John Cameron Mitchell is making a grand return to Broadway.
The Tony Award–winning actor, writer and director will step back onto the New York stage this winter in the smash-hit comedic fantasia Oh, Mary!, taking on the role of Mary Todd Lincoln for a limited 12-week engagement. Mitchell’s run begins Feb. 3, 2026, and continues through April 26 at the historic Lyceum Theatre.
The announcement marks a full-circle moment for the performer, best known for creating and originating the iconic role of Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, both onstage in 1998 and later in the 2001 cult-classic film. It will also be Mitchell’s first time on Broadway in a decade, following his acclaimed 2015 stint in the Tony-winning revival of Hedwig.
In a statement full of trademark wit, Mitchell, 62, credited playwright and original Oh, Mary! star Cole Escola, along with the show’s Tony-winning director Sam Pinkleto, for luring him back to drag with irresistible chaos.
“Cole Escola and Sam Pinkleton are the wild horses that dragged me back to drag and I couldn’t be happier!” Mitchell said. “As the most mature Mary yet, my days are filled with working the StairMaster™, mainlining Ozempic® and mastering my Brilliant Dialogue©. ‘Line?!’”
He added a cheeky message to Escola: “Thank you, Cole, may I do you proud mangling your classic!”
Oh, Mary! has become one of Broadway’s most delightfully unhinged success stories. Since opening on July 11, 2024, the show has broken box-office records repeatedly, becoming the first production in the Lyceum Theatre’s 121-year history to gross more than $1 million in a single week and later becoming the first show of the 2024–25 season to fully recoup its investment.
The show’s central role, a bratty, boozy, bouffant-sporting reimagining of Mary Todd Lincoln, has drawn a string of stars, including Escola, Jane Krakowski (whose run ends Jan. 4), Tituss Burgess, Betty Gilpin, Hannah Solow and two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Jinkx Monsoon. Monsoon returns Jan. 8 for an encore engagement, while Solow will appear Jan. 6 and 7.
Director Sam Pinkleton, who won a Tony for the production in 2025, called Mitchell’s addition “delicious and somehow inevitable.”
“So many of us in the Oh, Mary! universe, myself very much included, wouldn’t be where we are without John’s work,” Pinkleton said. “He’s a queer trailblazer, cultural icon, brilliant actor, and, most importantly for his new role, a giant idiot.”
For queer theater fans and Hedwig devotees alike, Mitchell’s return is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated Broadway events of 2026. With his signature blend of irreverence and emotional depth, the star’s turn as Mary Todd Lincoln promises to bring fresh energy — and likely a new wave of sold-out performances, to the record-breaking comedy.
Tickets for Oh, Mary! are on sale now.
