“Oh!” Titus Burgess said, as he spoke, the curls on his Mary Todd Lincoln wig are bobed. “I need a knee cut.”
Dressed in an outfit, a wig and a black dress shaped like a bell, Burgess was about to rehearse the hit comedy, “Ah, Mary!” by Cole Escola. A few days before he stepped into the lead role on Tuesday, he was on stage at Lyceum Theatre on Broadway.
And yes, he really needed those knee cuts. When Escola played Mary Todd, they led the energy of their spring coils into a merciless hilarious and chaotic performance. Burgess' views on his role are physical. If anything, he lifts the ante with his cartoonish look and a high note on his belt.
Burgess' turn in the play, Mary Todd Lincoln's dementia fantasy is frustrating and stops “pretty famous niche cabaret legends.” Escola then returns to the part.
When they do so, it becomes that the illusion has come true. Last May, Escola was a guest on Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers' podcast, “Las Culturista,” and said, “I love someone else playing Mary Todd,” before adding, “My dream is Burgess.”
Yang and Rogers settle the admiration right next to the gay gasp, and Rogers says, “It's a fab.” Escola joked that they were worried that Burgess was “too good,” but was forced to imagine him with the show's famous curly wig.
When the play director Sam Pinkleton saw Burgess in the role, he said, “It opened up a fun new dimension to what I thought I knew. He created a completely new, deeply rooted Mary in some way that is completely new and rooted in the DNA call that was made for Mary.”
In an interview last week, Burgess shared what happened when he heard the “Rascalchurista” episode and how he prepared for his return to Broadway. Excerpts from the conversation are edited here.
How did you respond to Cole saying you wanted him to play Mary Todd?
I was definitely not. I saw the show and I couldn't get a divorce from the character Cole's performance. What they could achieve – that was such meteor energy. The offer was not yet in place, but I told Team No. And then I got a call in December asking me to do it.
So when you agreed to do this, you knew how athletic it was.
I wasn't prepared for that part. They make it look very easy. But when I said yes, I said, “I need that script right away.” The show is only 90 minutes, because that's Hercules' work. So I was convinced that I should be off-book, at least before the rehearsal began. I started teaching myself the role and teaching myself blocking so that the rehearsals can actually be rehearsals. Perhaps I should have spent more time at the gym.
How many calories do you think this performance will burn?
I say at least 600 or 700. At the end, it's like having to run a marathon. I go home and I'm hungry. The secret trick is to stay hydrated as much as possible behind the scenes. However, I only have one opportunity to rest in the bathroom. So it's trying to avoid consuming much water. Because it is a terrible predicament. You have to find the moment to use the toilet.
Even running throughout the stage, there is a huge amount of peculiarity to it. And in addition to knowing that, you're part of a well-oiled cast.
Theatre is always skilled within inches of its life. It's such a puzzle, one small thing can throw away the whole thing for a moment. What Mary Todd has to do is, although very physical, within finely implemented parameters. Finding something organic in it is a whole other feat. It's dance. You will work with your creative team to build something new within what already exists. That's difficult.
I walked a mile with Cole's wig, so what do you think about what you created for this show?
They say they write what you know, and the guy has done them ever. I am amazed at how they can achieve that they have the opportunity to not only play with their strengths, but also show the full breadth of what they can do.
Still, it's very resilient. Mary Todd was played by Cole, Betty Gilpin and now you. The lines are the same, the delivery is completely different and remains interesting.
That's a really good script. Honestly, I think it's one of the funniest plays of my generation. It's so resourceful, incredibly clever, and, like you said, by who is in it, it takes a whole new life. Cole deserves Tony – deserves the best play, and at least the best actor – and I'm not going to say that lightly. It's difficult to make this performance look very seamless and very easy. People sometimes underestimate it, but it requires a lot of control.
How much did you encourage you to add Titus-isms and create your own role?
We talked about this at length as we were trapped in the idea of ”You hired me. You use my body as a container for Mary Todd.” So I didn't realize how she could experience the whole play and had no real facilities for performance. But we didn't want that to be the reason why I was in that role, so we just came back on how much I would use. I'm with music, so I'm also good at dialogue and was excited by the opportunity to show it.
Over time, I was able to hear how hard this show was with Cole. Mary Todd Lincoln is with Elphaba. Like “The Little Mermaid,” you had a big song before, but how do you care about your voice now?
I'm certainly with my vocal coach this weekend. I don't want to say I'm nervous about it, but I've noticed a different type of fatigue than before. Cole has a lighter voice than me. I have a huge weight on it. So for me, this is taxed. I'm actually relieved it's only 3 weeks. I think that's all the stamina I have.
