Cole Escola Jokes at Tony Awards 2026 That the Marys in “Oh, Mary!” ‘Are Competitive with Each Other’

NEED TO KNOW

• Cole Escola appeared at the 79th annual Tony Awards on June 7

• Speaking to New York Magazine, the Oh, Mary! writer-performer joked that all the stars playing Mary Todd Lincoln in the play “hate each other”

• “That’s what I want,” they added. “Show business is built on spite.”

Cole Escola encourages competitiveness in theOh, Mary!community.

The writer-star of the hit Broadway play joked that the various performers taking on the role of Mary Todd Lincoln “hate each other” at this year’s Tony Awards on June 7. 

“They are competitive with each other,” quipped Escola, 39, in a video shared by New York Magazine from the red carpet. The titular role in the Sam Pinkleton-directed production now playing at the Lyceum Theatre is currently occupied by Maya Rudolph in her Broadway debut.

Hacks star Megan Stalter will take over the role for a 10-week engagement starting in July. 

Escola — wearing a voluminous coordinating set with ruffles and a bow in bright pink — jokingly said, “You should see some of the things that Maya has said about Meg Stalter, some of the things Maya has said about me.”

Rudolph, 53, “has been the most competitive so far, I would say,” they added.

The twist is that Escola encourages the kind of desperate cattiness that the onstage Mary Todd Lincoln herself embodies. “That’s what I want,” the Tony winner told New York Magazine. “You know, it keeps it alive. And show business is built on spite, is what I always say.”

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Oh, Mary! reimagines Mary Todd Lincoln as a hard-drinking woman dreaming of becoming a cabaret star. It originated Off-Broadway in January 2024 before appearing in its Broadway iteration that June.

An eclectic list of stars have succeeded Escola in the show: Betty Gilpin, Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, Jane Krakowski, John Cameron Mitchell and longtime understudy Hannah Solow have each played the titular role. The production is also currently playing an Olivier Award-winning run in London’s West End.

“I feel like I’m just going to kind of wing it,” Stalter, 35, told PEOPLE at The Abbey 35th Anniversary Party in May. “I don’t think I’m going to even learn the lines because I feel like you just get up there and kind of like, do it.”

The 2026 Tony Awards air on CBS and stream on Paramount+.

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