. That's Kola Skola performing in 2012. I love that performance and the joy of you singing a Taylor Swift song.

That's the Taylor Swift song 15 about being in high school. I I mean listening to that I wanted to um jump out of a window. Um, that was 13 years ago. It was It was It was a long time ago. Look, I would have done that a lot differently now and I would have done it differently knowing that other people would listen to it later. Well, I will say that I would pay good money to hear you sing the Taylor Swift's song book, all the all the phases. I'll see you at Carnegie Hall in a couple years. Yes. Cole, can you describe where you grew up in Oregon? Um, yeah. I grew up in a town called um Klatskani, Oregon. It's um also the birthplace of Raymond Carver, by the way. So, you will see a lot of similarities in our work. Um uh but it is a very rainy mill town. It's a it's a gas station on your way from Portland to the coast. It's like 1500 people, lots of trees, and nothing much else. And that story that you tell on stage um

during your cabaret act, is that true? You were young. Do you have memories of that? I do have memories of that. And I remember being excited that we were going to my grandma's because I didn't like um the trailer where we lived and I didn't like my father. And you ended up living with your grandmother. Yeah. And my grandmother and I um shared a bedroom and um she taught me how to read and Yeah. Well, you said that you loved to hear your grandmother's stories. What were some of your favorite stories that she would tell you?

Um, she told this story a lot about her 10th birthday um when she found out her dad had a stroke and died um working in some sort of mine um in Canada. And um then there was also a story about how she really couldn't see. Her eyesight was really bad, but her family um couldn't afford glasses. But then one day a doctor came to town and gave her a free pair of glasses. These aren't great stories. It was always the way that she told them and the details and the way she, you know, she disappeared into the story in the in the telling of it. like um um and I and you know we didn't have a lot of money. We didn't have a lot of money and mom made $3 a month. $3 a month. Six kids and $3 a month. And the the just the seriousness. I mean I'm laughing because I'm just now realizing it was a cabaret act. I I'd never put that together. That was my first exposure to Cabaret was hearing my grandmother with Alzheimer's retell me

stories about her childhood in Alberta, Canada. Well, I read that you used to stay at home on Mondays because on Mondays your grandmother would have lunch with her friends and you really wanted to hang out with them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would go to lunch with them. I I don't know why my mom I'm sure she knew. I mean, it was it was literally every Monday of second grade that I would say, "I'm sick. I need to go to grandma's." And um we would go to um this burger joint or the diner um with uh my my grandma Irene and her friends Ruby, Grace, and Shirley. In your comedy, you often do characters that are middle-aged women like Mary and like these women that you're speaking of. Do you think your appreciation for women of that certain age sort of began with your grandmother and her friends?

Oh, I I mean undoubtedly. I I wanted I mean I wanted to be with them. I wanted to be them. I I just they were and they because they also loved me. They loved I was so precocious and they were always just shower. I mean, I after my grandmother um her her Alzheimer's got really bad and she had to move into a nursing home and the you know, the sort of group of gals split up and all went their separate ways um because of health issues. I started going to church by myself. I was like 11 years old because I needed that validation from older women. I needed I needed someone um you know brewing coffee for the group to look at me and say, "Well, aren't you just so polite?" Um that was uh that was life to me. Did you actually become religious then or were you in it for the social? A little. No shade either way. No, no, no.

A little of both. I mean, I definitely remember in that period I was praying a lot to God to make me bisexual. Um, I knew my my attraction to men was so strong. I knew I was like, "Well, there's no way even God can take that away. I'm not asking you to take anything away. Just give me please an attraction to women. I and I will and I will only act on that. I promise." um which you know in retrospect is of course sad but also um now that I'm safe um it's amusing. When did you find performing? I think your first play was when you were 11. My that was my first professional acting job. Um but uh when I was I think five there we didn't have um performing arts in our um town in in Klatskani. Um, but there was this company called Missoula Children's Theater and every year they would uh two adults from this theater company would come to town for one week and in that one week they would do auditions on Monday and the show was on

Friday and um I just lived for that one week um a year. Uh but then yeah, my first professional acting job um was in a uh uh production of Grapes of Wrath. Um I played Winfield Jode and it was in a town 30 miles away from Klatskai where I grew up and during that time my grandmother lived in a nursing home and it was close and it was much much much closer to the theater. um than where I lived. So some nights after rehearsals I would stay over at her nursing home. What was it like being a kid in the nursing home? Well, I wasn't sure that I was allowed to to be there.

