Review Round-Up: OH, MARY! at the Trafalgar Theatre

Transferring to the West End after a successful Broadway run, Oh, Mary! is Cole Escola's anachronistic and outrageous historical comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln in the days leading up to Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Mason Alexander Park stars as Mary, with Giles Terrera as Lincoln. Sam Pinkleton directs.

What are critics saying about Oh, Mary?

WhatsOnStage

“There is nothing else like it in the West End”

★★★★

Sarah Crompton wrote, “I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like Oh, Mary!. And that’s an entirely good thing.” She found it “silly, irreverent, and utterly irresistible, full of shocks and surprises.” It works perfectly as “a piece almost entirely without sub-text, a celebration of the camp, queer humour”, as well as “a wonderful example of physical theatre, with director Sam Pinkleton controlling each joke, each vigorous movement and every gesture with absolute precision.” She acknowledged that it “won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it isn’t meant to be.”

Read the review here.

The Stage

“Joyfully kooky oddity”

★★★★

Holly O’Mahony thought this “brisk and playful production” was “weirdly wonderful”, with Mary presented as “a fabulous creation, the kind of loose cannon by whom you’d happily be led astray, and in whose unabashed petulance you’d revel with glee.” She wrote, “There’s more than a hint of panto dame to her melodrama too.” Park, she thought, is “riveting”, and “physicalises the dichotomy of her external boredom and internal wildness”. She concluded: “this joyfully kooky oddity leaves you wanting more.”

Read the review here.

Financial Times

“Ridiculously funny melodrama”

★★★★

Sarah Hemming called it “a wickedly camp, historically outrageous and ridiculously funny melodrama”, which offers a “deliberately silly and provocative version of events.” She thought it was “utterly daft and relies on top-drawer performances to keep the plates spinning.” She found Mason Alexander Park “fabulous” as Mary, calling them “a fine comic actor, can wring several minutes entertainment out of trying to climb down off a desk, but also, importantly, a great deal of pathos.” Of the rest of the cast, she wrote, “each of them walks a line between arch comedy and earnestness.” She concluded, “this is a show about feeling trapped in a world that doesn’t understand you, whoever you may be.”

Read the review here.

Mason Alexander Park in OH, MARY! at the Trafalgar Theatre. Photo by Manuel Harlan.

London Box Office

"A distinctly irreverent mash-up"

★★★★

Stuart King thought the play was “crammed to the rafters with historical facts and tidbits”, but is also “wholly unapologetic in taking liberties and adding a sizeable slug of creative licence.” He called it “a distinctly irreverent mash-up of known period details and a ton of crude, lewd and downright jaw-dropping scenes.” He thought Giles Terera’s portrayal of Lincoln brought “the greatest surprise and loudest laughs”, while Park as Mary “nails every biting put-down, scathing rebuke and sharp observation with a natural aptitude for comic timing and movement which would be the envy of the best farce actors.” “The show,” he wrote, “is delivered at a zany, Gattling Gun pace, with precision timing from the entire company.”

Read the review here.

The Telegraph

“The funniest performance in the West End”

★★★★

Dominic Cavendish called it “the show London didn’t know it needed” and thought “Mason Alexander Park gives the funniest performance in town.” He also praised the “set designs that exude tongue-in-cheek period fidelity, and thundering piano-music interludes that form a running joke about 19th-century theatricals.” He wrote, “The camp frivolity, the arch gags, and OTT behaviour spell pure artifice yet in a way that expresses a relatable type – people not allowed to be themselves.” He thought it felt “more like a quirky footnote” compared to Hamilton, but overall found it “funny, but oddly touching too.”

Read the review here.

The Independent

“Hysterical, captivating Broadway smash”

★★★★

Alice Saville wonders, “Could this be the new ‘Hamilton’?” She wrote, “This imaginary version of Mary is a captivating creation”, played by Park “with the dark energy of a crinolined poltergeist.” Terrera, meanwhile, is excellent at “wittily capturing the hypocrisy of a powerful man who wanted to marry an interesting woman – then make her life as dull as possible.” She thought “Escola’s writing fizzes with confidence and brash, crude wit”, with equal parts “unexpected tenderness” and “jarring darkness”. She thought the show was “full of queer, subversive and very silly twists”. While the “initial energy peters out, a little, towards the end” and the “glitzy finale” feels “dangerously close to showboating”, she found it overall to be a “fabulous confection”.

Read the review here.

Oliver Stockley, Kate O'Donnell, Giles Terrera, and Mason Alexander Park in OH, MARY! at the Trafalgar Theatre. Photo by Manuel Harlan.

TimeOut

“A great cast salvages this bafflingly overhyped ’70s-style Broadway comedy”

★★★

Andrzej Lukowski felt the humour in “this lurid cabaret” was “lost in translation” for him. “Really it’s broad, dated humour salvaged by a tremendous cast,” he wrote, and didn’t find Lincoln’s portrayal as a “a cartoonishly repressed gay man” to be particularly funny. He was full of praise for the cast, however, calling Park “a marvel: pinging around the room like a human special effect.” He also enjoyed the physical comedy and thought Park could “hold a stage effortlessly and with impressive physicality”, while it was “fun” to watch Giles Terera “ham out as a frazzled Abe.” All in all, he didn’t think it lived up to the hype.

Read the review here.

The Guardian

“US history lewdly revised as American Pie-grade comedy”

★★

Like Lukowski, Arifa Akbar was less impressed, and thought the play was “loaded with obvious jokes and squanders the talents of its cast.” She wrote, “The camp comedy contains less subversion, more American Pie-levels of puerile humour.” She felt the show didn’t amount to anything beyond “the retro naffness and cartoonish stereotypes”. She was disappointed that we “learn next to nothing of how Mary may have been held back or shaped by history in this apparently “revisionist” version.” She did appreciate the cast, and thought the show has “an undeniable musical talent in Park”, which was wasted here.

Read the review here.

The Times

“The best thing about this US import? It’s brief”

★★

Clive Davis also thought “the script and jokes remain ridiculously thin”. He wrote, “Sam Pinkleton’s production is really a Saturday Night Live sketch stretched to improbable lengths.” He did think Park was “a charismatic performer”, with “no lack of sparkle”. “Every line is milked for maximum effect, every gesture is delivered with leering intensity,” he wrote. He thought “some of the physical humour is worth a chuckle”, but overall found Oh Mary! to be “infantile” in comparison to a show like Titanique.

Read the review here.

Oh, Mary! is playing at the Trafalgar Theatre until 26th April 2026. If you enjoy plays and musicals with a splash of history thrown into them, check out our list of Theatre Shows Inspired by True Stories and Real People and get up close and personal with some more historical figures onstage.