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Broadway’s smash hit Oh, Mary! has announced a nearly two-month extension following rave reviews. Initially set to close September 15, Cole Escola’s comedy will now perform at the Lyceum Theatre through November 10.

The twice-extended Off Broadway campy comedy transferred to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre July 11 after beginning previews July 26.

It was also announced today that Oh, Mary! has broken the all-time box office record at the Lyceum Theatre, grossing $1.05 million for the week ending July 21, besting the record held by 2022 Tony Award-winning best musical A Strange Loop.

Written by and starring Escola and directed by Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary! stars Escola as, according to the synopsis, “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...

There’s funny, there’s very funny, and then there’s Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola’s riotous new comedy that brings more laughs to Broadway than all the Gutenberg!s, Edelmans and Birbiglias combined. You can throw in Shucked for good measure.

Escola, low-key famous these last few years through YouTube videos, late night appearances and gigs for TV’s The Other Two and Difficult People, ups the career stakes immensely with Oh, Mary!, opening tonight at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre. With nods and hints to Charles Busch, the late, great and forever Ridiculous Everett Quinton, the Sedaris siblings, Carol Burnett, Pee-wee Herman and Absolutely Fabulous, Escola squeezes just enough juice from their influences for a mix that is entirely fresh and not to be missed.

Following its acclaimed and sold-out Off Broadway engagement at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Oh, Mary!, directed by Sam Pinkleton without so much as a split second wasted,...

Everett Quinton, a staple of New York’s post-1960s downtown theater scene and diligent standard-bearer for the outrageously campy and hilariously melodramatic style of performance known as the Ridiculous, died of glioblastoma January 23 in Brooklyn. He was 71.

The actor-director’s death was confirmed to The New York Times by friend Julia Campanelli speaking on behalf of his sister Mary Ann Quinton.

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Making his name in the Off (and Off Off) Broadway theater world initially with his partner in life and art, the actor, playwright and director Charles Ludlam, Quinton would star in numerous productions at the Greenwich Village playhouse of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, founded by Ludlam in 1967.

Charles Ludlam and Everett Quinton,...

The fall slate of new and returning fiction podcasts has been released by Gimlet, led by cyber-thriller Motherhacker, in which a single mother (Carrie Coon) journeys through the dark web.

Starting in October, Gimlet will be releasing one fiction series a month through the end of the year, including its first scripted renewals since Homecoming season 2. Streamer Spotify bought Gimlet Media and fellow podcasting company Anchor earlier this year for a reported $340 million. The newly announced slate reflects a ramping up of the production pace.

Besides Motherhacker, Gimlet will also unveil The Horror of Dolores Roach for a second season, wherein listeners can hear the latest from Roach (Daphne Rubin-Vega) and her life underground. Also back is The Two Princes, with an update on Prince Rupert and Prince Amir’s love story and the adventures they find along the way.

Gimlet’s executive producer for scripted fiction is Mimi O’Donnell.

"I'm the end of the line," Arthur Miller once asserted. "Absurd and appalling as it may seem, serious New York theater has died in my lifetime."

Many might argue otherwise. In fact, the best proof that theatre is still alive and kicking is Focus on Playwrights, the new coffee-table book, the cover of which showcases the life-crinkled face that once overlooked the birth of A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, and The Crucible. Yes, photographer Susan Johann’s scintillating collection of over 90 playwrights, whom she’s shot over 20 years -- and the inclusion of sharply revealing interviews with some of the same, is the best retort to anyone ready to cremate modern drama.

Some of those captured for publications such as Vogue and the New Yorker are now deceased (e.g. August Wilson, Edward Albee, and Joe Chaikin) while others are very much functioning (e.g. David Henry Hwang,...

The 2015-16 premiere of Theater Talk, now in its 24th year, focuses on a campy Off-Broadway hit, Drop Dead Perfect, with its star Everett Quinton and director Joe Brancato, plus the ambitious exhibition, The Hirschfeld Century, celebrating The Art Of the late caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, with Hirschfeld's widow Louise Kerz Hirschfeld and the exhibition's curator and author of its companion book, David Leopold.

The 2015-16 premiere of Theater Talk, now in its 24th year, focuses on a campy Off-Broadway hit, Drop Dead Perfect, with its star Everett Quinton and director Joe Brancato, plus the ambitious exhibition, The Hirschfeld Century, celebrating The Art Of the late caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, with Hirschfeld's widow Louise Kerz Hirschfeld and the exhibition's curator and author of its companion book, David Leopold.

