While rehearsing for 'Oh, Mary!,' playwright Cole Escola talked to their personal hero Charles Busch about playing the wives of famous men.
, Escola’s rare comedic gifts are on full display in the role of Mary Todd Lincoln, who hides liquor around the White House as the president, in the thick of the Civil War, secretly gets blow jobs from twinky White House aides and tries to curb his wife’s alcohol consumption. She also dreams of being an actress, an ambition President Lincoln only indulges to keep her busy and out of his hair.
BUSCH: It’s interesting that both of our plays are rather similar in a sense. My play is about the wife of Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright. And just to cover my ass, I’ve subtitled it “an irresponsible biographical fantasy.” That clears me on anything, because really I’m not a research kind of person. I read this one 850-page book. I loved Ibsen’s plays, but I didn’t know anything about him.
ESCOLA: I think that would destroy me, too. I am way more sensitive as a performer, almost to the point where I’d rather not perform. Someone came up to me after our third or fourth preview last night, and said, “Oh, I didn’t realize you’re still in previews. I’d love to come back when Mary really grows.” And I thought, “Oh, she was apologizing for coming to a preview because she felt she should have come later.
ESCOLA: It’s funny you say that because I realized yesterday, when I put a new line in the show yesterday, right in the middle of it, and I was like, “Okay, I need to burn this into my brain before the show starts.” Then it was getting me so worked up and I realized, “Wait, I wrote it, whatever. It’s fromBUSCH: I’m curious about something. Now, I know Sam Pinkleton, your director.BUSCH: I haven’t seen him in many years.
BUSCH: I loved watching classic film on TV from the earliest age. I bonded very easily to Bette Davis and Norma Shearer. BUSCH: About a year ago, Garbo’s apartment was once again on the market. And I saw on Facebook that a friend of mine, an author who writes about classic film, knew the realtor and he’d spent some time in Garbo’s apartment. I immediately messaged him and said, “How can I get in there?” He arranged for me to call the very kind realtor. So I went over there and her apartment was still pretty much intact.
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