COMMENTARY by SHARON EBERSON
How do you give a stage production a “best” award and not even nominate the lead performer? That’s what the 2026 Olivier Awards did this past weekend.
Mason Alexander Park, the incomparable star of Oh, Mary! in the UK, got a moment in the spotlight beside the show’s creator, Cole Escola, when the phantasmagorical farce was named the winner of the Noël Coward Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play at the Oliviers — the England equivalent of the Tony Awards.
Just a few weeks ago, I had been in London, specifically to see Mason, who knocked my socks off when I saw them as the runner-up at the 2012 Jimmy Awards, and then as Man in Chair for Point Park University in The Drowsy Chaperone, and in three Pittsburgh CLO shows, notably as Miss Andrew and Queen Victoria in Mary Poppins.
In my previous life with the Post-Gazette, I was writing a profile of Mason as they awaited the call that would send them on the road as understudy to Darren Criss, in the national tour of Hedwig and The Angry Inch.
Regionally, Mason won the Helen Hayes Award as the Emcee in Cabaret, at Maryland’s Olney Theatre, while screen audiences may know them as Desire in HBO’s The Sandman or as Ian Wright on NBC’s Quantum Leap revival.
For me, it’s been exciting to have watched, even from afar, as they have taken the West End by storm: As the Emcee opposite Maude Apatow, in the Cabaret production that would later star Billy Porter, then, in two Jamie Lloyd-directed Shakespeare plays, as Ariel to Sigourney Weaver’s Prospero in The Tempest, and as Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing. The latter is coming to Broadway with its UK/MCU stars, Tom Hiddleston and Haley Atwell.
In her review for The Guardian, Arifa Akbar noted, “Mason Alexander Park, who stole the show as a lugubrious Ariel in The Tempest, plays Hero’s attendant, Margaret, but they are key to the soundtrack of the play with their gorgeous intermittent singing.”
Note to Broadway-bound Much Ado: Mason’s time in Oh, Mary! will be up when it crosses to these shores; former Doctor Who companion Catherine Tate has been announced as their replacement.
But back to Mason in Oh, Mary!
When I heard that they were opening the Tony-nominated play in London, well, it was time to take advantage of the nonstop British Airways flight from Pittsburgh to London.
I had seen Tony-winning Best Actor Escola as Mary Todd Lincoln (the First Lady in name only) on Broadway, and I laughed harder and louder than I had in a long time. Maybe ever.
Walking into the Trafalgar Theater on a rainy February night in London, my thoughts turned to my surroundings, in the shadow of the National Gallery and Nelson’s Column.
How will the Brits feel about this bawdy, wackadoodle play that upends American history? How much do they know about the real Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln?
However, while my theater buddy and I were in London, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew — was arrested on charges related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The lines between real-life and farce are constantly blurring these days.
In Escola’s play, for which he admittedly did zero research, Mary is a randy alcoholic and failed cabaret singer, longing to return to the stage, and forbidden to do so by her seemingly stern husband, who is dealing with the war with the South.
“South of what?,” the befuddled Mary wants to know.
To say this is the Lincolns as we’ve never seen them is, well, it is exactly that.
Mason brings to Mary a twinkle of understanding to the absurdity, with masterful double takes and turn-on-a-dime delivery. They also are a triple-threat actor, singer and dancer, which carries with it more weight than Escola was able to bring to a portion of their own work.
Mason’s Teacher — whose name is given quickly in London, as John Wilkes Booth — is played by Olivier-nominated Dino Fetscher (the National Theatre’s revival of The Normal Heart). He is the perfect package of handsome and hilarity that the role demands, and he parries beautifully with Mary, while pining for someone else in the family.
That would be “Mary’s Husband” (the Olivier-nominated Giles Terera), who is struggling with inner turmoil that has nothing to do with the Civil War. Terera is a Shakespearean actor, but most likely The Bard would have blushed at what he gets up to in Oh, Mary! Oliver Stockley plays the “Husband’s Assistant” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
The one-act romp also includes the towering Kate O’Donnell, a Manchester-based transgender performer, actor and director who plays Mary’s much abused chaperone. But no one can keep Mason’s Mary from mischief and mayhem.
Sitting in front of my friend and I were a mother and daughter from Texas, although the daughter lives in Boston now. I wondered if they knew what they were in for, but they laughed and stood for an ovation, right along with everyone else in the audience.
After the show, my friend and I waited in the rain, so I could give Mason a hug.
I don’t mind saying that I hugged someone I have covered. I’m a hugger, I asked permission, and I am a fan as well as a critic.
I think it is necessary to say that critics are fans who appreciate talents and great work, and want to share it when they see it. As Ben Brantley put it so eloquently, in his farewell to The New York Times, titled, “I’ll Never Stop Being a Theater Critic” and written during the pandemic: “When the theater returns, I hope to be attending it as a lover, a supporter, a fully engaged fan boy. Which means I’ll be there as a critic.”
Secondly, when Pittsburgh sends a brilliant performer out into the world, I look at that as a reflection on our ability to nurture arts and culture excellence. Other current examples, among many, include Carnegie Mellon alum John Clay III, currently playing Booker T. Washington and understudying the role of Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime, and Jake Pedersen, out of Pine-Richland High and Penn State, previously of Wicked (as Boq), who has recently joined Ragtime as Mother’s Younger Brother.
And lastly, yeah, it’s cool when I can say I recognized early on that someone was bound to get the recognition that they deserve. When it happens, that deserves a hug.
Back in the States, Oh, Mary! is headed out on tour (cast TBA), while on Broadway, the show has been ongoing, with a rolling list of luminaries from Jinxx Monsoon to Jane Krakowski to the original Hedwig, John Cameron Mitchell. Oh, Mary!’s Teachers have included Cheyenne Jackson, who will be at the Trust Cabaret on May 11.
It would be lovely to see Mason Alexander Park bring their version of Mary to New York, of course — or their Margaret, for that matter. For now, it’s England that has embraced them. It would be nicer, still, to see them get a big, warm hug from Broadway, and from Pittsburgh, too.
Categories: Arts and Ideas
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