Following the news that playwright Cole Escola, who penned the latest Broadway hit, Oh, Mary!, will be stepping down from the lead role as Mary Todd Lincoln, Emmy-nominated actor Betty Gilpen announced she will be filling the shoes for a limited run as the leading lady. Gilpen will debut as Mary Todd on January 21, 2025, and will appear for eight weeks in the hit show.
Oh, Mary! Will mark Gilpen’s first time on the Broadway stage, though she has an illustrious theatrical background, appearing in off-Broadway productions of I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard and Heartless.
The show has had a successful year-long run on Broadway, something director Sam Pinkleton never could have imagined. Though Gilpen has big shoes to fill, Pinkleton is confident that her acting and Escola’s writing will hold up nicely. “From my position, the not-so-secret secret is that Cole wrote an extraordinary play,” he said. “It’s a tight, sharp, well-structured old-fashioned comedy. And these don’t come along very often. And at the center of this good old-fashioned play is a great part. One of the great parts!”
The role is a dream come true for Gilpen, who never thought she’d make a Broadway appearance, let alone in one of her favorite productions. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” she said. “My agent texted me, ‘Would you be interested in going in for Oh, Mary!?’ And my hands started shaking, and I wrote back, ‘What … part…?’ I saw the ellipses as he was texting, and my eyes filled with tears, and I thought, ‘He’s going to write ‘Mary.’ And when it came through, I completely burst into tears.”
Gilpen will be making her Broadway debut in the same theater where her father made his—in 1978 as an understudy. She is most excited for her family, especially her mother, to watch her as Mary in the show. While some might be nervous, she is confident that her family’s support and Escola’s excellent writing will carry her through all her performances.
“While it’s silly and ridiculous and over the top, Cole has also written – just pure bones-wise – a brilliant play and has provided a map for Mary on the page,” Gilpen said. “It’s a delusional river moving 6 million miles per hour, and you just have to jump in, and the play takes you. I’ve never been more afraid and more sure of something. There is a Mary in all of us, and I’m going to do mine
