The hit Broadway comedy “Oh, Mary!” is coming to Chicago in 2027.
A touring production will play at the CIBC Theatre (18 W. Monroe St.), although Loop theater owner Broadway in Chicago has not yet announced dates or when tickets will go on sale.
“Oh, Mary!” is a dark comedy about an unhinged and miserable Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. It was written by Cole Escola, who starred as Mary when the play first opened on Broadway in summer 2024. Nominated for five Tony Awards, it won best actor for Escola (the first nonbinary winner in the category) and best direction for Sam Pinkleton.
“Pretty much everything in this show is hilarious,” wrote the Tribune’s Chris Jones in his review of the New York production at the Lyceum Theatre, where it continues to play through July 5. “The massed forces of the Confederacy are no match for Cole Escola’s chaotic version of Mary Todd Lincoln, a wild-eyed wannabe cabaret star marinated in whisky, paint thinner and self-delusion.”
The first North American tour, announced Tuesday, has only been scheduled so far for Hartford, Connecticut, and Las Vegas in the fall. Casting for the tour also has yet to be announced, but is unlikely to include Escola. Unusually for a touring Broadway show, the running time is a short 80 minutes, no intermission.
dgeorge@chicagotribune.com