Cole Escola

When my wife and I went to see Oh, Mary! off-Broadway this spring, I thought, How can this possibly be as funny as everyone and their mother has told me it is? And then—oh, my God—it was funnier! Playing Mary Todd Lincoln as a lascivious, alcoholic, untalented, wanna­be cabaret performer in a tight, 80-­minute romp that combines drag, U.S. history, Shakespeare, vaudeville, and, yes, cabaret, the singular Cole Escola has penned the most creative, unexpected, outrageous, and funniest play to hit Broadway since I don’t know when. And as an actor, I can tell you that Cole’s jaw-­dropping rendition of their unlikely chosen role is a lesson to thespians everywhere in what committing to a character really looks like. Their boffo hit combined with their recent bravura fashion triumphs have made them very much the person of the moment. When you look up tour de force in the dictionary, there is now simply a picture of Cole.

Nixon is a Tony-, Grammy-, and Emmy-­winning actor and activist