“You don’t have to be pop-u-lar / Find out who your true friends are,” Titus Andromedon, played by Tituss Burgess, intones on his instant classic “Pinot Noir” on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. That could very well be the motto of Burgess’s next character as well. He’ll be taking over the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! from Betty Gilpin this spring. Escola has long had Burgess’s name on their lips when asked about people they’d want to see play Mary: They told Vulture in December that Burgess was on their top list of people they want to see in the role (along with Cherry Jones, Patti LuPone, Sarah Paulson, and Molly Shannon, so get ready, divas).
“Oh, Mary! blew me away when I saw it on Broadway. Cole Escola is a genius!” Burgess said in a statement. “The show is fresh and impossibly funny. I understand the role of Mary Todd Lincoln maybe a little too well. I’m over the moon with joy that I get to join the company at the Lyceum Theatre.” Burgess joins the company on March 18 for a three-week run that ends on April 6. Those curls are about to get bratty.