West End hit Oh, Mary gets filmed release on HBO in 2027
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HBO has confirmed further details of its 2027 broadcast of a filmed version of the hit comedy "Oh, Mary!", revealing it will capture the 28 July 2026 performance at London's Trafalgar Theatre, with writer-star Cole Escola reprising his role as Mary Todd Lincoln. The special will air on HBO and stream on HBO Max, though no exact premiere date has been set. The move reflects HBO's confidence in the show, which has become one of the biggest stage hits in recent years across Broadway and the West End.
The recorded cast also includes Giles Terera, Bianca Leigh, Tony Macht and Michael Urie, alongside executive producers Escola, Alex Bach, Daniel Powell, Carlee Briglia, Mike Lavoie, Kevin McCollum and Lucas McMahon. The 80-minute dark comedy, which reimagines Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks before her husband's assassination, opened Off Broadway in January 2024 before transferring to Broadway's Lyceum Theatre, where it broke its own box office record fifteen times and became the first show of the 2024-25 season to recoup its costs. Its West End run began in December 2025, and a North American tour is due to launch this month.
- HBO will air a filmed "Oh, Mary!" performance in 2027
- Captures the 28 July 2026 London Trafalgar Theatre show
- Cole Escola reprises his Mary Todd Lincoln role for the special
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Oh, Mary! is a satirical comedy imagining an alcoholic, frustrated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks before her husband Abraham Lincoln's assassination, played for laughs rather than history. It was written by and stars Cole Escola, a comedian and actor who has become closely associated with the role. The show began Off Broadway in early 2024 before moving to Broadway, where it drew large audiences and strong reviews.
Its success led to a West End production in London, opening in December 2025, and a touring version in North America. HBO, the American television network known for prestige drama and comedy, has now arranged to film a London performance for broadcast, a common way for hit stage shows to reach audiences who cannot see them live.
The wider significance is that filmed theatre releases like this can extend a stage show's cultural reach well beyond the relatively small number of people who can attend in person, while also serving as a marker of a production's commercial and critical success.
Full account
HBO has announced that it will broadcast a filmed record of Oh, Mary!, the acclaimed stage comedy written by and starring Cole Escola, with the special due to arrive on the network and its streaming service, HBO Max, in 2027. The recording was made during a performance on 28 July 2026 at the Trafalgar Theatre in London's West End, with Escola reprising the central role of Mary Todd Lincoln that they originated when the show first opened.
Escola is joined in the filmed version by Giles Terera as Mary's Husband (a barely disguised Abraham Lincoln), Bianca Leigh as Mary's Chaperone, Tony Macht as the Husband's Assistant, and Michael Urie as Mary's Teacher, a role Urie previously played on Broadway. The production is directed by Sam Pinkleton, who staged the original Broadway run and has now overseen this screen version too. Escola described the news as a chance to widen the show's audience, joking in a statement that "knowing about Oh, Mary! is the first step in getting rid of it", while Pinkleton spoke of childhood theatre fandom and called the project a fitting continuation of that passion, adding that he was thrilled to see the show and its star "immortalised on televisions".
Oh, Mary! reimagines Lincoln's wife as a frustrated, drink-loving cabaret hopeful counting down the days to her husband's assassination, and has become one of the most talked-about comedies of recent Broadway and West End history. It began life off-Broadway in early 2024 before transferring to Broadway's Lyceum Theatre that July, where it is still playing; Escola and Pinkleton both won Tony Awards for their work on the production. The play later opened in London, where it picked up an Olivier Award for best entertainment or comedy play, and a North American touring production is getting under way around the same time as the HBO announcement.
The news was accompanied by a comic teaser in which Escola, in character as Mary Todd Lincoln, turns up at HBO's offices demanding to stage the play there, only for the sketch to reveal a cameo appearance from Sex and the City stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon. HBO executive Nina Rosenstein also issued a statement praising the show's originality and calling it "meticulously choreographed chaos", while the West End's touring version of the role has already passed through a string of well-known performers, with the Broadway production currently led by Meg Stalter ahead of a handover to Bowen Yang later in September.
Where outlets differ
Only Source 1 describes HBO's promotional teaser video featuring Cole Escola alongside Sex and the City stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon; Sources 2 and 3 make no mention of it.
Only Source 3 includes a quote from HBO executive Nina Rosenstein praising the show, and only Source 3 provides detailed box office statistics (record-breaking weekly grosses at the Lyceum Theatre, recouping its investment, and its reported $4,525,000 capitalisation) plus mention of an imminent North American tour.
Only Source 2 notes the current and incoming Broadway leads (Meg Stalter, soon succeeded by Bowen Yang) and specifies that the London production won an Olivier Award for best entertainment or comedy play.
The sources give slightly different dates for the play's off-Broadway premiere (Source 1 says February 2024, Source 3 says January 2024) and for when the London production opened (Source 2 says simply '2025', Source 3 specifies December 2025).
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