| Another Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Sort of. The pleasure here, for me anyway, is seeing one generation, now queer, standing on the shoulders of its gay ancestors (Ludlam, Busch, et al.) while skipping gaily ahead. OH, MARY! is basically, as John Waters has said of camp generally, a ludicrous tragedy. It’s not just madcap, it’s gleefully unhinged, decentering, with camp’s requisite self aware irony, given mores relating to the performance of gender, sexuality, and history. So Escola’s Mary Todd Lincoln is here a frustrated drunk while her husband, Abe, is just not what he seems. It gives nothing away to say that one sings and the other doesn’t. The subversion throughout OH, MARY! is as scathing as it is bluntly funny. |
