History Gets Hilariously Rewritten: Sam Pinkleton, Alaska Thunderf*ck & J. Harrison Ghee Bring Oh, Mary! to the West Coast

By Cesar A Reyes

San Diego is about to meet Mary Todd Lincoln—and not the Mary Todd Lincoln you learned about in history class. Oh, Mary!, the wildly irreverent Broadway comedy that turns one of America’s most recognizable historical figures into an aspiring cabaret singer with a drinking problem and plenty of attitude, arrives in San Diego September 29 through October 4. For audiences who have heard the buzz but have never made the trip to New York, the national tour offers a chance to experience the show that has become one of Broadway’s biggest—and queerest—surprises.

At the center of the tour are director Sam Pinkleton, Alaska Thunderf*ck, who plays Mary for the first half of the tour, and J. Harrison Ghee, who begins the tour as Mary’s husband before eventually stepping into the title role. Together, they are taking Oh, Mary! beyond New York and bringing its outrageous brand of comedy to audiences across the country. For Pinkleton, the journey has a personal resonance. Growing up in a small town in Virginia, theater entered his life through national tours that came to the nearest city. “New York is not the only place where great things happen,” he says. “Our cities across America deserve that joy as well.”

That idea is at the heart of this tour. Oh, Mary! is the kind of show that benefits from being experienced rather than explained. The less you know going in, perhaps, the better. Pinkleton describes it as a show filled with surprises, making that first experience especially memorable. “I’m so pumped for people to see this, having no idea what they’re getting into,” he says. And judging by the reaction the show has received since its New York run, San Diego audiences may want to buckle up.

For the uninitiated, Oh, Mary! is a “deeply historically inaccurate comedy” set during the final days of Abraham Lincoln’s life. In the world created by playwright Cole Escola, Mary Todd Lincoln is not simply a grieving First Lady navigating the turmoil of the Civil War. She is an alcoholic aspiring cabaret singer determined to pursue her dreams, no matter how badly the world—or her husband—may want her to stop. The result is a collision of history, absurdity, camp and unapologetic queer humor.

Alaska Thunderf*ck understands exactly why the role has connected so strongly with audiences. Escola created Mary as a vehicle for a queer performer, writing a character that could exist outside the narrow expectations often placed on queer artists. “I’m really, really thankful that Cole invented this role,” Alaska says. “It’s clearly very, very true and very specific. And I think that specificity is what has made it so universal.”

That specificity is also part of what makes Oh, Mary! more than just a comedy. Underneath the ridiculous costumes, outrageous situations and intentionally twisted history is a story about someone refusing to be confined to the role other people have assigned to her. Mary wants to sing. She wants to perform. She wants to be seen. And she is willing to cause a spectacular amount of chaos to make it happen.

For J. Harrison Ghee, the opportunity to inhabit both sides of the story takes that idea even further. During the first half of the tour, Ghee plays Mary’s husband. Later, Ghee takes over the role of Mary. It is an unusual theatrical challenge, but one Ghee embraces as an opportunity to explore the many sides of identity and performance. “I’m excited to get to show the multifaceted that exist in me as an artist and a human,” Ghee says. “We live in a world that often puts limits and labels on us, that keep us compartmentalized.”

That freedom is one of the reasons the show’s queer sensibility feels so natural rather than forced. The production doesn’t stop to explain its queerness. It simply exists. Ghee describes that as part of the liberation of queer performance: “We get to be that reflection to humanity that, like, hey, you can free yourself as well.” In Oh, Mary!, queer artists aren’t being squeezed into a traditional story. They are reshaping the story themselves.

And Alaska has a simple explanation for why queer voices have such a powerful place in the arts. “Queer people make really good stuff,” Alaska says. “I think that, like, the queer community makes the world a more beautiful place and a more livable place.” For Alaska, Oh, Mary! is part of a much longer story of queer artists creating work that eventually finds its way into the mainstream. The show may feel fresh and completely unexpected, but its spirit comes from generations of queer theater makers and performers who created boldly, often without much money or recognition. “We’ve always been here,” Alaska says.

That sentiment is particularly meaningful as the production heads to San Diego, a city with its own deep LGBTQ+ cultural history and a community that knows how powerful queer storytelling can be. The tour isn’t simply bringing a Broadway hit to town; it’s bringing a show built around the idea that queer joy, absurdity and freedom deserve a place in the spotlight.

Audiences shouldn’t expect a quiet evening at the theater. When asked why people should see Oh, Mary! in person, the answer from the cast is proud and upfront. “If you’re thinking about getting a ticket, you should probably do it because I think they aren’t going to last very long,” Pinkleton says. Alaska takes the invitation one step further: “Why? Like, you want to not have a nice time? That sounds like something to talk to your therapist about.”

So, San Diego, consider yourself warned. From September 29 through October 4, Oh, Mary! brings its gloriously wrong version of American history, its big queer heart and its completely unhinged comedy to town. Come for Mary Todd Lincoln. Stay for the cabaret, the chaos, and the reminder that sometimes the best way to rewrite history is to laugh at it.