Playbill: Great days are officially ahead in 2027! The live stage film of Oh, Mary! will debut on HBO and stream on HBO Max next year. The play was filmed in London's West End July 28, with writer and original Broadway star Cole Escola in the title role. Sam Pinkleton re-created his Tony-winning direction for the screen version as well. A premiere date is to be announced.
7 comments:
I think there's a really good thing about filming theatre performances. In a way yes it can be harmful towards the core of theatre which is live entertainment. But there are also limitations to who can see live performances especially broadway ones when they only stay in one place and traveling as well as tickets are quite expensive. Streaming theatre performances on HBO Max or other streaming websites I think actually works really well as publicity towards encouraging people to go see the live performance of it. A similar style of releasing a video of the performance to encourage people to come see it live was done with Hamilton. It boosted the show to an all time popularity and made the show accessible to people all over the world spreading the joy and experience of live theatre in a minuscule amount. Hopefully Oh Mary! Sees the same success as past video performances.
I love that this show is getting a proshot. This show is so incredibly original, funny, and smart, With subtle and not so subtle political commentary. It is extremely important to make theater, especially new original plays, to a wider audience. It allows young people to see that theater is not just about musicals or traditional Shakespeare plays, it can be about anything. While I think that bootlegs can be both harmful and helpful, proshots make the production more successful and be given to a much wider audience not just around the country but around the world. This show has made such a good living by rotating a completely new cast in and out with stars like Bowen Yang drawing audiences from all over. Cole Escola who is starring in the pro shot has won a tony award which is so great. And this is the first time he is reprising the role since winning.
I am so excited for the filmed version of Oh, Mary! to come out. I’ve been dying to see this show, and while I’m hoping to get a chance to see it live, I think it's wonderful that Oh, Mary! Is being filmed and will be more widely accessible. I also think it's interesting that Cole Escola is reprising the role of Mary Todd Lincoln for the filmed version, although it is not that surprising since they won a Tony Award for their portrayal of the role in 2025. While I don’t know much about Oh, Mary! I’ve heard so many good reviews, and I’m especially interested in the wide variety of people who have portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln over the course of the show's run. I think it's really cool that so many people who come from such different performance backgrounds have brought Mary Todd to life, and I’m intrigued by the similarities and differences in each of their performances.
I am really excited about this release! I’ve wanted to see Oh, Mary! Since it opened but have never gotten the chance to. I am also really happy that Oh, Mary! Is following the pro-shot line. While controversial, I really think that pro-shots are making theatre a lot more accessible to people. Not a lot of people have the funds to go to New York or England, much less pay for a really expensive ticket. By having theatre accessible like this it opens more opportunities for others to fall in love with theatre at home while they get to watch a production in good quality. To this day I will watch glitchy bootleg recordings of musicals for the fact that I want to be able to watch them, when I was younger it was how I found new shows and even got to get more interested in theatre. I really hope many many many more productions follow suite and record proshots to be distributed on streaming services for more accessible theatre for all.
I’m really excited for the pro shot of Oh, Mary! I have been wanting to see it live and have yet to get the opportunity. While watching recordings of these shows doesn’t compare with watching live theatre, I think having recordings of shows available for people to watch is a great way to make theatre more accessible. To me watching pro shots have typically made me more excited to try and find an opportunity to watch the show live. I have watched many pro shots of shows I have seen before and of shows that I then saw live after having watched the pro shot. Recording shows is also great for archival purposes, knowing what has been done before can help inspire new innovation in art. There are so many "classic" shows that I have yet to see because they haven't been produced anywhere near me since I’ve been old enough to watch them. Having filmed recordings of shows allow me to see more shows that otherwise I never would have.
I am slightly nervous about such a well known play like Oh, Mary! getting a digital release while still being newer to the Broadway and theater world. I am concerned that this may affect sales of the show as now anyone can view it any place and any time compared to seeing the show live. I am not against the idea of theater being filmed and released, I did go see Hadestown in theaters, but I think the main factor is timing. Doing it for a certain anniversary or with certain cast members makes it a bit more acceptable in my book. Releasing Oh, Mary! now after just two years seems to go against the whole idea of going out to see it live. Though the recording is with Cole Escola, and to capture their performance is important, I am unsure of this decision to release the recording now. Oh, Mary! is currently also one of the most popular shows on Broadway so I think the show should keep riding that high versus focusing away from their live shows.
I think it’s great when theatre gets filmed, it puts it into a way more accessible medium for a lot of people, I’d say it’s easier for the average person to see a film on their tv subscription at home than to travel to a specific theatre to see a show. That isn’t to say that I think the medium of film is better just that it’s easier to consume, I do think some shows absolutely need to be seen live for the full experience but I think that for the ones that aren’t after their runs are over releasing them online sounds like a really good idea. I’ve been seeing a lot more of this lately with musicals as welll, Hamilton, six, hadestown all got movies in theatre of their pro shoots and from what I’ve heard they’ve all done really well so I hope we get more in the future
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