America’s most anarchic First Lady has spent almost a year in residence at London’s Trafalgar Theatre, but her chaotic desire for cabaret stardom shows no sign of letting up in this energetic Broadway import.
For this performance, Geri Allen stepped in to fill Mary’s shoes with usual lead Lolly Adefope indisposed. Across a blistering 80 minutes, Allen fiercely brought to the fore Mary Todd Lincoln’s hysterical character, running, shouting, and swearing her way across the stage in a hyperbolic parody of one of the States’s most famous presidential spouses.
Yet while most accounts of the Lincoln presidency fixate upon the struggles, morals, and assassination of Abraham, Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! instead thrusts his wife into the spotlight in a madcap, fictitious romp regarding her alcoholism, her desire to return to the stage, and the increasingly acid-tongued tirades flung between husband and wife. Indeed, Mary’s character is so central that Escola’s script names all the other characters after her in the possessive form. Abraham Lincoln (Syrus Lowe) here, for example, is known simply as ‘Mary’s Husband’, in a deft nod that rewrites Mary’s narrative while cleverly acknowledging the invented nature of this historical parody.
The result is a delightfully funny comedy, riotous in form and punchlines, with increasingly outlandish skits, aided by an inventive farce-style set design made of dots, that propel the production with limited seriousness but an impressive amount of heart as Mary seeks to tread the boards once again.
Making her debut as Mary, Geri Allen soars, looking at home as she brims with frantic energy that, despite the need for chaos, never boils over into anything banal or forced. Allen’s control of Mary is effortlessly enjoyable, ranging from her deranged desire for whiskey to the enjoyable torment of her chaperone Louise (Lucy Frederick, scene-stealing during the revelation of the character’s darkest desire), through to her gloriously silly acting lessons with her dashing acting teacher (a neat twist when his true identity is revealed, played by a greatly melodramatic Vinnie Heaven).
Lowe’s portrayal of Abraham is typically goofy here too. At first, he represents a man on the edge, terrorised by civil war both outside and inside the White House, yet his growing infatuation with assistant Simon (Alex James Ellison) delivers the play’s most eye-popping, blushing punchlines. Abraham’s desperate prayers often end with amusingly lewd final moments, blending creativity and crassness in a way that reflects Escola and director Sam Pinkleton’s overall achievement.
Indeed, the casting change from Mason Alexander Park, who originated Mary at the start of the show’s West End run, to Allen adds a slight sense of maturity to both the protagonist and the marriage. Mary and Abraham appear much closer in age here, and as a result Mary’s desperation to escape her husband’s confines feels more authentic, which propels the slapstick comedy forward with vigour.
Almost a year from its arrival on this side of the Atlantic, Oh, Mary! feels as though it has settled down into a more comfortable understanding of how to make British audiences laugh. The hysteria has diminished ever so slightly, but the pauses for breath and some of the more subtly delivered expressions, gestures, and gags offer a welcome break from the breathtaking madness of it all.
While the final two scenes are enjoyable, they feel a bit too long, and in the end the piece still struggles to match the momentum of the rest of the show. Nevertheless, Oh, Mary! still delights with its bold style and rightfully puts Mary Todd Lincoln’s name in the spotlight once again.
Seatplan gifted the tickets for this review, but that had no impact on the context of my review or my rating.
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