The sensational ‘Oh, Mary!’ proves you can’t predict a Broadway hit

nypost.com:

the brilliant new play written by and starring Cole Escola, grossed a massive $1,054,998 — setting a record for the century-old Lyceum Theatre and besting 10 musicals, including “Six” and “& Juliet.” After reading the news, an industry pro texted me one word: “Woah.”Warped and wacky, “Oh, Mary!” has nothing that, we’re told over and over again like gospel, is needed for success on the Great White Way today: A-List stars, popular songs and a familiar title.

None of that.Instead of kowtowing to that cynical rubric, the show ticks the boxes of hilarity, edge and unrestrained creativity.In my review, I gave it four stars.

My friend Cindy Adams, another outspoken fan, wrote that the 90-minute sprint is thankfully not the same “three-hour drama we’ve seen 12 times while desperately needing the can.”A producer of major musicals told me the first-lady farce is a boon for Broadway.“It’s wonderful that these fresh, original ideas come from left field and are not created by money or producing clout — just the right people being passionate about something else no one would think of and doing it in a totally unique and fresh way,” he said.Looking back, isn’t that the genesis of most Broadway hits — the Midtown meat that has sustained Times Square and its businesses for decades? “A Chorus Line” in 1975 experimentally turned dancers’ candid interview recordings into an electrically choreographed and sung confessional.

It ran 15 years.In 1996’s “Rent,” Jonathan Larson took the tale of Puccini’s opera “La Boheme,” reset it to rock and twisted the story to be about the struggles of his artist friends in the East Village.