'Oh, Mary!' Sells Out the Ahmanson Before Opening — and It's Coming Back in 2027

Nearly every seat for the nearly month-long Los Angeles run of "Oh, Mary!" at the 2,100-seat Ahmanson Theatre sold out before opening week began. The Ahmanson has already announced a return engagement in 2027 to meet the demand.

That is not routine for the venue. But "Oh, Mary!" — Cole Escola's comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln and her thwarted show-business ambitions, directed by Sam Pinkleton — has been an outlier since it became Broadway's toughest ticket immediately upon opening in early 2024, after a smash off-Broadway run.

The national tour arrives in L.A. after stops in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, with drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck in the title role. Pinkleton, in an interview with Variety, said the larger houses may actually serve the show.

Does a 2,100-seat theater kill the comedy?

Pinkleton admits he feared the opposite. "I honestly thought it was gonna be a disaster on Broadway," he said of the move to the Lyceum, which has less than half the Ahmanson's capacity. "I really thought it wouldn't translate. But I actually think it plays better on Broadway than it did in a small theater."

Having seen the tour at the Curran in San Francisco, he is more confident now. "I was a bit nervous about it in these big theaters, but... the play is not what one would call subtle, so it really works in these big rooms," he said. "It's also just so fun to be with that many people laughing."

He rejects the idea that big touring houses diminish the work. "If you go to the theater in Charlotte, a 3,000-seat theater, that's your theater," he said, recalling his own education watching national tours in Richmond, Virginia.

What does the casting change for the role?

The succession of Marys over two and a half years has ranged from drag performers to cis women: Hannah Solow, Betty Gilpin, Jinkx Monsoon, Tituss Burgess, Jane Krakowski and Meg Stalter have all played the part on Broadway. Pinkleton said the first replacement choice taught the team something. "Betty completely got it and approached it like she was doing Chekhov, and it was so, so funny. By having Betty be the first replacement, I think it taught us how good the play is."

Alaska was one of the first names he raised once it became clear others would play the part. "I know Alaska as a great actress," he said, praising her discipline: "She has this super over-the-top, wacky, absurd public persona. But she is the most disciplined, rigorous performer... she's taking it so seriously."

Why does it appeal beyond the expected audience?

Pinkleton says he did not anticipate the breadth of the audience at all. "We made it for a short run downtown, and were delighted that our dumb friends wanted to come," he said. Only on Broadway did he notice the shift: "These people are, like, Aunt Kathy who took the train in and wanted to see a Broadway show. And Aunt Kathy's laughing at dick jokes, and that felt great."

His explanation runs against the hype. "When people come to me and are like, 'It's groundbreaking, it's radical!,' I'm like, 'It's actually not. It's a play with a couch,'" he said. "It has a bit of Carol Burnett in it, it has a bit of 'The Muppet Show' in it, it has a bit of 'I Love Lucy' in it."

He also defends the play's earnest streak. "It's great when people laugh at the play, but I love when people are moved by it," he said, adding that Mary's situation — "a feeling of believing something about yourself so intensely that everybody else thinks is a joke" — is broadly relatable.

What else is Pinkleton directing?

"The Rocky Horror Show" is his 10th Broadway show, currently running alongside "Oh, Mary!" His slate ahead is crowded:

• "Ceilidh," a Scottish participatory dance musical opening in London
• "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at City Center with David Hyde Pierce, Ayo Edebiri and Danielle Brooks
• The 50th anniversary Broadway revival of "Annie" next year, which he calls "a demented cousin of 'Oh, Mary!'" — "bright-eyed and exuberant and nasty, and it behaves badly, and it's got teeth"

He is careful not to let the phenomenon set expectations. "I've said to so many people involved in 'Oh, Mary!' who have this as their first Broadway show or their first play, 'Guys, it isn't usually like this. Don't get used to this,'" he said.

What the sell-out proves, on his account, is narrower than the word "phenomenon" suggests: a well-built farce, a disciplined lead, and enough seats for the laughter to spread. Los Angeles will test that thesis twice — now, and again in 2027.