Like I I I knew I could visit. I I was pretty sure I wasn't allowed to spend the night. Um but I did anyway. And and it felt um it was weird. I I was I was lying to so many adults just so that I could be in this play. I I think I I lied to my mom and I told her like, "Oh, no, the play feeds us." And meanwhile, I wasn't eating because I knew if I said, "I need money for food." She would say, "Well, we can't do that. I'm sorry you can't do this play." And you know, I lied to the adults in the play, saying like, "Oh, yeah, no, I can stay with my grandma in the nursing home, so I can I can be late at rehearsal." and just 11 years old trying to um um keep everyone in the dark about my um the fact that I was a child.

Well, you know, Grapes of Wrath, a serious play. Um you but you like you're saying, but you ended up finding community there, like an extended family almost. Yeah. the this this woman that played um Rose of Sharon, her name was Susan. She bought me food on our meal breaks every day. And um she never like it was never an issue. I never asked her. She just she saw what was going on. And um uh yeah, so she would she would buy me food and then other actors would give me rides to my grandma's nursing home. And um I was in heaven.

Now you were in shows like you said you were in Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors, Limizer Rob. Like what kind of parts did you play? H well because I was a you know for all intents and purposes at the time a boy who could sing. I was always cast as, you know, like like a the romantic male lead like Matt in the Fantastics or Marius and Lay Miz. Seymour on Little Shop was a little fun because at least I got to um dance a tango um with Mr. Mushnik for Mushnik and Son. So I got to be I got to be girl in that one number. But um yeah, for the most part, I I played these really boring parts that didn't speak to me or spark me at all. And um and sort of for that reason, I I I didn't pursue acting after high school. I didn't think that that's what I wanted to do. So when you sort of pictured yourself as a performer in the future, it wasn't as an actor in plays. No, I I I didn't even picture

myself as a performer. I I just I I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, but I was like, "Oh, okay. So, if I want to be an actor, I'm going to have to go to school and learn how to move less gay and talk less gay and play these boring boy parts." And um I was like, I don't think I don't think I want to do that. Well, you've said that you always associated quote unquote theater with pretending to be straight. Yes. That that's what you're talking about. Yeah, even back then you felt that way. Yeah, especially back then. Um, now I I I don't at all. And um, you know, I would play the stage manager in our town like a bitter, old, jaded queen and um, not think nothing of it. Well, I read that. In fact, go ahead. Someone please produce that. I I would love to try that out. Well, when you first were in New York, you weren't sure that you wanted to be performer. What then inspired you to become one, to start

making viral videos, which is what you did? Um uh well, it was a a couple things there. There was um I was miserable. I was like I was truly suicidal. I was bulimic, you know, and I was walking around near Bloomingdales and um I remember I was having these like thoughts about like not wanting to be alive. And then I started having those thoughts in a character's voice. Um a voice not unlike my grandma and her friends. Um, and I I came up with this character, Joyce Connor, who was a really sort of cheery, innocuous middle-aged woman who um was uh just kept having to put off her suicide because um so many things kept popping up over the weekend. Um, and that for some reason was like this huge release valve. Like it both allowed me to feel what I was feeling, but also relieved me from feeling burdened by what I was feeling.

Well, you were part or maybe still are part of what New York Magazine called at the time a wave of new queer comedy with comics like Bowen Yang and John Early and all the people you've been mentioning in the 2010s, I guess. Were there places where queer comedians would perform outside of what could be considered quote unquote mainstream comedy clubs, whatever that means? I actually kind of predated it a little bit. You know, I was MCing folk shows as characters at um dive bars. I I just sort of went where I was invited or like where um I felt like I could get in. I never I never sought out um new ground to break. I I was just like I want to do this thing that I want to do.

Where can I do it there? Okay, I'll make it good and hopefully if I make it good, people will come. I imagine that the shows that you you were doing as being places where friends would gather and try to make each other laugh and maybe be silly and or absurd as much as possible. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I I didn't really and still don't identify really as as a comedian because it's hard for me to just like plug and play, as they say. Like just like take what I do and stick it in a lineup. like I would I would perform with these, you know, other brilliant comedians like Bowen and John and Julio Torres and um Joel Kim Booster and Matt Rogers, but you know, the list goes on and on. Um, but I always felt a little like um they were doing their old aunt a favor, letting her bring her wigs and do her little characters and then and it was hard to like it's hard to win an audience over by, you know, standup is you're talking

to the audience and then I come on in a wig and put up a fourth wall and it's like, what? Ew, go away. Well, is it out of this, you know, community that Omary became possible? Like, did you workshop it and try it out in smaller venues or did Omary kind of come out fully formed? It basically came out fully formed for three years. I did a solo sketch show um every month at the duplex. And I did it at the duplex because if you got over 60 or 65 people, they let you keep 100% of the door cuz they made money off the two drink minimum. I I truly did it cuz I was like, "Oh my god, I can perform and make like $900 a month." Um, and so I set this um challenge up for myself that I would write a whole new hour every month. And I did that and it was so challenging and maybe the most like fun, rewarding thing that I ever did for myself. But but in writing sketches, I sort of learned how I think a scene