'Tis Pity She's a Whore Written by John Ford Directed by Jesse Berger Red Bull Theater, The Duke, NYC April 14-May 16, 2015

Red Bull Theater reliably mounts excellent productions, and its ’Tis Pity She's a Whore is no exception. John Ford's early 1630s revenge tragedy could be most simply summed up, as some of Red Bull promotional materials do, as Romeo and Juliet with incest. It includes an earthy nurse, a well-meaning but ultimately ineffective friar, and, of course, some extremely forbidden love.

But, in addition to its Shakespearean echoes, it also features hallmarks of the later, Jacobean stage, such as a double-dealing servant, an inept gallant, and corrupt Catholic clergy, as well as spectacular, often darkly comedic onstage violence, and it is equally reminiscent of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi and Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, both of which Red Bull has previously staged and the...

Title: The Louise Log: How To Get What You Want (Season 3, Episode 2) Director: Anne Flournoy Starring: Morgan Hallett, Everett Quinton, Danusia Trevino and Wayne Maugans The most influential and lasting impressions can be left from the most spontaneous and unexpected actions people take towards those who know them best. That was most certainly proven with the unpredictable outbursts from one of the more flamboyant characters from the comedy web series, ‘The Louise Log.’ The show, which recently premiered its second webisode, ‘How To Get What You Want,’ from its current third season on YouTube, both grippingly and humorously explored the extreme lengths people will do to get what [ Read More ]

The post The Louise Log Webisode Review: How To Get What You Want appeared first on Shockya.com.

Title: The Louise Log: How To Fire Things Up With Your In-Laws (Season 3, Episode 1) Director: Anne Flournoy Starring: Morgan Hallett, Everett Quinton and Joseph Franchini Proving your worthiness to people who think they know everything about you, and are quick to judge your actions, can be a difficult prospect. Actress Morgan Hallett faces that challenge as she demonstrates to fans of writer-director Anne Flournoy’s acclaimed web comedy series, ‘The Louise Log,’ that she’s worthy of stepping into the title character in the current third season. During the season, whose first episode, ‘How To Fire Things Up With Your In-Laws,’ is now streaming on YouTube, Louise struggles with showing [ Read More ]

The post The Louise Log Webisode Review: How To Fire Things Up With Your In-Laws appeared first on Shockya.com.

The critically acclaimed comedy web series ‘The Louise Log’ is set to return for a third season after receiving overwhelming fan support in a recent successful crowdfunding campaign. The crowdfunding raised over $22,000 for the Shorty Award-nominated show, which was created by Anne Flournoy. The news of ‘The Louise Log’s return comes with the announcement of the casting of Morgan Hallett. The Broadway veteran, who has appeared in such shows as ‘Translations’ and ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night,’ has stepped in as the new title character. The actress joins the series’ veteran cast, including Everett Quinton, Joseph Franchini, Jay Patterson, Wayne Maugans and Jayne Haynes. Of Hallett’s casting, Flournoy said: [ Read More ]

The post The Louise Log to Return For Season 3 After Successful Crowdfunding appeared first on Shockya.com.

Today, we're featuring Everett Quinton and Charles Ludlam circa 1985. Founded by Ludlam after his split from John Vaccaro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous, The Ridiculous Theatrical company transcended transvetite, drag, and gay theatre. Until his death at age 44 of pneumonia as a complication of AIDS, Charles Ludlum maintained complete creative control of the company acting as writer and director for nearly every production. He received six Obies before his death. Everett Quinton, his partner, attempted to keep the company going after Ludlam died in 1987.

When, on Dec. 30, David Sheward filed his critique of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players' production of "The Mikado," the reviewing year ended for Back Stage. During 2010, Sheward and co–head critic Erik Haagensen reported on more than 250 theater and cabaret shows and, thanks to their responsibilities as members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle and the Drama Desk, saw many other offerings they didn't review. Rather than present yet another top 10 list of the "best" shows of the year, Sheward and Haagensen decided that a publication serving actors should salute actors.What follows is each man's selection of 10 memorable performances—by five women and five men—seen in 2010. Not the "best," not the "most," not ranked in any order, simply 10 performances that were so outstanding they wanted to salute them. Ten is an arbitrary limit. Without question, there were other performances that were as memorable as these.

Drama Desk Award-winner Everett Quinton (Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company), Michael Winther (33 Variations, Damn Yankees, 1776, and Mamma Mia! on Broadway), and Marlon Sherman (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast on Broadway) are set to star in Max Understood, running at the 45th Street Theatre in the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Marlon Sherman will be playing the title role of Max.