Bowen Yang, the former Saturday Night Live cast member and Wicked film actor, began a 12-week limited Broadway engagement as Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola’s Tony Award-winning comedy Oh, Mary! on September 15, 2026, at the Lyceum Theatre. Yang succeeds Meg Stalter in the title role and becomes the latest in a rotating lineup of high-profile performers who have headlined the production since it opened on Broadway in 2024, including Tituss Burgess, Jane Krakowski, and Maya Rudolph.
Key Takeaways
- Bowen Yang’s 12-week limited engagement as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! runs through December 6, 2026, at the Lyceum Theatre. Yang succeeds Meg Stalter, whose run ended September 12.
- Oh, Mary!, written by Cole Escola and directed by Sam Pinkleton, reimagines Mary Todd Lincoln as a frustrated, alcoholic aspiring cabaret performer in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The 80-minute comedy won Tony Awards including for Escola’s performance in the original run.
- Yang joins continuing cast members Phillip James Brannon as Mary’s Husband, Barrett Foa as Mary’s Teacher, Bianca Leigh as Mary’s Chaperone, and returning original cast member Tony Macht as Mary’s Husband’s Assistant.
- The production, originally scheduled as a limited run, has extended through July 2027, nearly three years after its Broadway opening night. Oh, Mary! is also running in London’s West End and launching a North American tour this fall.
- Yang’s first production photos in the role were released on September 15. Yang was a cast member on Saturday Night Live for more than seven years, earning five Emmy nominations.
From Studio 8H to the Lyceum Theatre
Yang’s path to Oh, Mary! was not a straight line. Producers initially approached Yang about joining the production in 2025, but Yang turned down the opportunity due to his Saturday Night Live commitments. The timing shifted after Yang departed the long-running sketch series, where he had been a cast member for more than seven years and earned five Emmy Award nominations. Yang described the departure as a career transition, and in interviews leading up to the opening, Yang said the themes running through Escola’s script — regret, reinvention, and longing — resonated with where Yang found himself professionally.
Yang called Oh, Mary! “a deranged and profound masterpiece” in a statement released through the Shubert Organization and credited a long friendship with Escola as the connection that eventually brought the collaboration together. Yang’s screen credits also include the 2024 film adaptation of Wicked. The Broadway debut marks Yang’s first major stage role and the beginning of what Yang has described as the next phase of a career built largely in television, film, and podcasting. Yang co-hosts the podcast Las Culturistas, whose annual Culture Awards ceremony has become a fixture in the comedy calendar.
Oh, Mary! Continues to Reinvent Itself Through Casting
Since opening on Broadway in 2024, Oh, Mary! has operated on a rotating-star model, cycling high-profile performers through the title role in limited engagements. Escola originated the part, earning a Tony Award for the performance. Tituss Burgess, Jane Krakowski, Maya Rudolph, and Stalter each followed with their own runs, and each brought a distinct comic sensibility to the same 80-minute script. The approach has kept the production commercially viable and culturally visible in a Broadway market where audience attention spans for long-running shows have shortened considerably.
Yang’s casting continues that pattern. Each new Mary Todd Lincoln generates a fresh cycle of press coverage, social media attention, and ticket demand — a strategy that has allowed Oh, Mary! to sustain itself at the Lyceum Theatre far beyond its original limited-run projections. The production has now announced ticket availability through July 10, 2027, nearly three years after its opening night, a run that would have been difficult to predict for an Off-Broadway transfer built on a single comedian’s vision of a drunken first lady.
Yang’s engagement at the Lyceum also coincides with the opening stretch of Broadway’s fall 2026 season, a period loaded with new openings, revivals, and celebrity-driven limited runs that collectively shape the commercial landscape of the Theater District through the holiday months.
The Production’s Reach Now Extends Well Beyond Broadway
Oh, Mary! is no longer a single-venue phenomenon. The production is running concurrently in London’s West End, where it earned Olivier Award recognition, and a North American tour is launching this fall with an opening engagement in Hartford, Connecticut. The expansion reflects the commercial confidence producers have built around the show’s format: a tight script, a modest physical production, and a revolving door of marquee performers who each bring their own audience.
The Lyceum Theatre itself, one of Broadway’s oldest houses, has become closely identified with the show. The intimate 922-seat venue suits the production’s scale, and the historic setting adds a layer of irony to a comedy that treats American history as source material for absurdist humor. Escola’s script imagines Mary Todd Lincoln not as a historical figure of gravity but as a woman trapped in a marriage, a presidency, and a country she never asked for — one whose secret dream is to perform in a cabaret. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln is treated as an inconvenience that interrupts Mary’s personal ambitions.
What Yang Brings to the Role
Yang’s comedy background is rooted in character work and deadpan timing, skills developed across more than 100 episodes of Saturday Night Live. Yang’s recurring impressions and original characters on the show earned a reputation for physical specificity and emotional commitment to absurd premises. Those instincts map naturally onto Oh, Mary!’s tone, which requires the lead performer to hold the audience’s attention through sustained comic intensity for the full 80-minute runtime without intermission.
First production photos released on September 15 show Yang in full period costume alongside Phillip James Brannon, Barrett Foa, Bianca Leigh, and Tony Macht, the four continuing cast members who provide the ensemble framework around each rotating lead. Macht, who played Mary’s Husband’s Assistant in the original Broadway company, returns to the role for Yang’s run. The consistency of the supporting cast gives each new Mary Todd Lincoln a stable scene partnership while allowing the lead performer’s individual instincts to shape the production’s comic rhythms differently from engagement to engagement.
Yang’s run at the Lyceum Theatre continues through December 6, 2026. Subsequent casting for the title role beyond Yang’s engagement has not yet been announced.
FAQs
How Long Is Bowen Yang’s Run in Oh, Mary! on Broadway?
Bowen Yang’s limited engagement as Mary Todd Lincoln runs for 12 weeks, from September 15 through December 6, 2026, at the Lyceum Theatre. Tickets are available through the show’s official channels and standard Broadway ticketing platforms.
What Is Oh, Mary! About?
Oh, Mary! is an 80-minute comedy written by Cole Escola and directed by Sam Pinkleton. The play reimagines Mary Todd Lincoln as a frustrated, alcoholic aspiring cabaret performer in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The production won multiple Tony Awards and has been running on Broadway since 2024.
Who Else Has Played Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! on Broadway?
Cole Escola originated the role and won a Tony Award for the performance. Subsequent performers in the title role include Tituss Burgess, Jane Krakowski, Maya Rudolph, and Meg Stalter. Each performer has headlined a limited engagement, with the rotating-star model keeping the production commercially active at the Lyceum Theatre.
Is Oh, Mary! Playing Outside of New York?
Oh, Mary! is currently running in London’s West End and launching a North American tour this fall, with an opening engagement in Hartford, Connecticut. The Broadway production at the Lyceum Theatre has announced ticket availability through July 2027.
