Thoughts on Nouveau - Minstrelsy
May Sixth, 2025: Thoughts on the merits 'Nouveau-Minstrelsy' Photo by Dance10LooksTHREE via Reddit Oh, Mary! Person : Titus Burgess Media : Oh Mary Tituss Burgess as Mary & Phillip James Brannon as Mary’s Husband in Oh, Mary! (Photo: Emilio Madrid) Oh, Mary! , a 2024 play written by Cole Escola, is an over-the-top farce about, and centered around, Escola’s fictionalized, self-insert(1), manic, fever dream, and utterly absurd pastiche of Mary Todd Lincoln. Escola portrays themself, through Mary, as an alcoholic and ne’er-do-well; a rakish, yet rose tinted reminiscence of Escola’s past, wrapped in the guise of a loveless marriage in which Mary’s only ‘role’ is to serve as the beard for “Mary’s Husband” in order to protect his political career(2); a role Mary’s Husband forces her to play night after night. In doing so, Mary’s Husband has shut Mary away from the world, depriving her of her one true love, cabaret, and this has driven Mary’s al...