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After 11 years away from the Broadway stage, John Cameron Mitchell is back treading the boards. The Tony Award winner recently returned as ‘Mary Todd Lincoln’ in the hit play Oh, Mary! and visited Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk all about it.
“Hedwig [and the Angry Inch] was harder, but this is really hard,” said Mitchell about the challenging eight-show week schedule. “You got to be a nun, as Ethel Merman said, when you do the show. So most of my time is lying around preparing, resting, watching reruns of The Wire.”
He also spoke about his character, which has been previously played by several other actors including Cole Escola, Tituss Burgess, and Jane Krakowski, among others. “I saw Jinkx Monsoon do [it]… and I realized it could be done in different ways… So Sam [Pinkleton], the director, really allowed me to make it my own and my version was that she’s kind of self-school. She’s homeschooling in a finishing school and she’s failed miserably,” he shared, noting comedic inspirations like Carol Burnett and Madeline Kahn.
Watch the full interview, where Mitchell also discusses his musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the 25th anniversary of the film version, and officially announces upcoming live director’s commentary events, which will take place this year in cities such as Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and more. More information about the events can be found here.
Mitchell will appear in the play through Sunday, April 26, with Simu Liu, who makes his Broadway debut in the role of ‘Mary’s Teacher’, appearing through Tuesday, April 21, at the Lyceum Theatre.
Mitchell and Liu join continuing cast members John-Andrew Morrison (‘Mary’s Husband’), Jenn Harris (‘Mary’s Chaperone’) and Tony Macht (‘Mary’s Husband’s Assistant’).
Written by Tony Award winner Cole Escola, and directed by Tony Award winner Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! opened on Broadway on July 11, 2024 at the Lyceum Theatre, where it became the first show in the theater’s 121-year history to gross more than $1,000,000 in a single week.
