Cheyenne Jackson on the Filthy Fun and Full-Body Buzz of Oh, Mary!

Cheyenne Jackson is back on Broadway in Oh, Mary! and buzzing—his word. He describes it as a full-body charge the moment he returns to New York, a jolt of inspiration and familiarity that makes two decades feel like a blink. “It feels like 20 years just zoomed by,” he said.

These days he’s based in Los Angeles and known to millions as a TV hunk—from American Horror Story opposite Lady Gaga to the sitcom Call Me Kat—but at heart, Jackson is a Broadway baby. He still speaks with real affection about those early years: the ensemble of Thoroughly Modern Millie, standing by in Aida, and then the breakout trifecta of All Shook Up, Xanadu and Finian’s Rainbow. Aside from briefly stepping in for his late friend Gavin Creel in Into the Woods in 2022, Oh, Mary! marks his longest Broadway stretch in more than 15 years.

And what a return. Jackson never imagined himself as Mary’s Teacher; when he saw the show a year and a half ago, he was too busy trying to breathe. “I couldn’t believe how funny it was and how filthy it was,” he said. “It felt so downtown and subversive.” Then out of nowhere, director Sam Pinkleton—who helmed Jackson in La Cage aux Folles at Pasadena Playhouse—called. Jackson assumed he meant Mary's Husband aka Abraham Lincoln. Instead? A left turn he instantly loved. It lets him play off the “hunky” image audiences have assigned him for years without being defined by it.

Reuniting with Jane Krakowski as Mary Todd Lincoln has only deepened the thrill. Their connection goes back to an early Xanadu workshop, and Jackson says her instincts still floor him. “She doesn’t just listen—she aggressively listens,” he said. “If I give her anything even slightly different, she’s right there. It’s electric.”

Offstage, Jackson is navigating the longest stretch he’s spent away from husband Jason Landau and their nine-year-old twins. Thanks to the time difference and the show’s short running time, he still makes bedtime on FaceTime. His son is currently a “hey, bruh” soccer kid; his daughter, Willow, is a budding artist. “Being a father is my favorite job,” he said.

Turning 50 has added its own layer. At the stage door, Jackson meets young queer fans taking in something he knows would’ve blown his mind at their age. “My little queer brain would have exploded seeing a show like this,” he said. “Now I’m a gay elder,” he added, amused. Visibility matters to him—on Broadway and in his new Brooklyn-set queer zombie film Queens of the Dead from director Tina Romero. “The most important thing right now is just to be visible.” 

That ethos carries into his next big moment: his solo debut at Carnegie Hall on December 8. Jackson calls the night “unzipping my guts”—an autobiographical concert tracing his path from a childhood “out in the woods with no electricity and no running water” to Broadway, TV and everything in between. Krakowski and Jessica Vosk will join him, as will his mother and sister, with whom he grew up singing. “They’re wearing gowns,” he said. “I’m getting their hair done.”

For now, Jackson is savoring every night of Oh, Mary! through January 25, 2026—having just extended his role. “It’s like a rock concert every night,” he said—and yes, the buzz is very real.

Watch the full interview below!

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