Producers Kevin McCollum & Lucas McMahon and Mike Lavoie & Carlee Briglia, along with Broadway at The National announced today that Tony Award winner J. Harrison Ghee will star as “Mary Todd Lincoln” when Oh, Mary! comes to Washington, DC for a strictly limited engagement from February 9-21, 2027 at The National Theatre. Additional casting will be announced in the coming months.
“I have seen Oh, Mary! three times and relished the beauty of this show — how different people shine so brightly in these roles, and yet you see the influence of Cole all over the production. The opportunity to get a crack at Mary Todd Lincoln is beyond a dream come true,” said J. Harrison Ghee. “We all possess so much within us. If we surrender to circumstances, we will find the possibility for expansion beyond belief. We are going to set the road on fire with this electrifyingly hilarious play.”
Written by Tony and Olivier Award winner Cole Escola and directed by Tony Award winner Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! opened on Broadway on July 11, 2024, and continues to play at the Lyceum Theatre, where it became the first show in the theater’s 121-year history to gross more than $1,000,000 in a single week. Oh, Mary! has since broken its own box office record thirteen times and became the first show of the 2024-25 Broadway season to recoup its investment. Oh, Mary! opened to rave reviews in London’s West End on December 18, 2025, and won the 2026 Olivier Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play.
Oh, Mary! is a dark comedy about a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unrequited yearning, alcoholism, and suppressed desires abound in this one-act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln through the lens of an idiot (playwright Cole Escola).
The full creative team includes dots (Scenic Designer), Holly Pierson (Costume Designer), Cha See (Lighting Designer), Daniel Kluger (Sound Design and Original Music), Drew Levy (Sound Designer), Leah J. Loukas (Wig Designer), Addison Heeren (Props Supervision), and David Dabbon (Musical Arrangements). Casting by Henry Russell Bergstein, CSA.
Oh, Mary! is produced by Kevin McCollum & Lucas McMahon and Mike Lavoie & Carlee Briglia with Bob Boyett, The Council, Jean Doumanian Productions, Nicole Eisenberg, Jay Marcus & George Strus, Irony Point, Richard Batchelder/Bradley Reynolds, Tyler Mount/Tommy Doyle, Nelson & Tao, Palomares Miller & Rosenberg, and ShowTown Productions.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT OH, MARY!
“You’ll be losing your mind with joy.” —The New York Times, Critic’s Pick
“The funniest show on Broadway.” —New York Post
“★★★★★ The funniest play in years. Oh, Mary! is dizzyingly, breathtakingly funny, the kind of funny that ambushes your body into uncontained laughter.” —Time Out New York
“A singular work of virtuoso comedy that is as inventive and shrewd as it is absolutely stupid.” —The Daily Beast
“There’s funny, there’s very funny, and then there’s Oh, Mary!” —Deadline
“80 minutes of almost uninterrupted laughter. A work of genius.” —The Hollywood Reporter
“Unquestionably the funniest, gayest, campiest play Broadway has seen in years.” —Variety
“Oh, Mary!’s sharp writing, breakneck pace, and campy performances keep the theater in hysterics until the curtain falls.” —Queerty
Oh, Mary! runs February 9-21, 2027, at The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC. Tickets to the DC premiere of Oh, Mary! are available now exclusively for season ticket holders and groups of 10 or more. Individual tickets will go on sale this fall. Sign up for the Oh, Mary! presale, get season tickets, or book your group of 10 or more online.
ABOUT J. HARRISON GHEE
J. HARRISON GHEE (Mary Todd Lincoln) (they/them) won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, making history as the first non-binary actor to be nominated and win in this category for their role as Daphne/Jerry in Some Like It Hot, a role which also garnered them Grammy, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as Drama League and Chita Rivera Award nominations. Recently J. starred in the world premiere of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as well as the Off-Broadway smash Saturday Church. Ghee was selected by Billy Porter to star as Robyn/Kevin on the hit FOX series Accused and previously played the series regular of Kwame on Netflix’s Raising Dion. On Broadway, they starred as Lola in Kinky Boots, created the role of Andre Mayhem in Mrs. Doubtfire, and have dazzled audiences in roles such as Velma Kelly in Chicago and Johnny Hooker in The Sting, opposite Harry Connick, Jr. Ghee hopes that something they do or say reaches the heart of at least one person to inspire them to dream big and go full-out for those dreams.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL THEATRE
Located on Pennsylvania Avenue, The National Theatre opened in 1835 and is the nation’s oldest venue still presenting touring Broadway.
Nederlander manages and programs the theater, including the Broadway at The National series. The name “Nederlander” has been synonymous with great entertainment since 1912. Led by James L. Nederlander, President, Nederlander continues the tradition of operating historic theaters, as well as producing and presenting the best in theatrical entertainment and concert events.