should work. And then after doing those shows for 3 years, I thought, I wonder if I can build a show of scenes like this that makes sense. al together with an arc, but that also are, you know, like tight funny scenes. Basically a sitcom. I wanted to see if I could write a sitcom. And is a play a sitcom? Yeah, sitcoms are plays. I mean Oh, other way. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think plays predate sitcoms. You'll have to fact check me on that. Um, get your research department on the phone. But, um, yeah. Yeah. Was it surprising to you? Like, did you ever in your mind imagine that that that it would become this phenomenon that it is? Never. Never.

Ever. Ever. I mean, who who would ever think like, okay, Cole, a a a a play where you're in drag playing Mary Todd Lincoln as a wannabe cabaret star. I think you should pursue this as a big Broadway hit. Like that. I mean, absolutely not. We were like over the moon that we got eight weeks at the Lucille Lortell Theater. And I'm I still think that's really cool. I can't believe that we we did get that. Um but like yeah, I I still can't really wrap my head around it. And I'm I'm leaving the show June 21st is my last performance. And I'm I'm slowly starting to wrap my head around the whole experience and um I will say I've been crying a lot.

Well, you left the show earlier this year, took a few months off, but then you came back. I'm wondering if when you first left, did you know you were leaving the role for just a short period of time and coming back? because it's rare for original cast members to return to a show after leaving. I well I wanted to come back because I was like I want to close the show. I thought this was when we were like, "Okay, we're closing at the end of June." And, you know, we we intended to do this show 8 weeks off Broadway and then once it was going well, we were like, "Oh my god, I hope we can extend 3 weeks." And then we went to Broadway and then suddenly it's I was doing the play for a full calendar year.

I had projects like scripts that I had promised that I had been paid to write um that I didn't write because I was like well I'll do it after the 8week omary run and then okay well I'll do it after the 3we extension and I was just like I need I need a break. I I also had to move out of my apartment. I was like, I just need time to like get all of these things back in order and then I want to come back to the show and say goodbye to the show and and close it. When you first took your break, you handed it off first to actress Betty Gilpin and then to actor Titus Burgess.

Yes. What was it like handing off the role that you wrote for yourself? I was scared. I don't know. I was scared for for all the reasons. I like um what if they're like what if they don't quite get it or what if they like what I I I don't know. I I I was just I was scared because I didn't know what to expect. And then the way that they both embraced this role like it's like it was their dream role

um is so satisfying. And I've said this before, but like as someone who is always begging their friends to like please be in my movie, like can we please like make this um little movie? can we please like put a skit together for the talent show? Um, to now have like two of my favorite actors in the world, Betty Gilpin and Titus Burgess, who are both so deep and so funny, take on a role and and like love it as if it was given to them by um, you know, Mike Nichols or George Cucor. Um, it it's like I can't think of a better feeling.

What is making you so emotional about leaving the show? I mean, it is something you've devoted so much time to for decades. Um, I can't believe that my big break came from doing what I wanted to do, like not compromising. I I always assumed that if like, you know, I ever had any sort of quote unquote real career success, you know, I would be the gay best friend on a sitcom I'm embarrassed to talk about on a panel. But, um, it's also the best thing that's ever happened to me in my whole life. So, I I am excited to write what's next.

Cole Escola, congratulations on the Tony nominations and thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Cole Escola spoke with Fresh Airs Henry Bodonado. Escola will play the role of Mary Todd Lincoln until June 21st. Oh Mary continues its Broadway run through September. This is fresh air.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Mary Todd Lincoln as a cabaret star? How Cole Escola's 'stupid' dream came true | Fresh Air"?

Terry Gross (Host), Cole Escola (Guest), Henry Baldonado (Guest).

What is "Mary Todd Lincoln as a cabaret star? How Cole Escola's 'stupid' dream came true | Fresh Air" about?

The Broadway comedy "Oh Mary," written and performed by Cole Escola, presents a whimsical and anachronistic portrayal of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, focusing on her desire to express herself through cabaret amid the turmoil of her husband's presidency and the Civil War. With its campy and imaginative approach, the play has garnered five Tony Award nominations and critical acclaim for its…

What is mentioned in this Fresh Air episode?

15 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Cole Escola, Mary Todd Lincoln, Pulitzer Prize, Klatskani, Oregon, Grapes of Wrath, Search Party. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Mary Todd Lincoln as a cabaret star? How Cole Escola's 'stupid' dream came true | Fresh Air"?

The episode runs 35 min; the transcript is about 5,253 words in 36 timestamped sections.

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About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.