Odds and Ends: Tony Winner Cole Escola Heads to Oh, Mary! in the West End, Sting Takes The Last Ship to London & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

The West of What?
Cole Escola is answering the brat signal. The Oh, Mary! creator will give London audiences a taste of their Tony-winning performance as Mary Todd Lincoln for a four-week limited engagement at the Trafalgar Theatre. Escola will make their West End debut on July 20 and browbeat audiences through August 15. Catherine Tate will retire the hoopskirt on July 18. Directed by Tony winner Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! has extended its West End run until January 2, 2027.

The Play Must Go On
Chris Lanceley, the longtime cast member of The Play That Goes Wrong off-Broadway who plays Chris Bean, will depart the production after over 2,000 performances. His final performance will be on July 12 at New World Stages. David McElwee will cover Lanceley’s planned absence from May 28 through July 1, and then assume the role full time beginning July 13. 

Mexodus in the Midwest
Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson's live-looping hip-hop musical Mexodus is headed to the Midwest. Directed by David Mendizábal and starring Quijada and Robinson, performances will begin November 6 at Chicago's Studebaker Theater for three weeks only. Mexodus recently won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and became the first off-Broadway musical to win the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical in 30 years.

Heller, Dolly!
Put on those Sunday clothes, people. The Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine has set a starry cast for their production of Hello, Dolly!, directed by Maggie Burrows. Tony winner Beth Leavel will play Dolly Levi alongside her husband Adam Heller as Horace Vandergelder. Tony winners Matt Doyle and Ruthie Ann Miles will play Cornelius Hackl and Irene Malloy. Rounding out the cast are David Benoit as Rudolph, Susana Cordón as Minnie Fay, Emma Crow as Ermengarde, Davey Fried as Barnaby Tucker, Ryan Lambert as Ambrose Kemper and Jessica Sheridan as Ernestina. William Carlos Angulo will choreograph the 1964 musical, which features a score by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart. The production will run from June 18 through July 18.

Do You Hear the People Sting?
Sting is headlining his musical, The Last Ship, which played on Broadway in 2014, in the West End. The show, based on Sting’s childhood experiences and the demise of the shipbuilding industry in Wallsend, will play the Royal Drury Lane Theatre from September 22 through October 3. Directed by Leo Warner, The Last Ship features music and lyrics by Sting and a book by Barney Norris and Lorne Campbell, which is based on the musical's original book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey. Rebecca Howell choreographs the production.

The Wild Party
Abigail’s Party will transfer to the West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre following a U.K. national tour. The Theatre Royal Stratford East production stars Tamzin Outhwaite, Kevin Bishop, Pandora Colin, Omar Malik and Lauren Patel. Mike Leigh’s black comedy is about suburban life, social class, materialism and sexual tension in 1970s England. Directed by Nadia Fall, the show will play a limited run from August 12 through September 19. Be sure to RSVP!