Bianca Leigh talks about “Oh, Mary!” and working with Cole Escola

As one of the stars of “Oh, Mary!” on Broadway, Bianca Leigh is thrilled to be performing to sold-out crowds and receiving some of the best reviews of her career, but she knows it may well be a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will never be repeated.

“It's a weird feeling to say that it doesn't get better,” the actor, who is transgender, told HuffPost. “It's weird when it's happening in real time. I'm not a young whippersnapper anymore, as my grandmother would say, so I'm very happy that this happened and I can do whatever I want for the foreseeable future.”

“Oh, Mary!”, directed by Sam Pinkleton, broke box office records when it opened at New York's Lyceum Theatre in July after a run off-Broadway earlier this year. On Thursday, the run, originally scheduled to end this month, was officially extended through January.

The historical farce portrays First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (played by actor and writer Cole Escola, who uses the pronouns “they”) as a hard-drinking, lovesick woman who desperately wants to be a cabaret performer, and President Abraham Lincoln (Conrad Ricamora) as a not openly gay man with a penchant for trysts in the Oval Office.

Leigh's character Louise is Mary's chaperone and only confidante in the White House. As it turns out, Louise is hiding some secrets of her own beneath her demure, buttoned-up exterior.

Unlike many “Oh, Mary!” characters, Louise has no real-life counterpart. Instead, says Leigh, she embodies “the 19th-century model of femininity” that Mary Todd Lincoln supposedly rejected during her lifetime.

“Sometimes I think Louise is like Glinda the Good Witch or Olivia de Havilland in Gone with the Wind because she is just goodness and light and love,” she explained. “The closer she wants to be with Mary, the more fun it is when the jokes start.”

Although Escola said they did “virtually no research” before writing, some elements of “Oh, Mary!” appear to be based on historical fact. The documentary “Lover of Men,” released earlier this month, provides strong evidence that Abraham Lincoln may have had relationships with men during his presidency, though such claims have long been disputed.

However, Leigh has some thoughts on why the inherent queerness and camp humor of “Oh, Mary!” resonates so strongly with audiences in America’s current political climate.

“It's a brave, honest, crazy, silly act of defiance at a time when a lot of people are downplaying things,” she said. “Cole has written something without fear in a climate that is extremely fearful. I'm so excited to be the Ethel to her Lucy.”

More than two months after its Broadway premiere, tickets for “Oh, Mary!” are still in high demand. Among those lucky enough to have seen a performance so far are Robert Downey Jr. and Madonna, as well as other A-list celebrities.

One of Leigh's most memorable celebrity encounters, she said, was none other than Lea Michele.

“She was so warm and generous and delightful,” she said, shrugging off long-standing allegations about the “Glee” actress's diva-like behavior behind the scenes. “I know that's wrong. I don't know what lessons she learned from that, but she's a lovely young woman with no pretensions or airs and graces.”

Leigh is a New Jersey native and has been a fixture on the New York cabaret and stand-up comedy scene for years. “Oh, Mary!” marks her return to Broadway after understudying Alexandra Billings in the play “The Nap” in 2018. In 2017, she also appeared in a one-off concert production of the musical adaptation of “Tales of the City” on Broadway.

Like many LGBTQ artists, Leigh has had to deal with disappointments in her professional life. In 2005, she seemed to be on the verge of her Hollywood breakthrough when she landed a supporting role in “Transamerica” ​​with Felicity Huffman.

The film was a huge critical success and received two Oscar nominations. Despite the acclaim, Leigh did not receive the career boost she had hoped for and was restricted by casting agents to what she described as a “specialty.”

When Leigh was invited to attend an early reading of “Oh, Mary!” before its off-Broadway premiere, she was surprised when Escola said her performance in “Transamerica” ​​helped convince her she was right for the role of Louise.

“My answer, of course, was, 'Why did this take so long?'” she joked.

Although she is committed to Oh, Mary! until the end of the run, Leigh said she has been involved in a number of readings of new musicals and is looking for a television role that will eventually earn her royalties, or “screw your money,” as she puts it.

“A lot of trans projects are sad and tragic, and I'm a comedian. I tend to play characters with grit,” she said. “So I'm going to keep going, and if I can't think of anything, I'll be the old lady in the 2045 remake of 'Titanic.' That's what I'm going to do.”