John Cameron Mitchell to Join Oh, Mary! as Mary Todd Lincoln

Tony-winning actor, writer and director John Cameron Mitchell will be the next Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! Mitchell's 12-week engagement at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre will run February 3 through April 26, 2026.

“Cole Escola and Sam Pinkleton are the wild horses that dragged me back to drag and I couldn't be happier!” said Mitchell in a statement. “As the most mature Mary yet, my days are filled with working the StairMaster™, mainlining Ozempic® and mastering my Brilliant Dialogue©. ‘Line?!’ Thank you, Cole, may I do you proud mangling your classic!”

Mitchell co-wrote and starred in the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, winning a Special Tony for his performance, and wrote, directed and starred in the 2001 film adaptation. His other Broadway acting credits include The Secret Garden, Six Degrees of Separation and Big River. His screen acting work includes Girls, Mozart in the Jungle and Joe vs. Carole. He also directed the 2010 film Rabbit Hole, starring Nicole Kidman, adapted from David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.

“Welcoming John into this cast feels both delicious and somehow inevitable,” said Tony-winning director Sam Pinkleton. “So many of us in the Oh, Mary! Universe, myself very much included, wouldn’t be where we are without John’s work, which reshaped what live performance could look and feel like for generations of tender weirdos. He’s a queer trailblazer, cultural icon, brilliant actor—and, most importantly for his new role, a giant idiot.”

What is the collective noun for a group of Mary Todd Lincolns? A cabaret? A blunder? A conga line? Mitchell joins an esteemed company of idiots who have donned the role's now-iconic bratty curls, including the Tony-winning original star and playwright (and Missy Piggy fan) Escola, along with current Mary Jane Krakowski (through January 4), Tituss Burgess, Betty Gilpin, Hannah Solow and Jinkx Monsoon, who returns to the show for an encore engagement on January 8. Solow will play the title role on January 6 and 7. 

The current cast features John-Andrew Morrison as Mary's Husband, Jenn Harris as Mary's Chaperone and Tony Macht as Mary's Husband's Assistant.

Oh, Mary! opened on Broadway on July 11, 2024 at the Lyceum, the theater where A Doll’s House had its Broadway premiere in 1905 and whose boards have been trod by legendary actresses such as Ethel Barrymore and Helen Hayes. 

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