Curtain Call
Oh, Mary! Star Conrad Ricamora Thrives Off Cole Escola’s “Maddening” Talent
“It’s made me a better actor, because it is just like being with somebody that is so alive and so present.”
Conrad Ricamora has just enjoyed a reprieve not many Broadway stars get when they’re in a hit show: a couple months off. But the actor and co-star of Oh, Mary! couldn’t stay away from the theater during his downtime, catching highlights like Paul Mescal in A Streetcar Named Desire and Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard. “It blew me away,” he says of the latter. “She is just unreal.”
Ricamora, along with the rest of the original cast of Oh, Mary!, recently returned to the rollicking ahistoric comedy just in time for peak spring theater season. The show stars Cole Escola, in their Broadway acting and playwriting debut, as Mary Todd Lincoln, rendered here as a bored alcoholic who longs to be a cabaret performer. Ricamora plays Abraham Lincoln, a closeted gay man eager to get out from under the terror she casts at home.
For the How to Get Away with Murder star, it’s all part of a career he never saw coming: Ricamora didn’t get into theater until late in college, when he took an acting elective on a whim during his junior year to round out his curriculum. “I grew up on Air Force bases,” says Ricamora, whose other Broadway credits include Here Lies Love and The King and I. “This was in the ’80s and ’90s when boys were not encouraged to be exposed to the arts. It still isn’t great, but it was really not great then.”
Ahead, Ricamora chats about his favorite post-theater comfort food, backstage visits from his comedy idols, and how he unwinds after the energetic 80-minute show.
On his post-show ritual:
I usually just ride the bike home, and that helps me come down. Luckily I can ride through Central Park, so that’s really relaxing and calm, and especially at that time of night, it’s not crowded at all. I can decompress and get ready to show up at home so that I don’t just bust through the door and my husband’s like, “Whoa.” He also takes really good care of me and makes me lemon ginger water for every show and will have dinner or my favorite show on TV when I get home.
On his go-to fuel:
Before every show, I usually have this oatmeal porridge concoction that consists of steel-cut oats, peanut butter, blueberries, an apple, and then some trail mix and cinnamon mixed in. I usually have that about three hours before curtain. Then afterward, it’s either takeout or Peter, my husband, will sometimes make some sort of soup. That’s really comforting. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, he’ll make a rhubarb pie.
On his dressing room decor:
It depends on how big the dressing room is at whatever theater I’m in. For this one, I’ve got some past show posters up. I’ve got my Little Shop poster up from my run there and the original Here Lies Love poster from the Public. And then I’ve got a poster from a show that I did when I was just starting acting in Philly, where I played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. It was a transformative experience for me in my 20s doing that show.
On his favorite celebrity run-ins:
One of the greatest parts of this experience has been seeing comedians I’ve admired — everyone from Billy Crystal coming backstage and gushing over the entire production to Rebel Wilson, to Tina Fey, who is one of my idols. Just any of the SNL people — I love SNL so much. Melissa McCarthy has come like three times. Getting that feedback from such a wide range of people has been super fortifying.
On his top Theater District haunts:
The Mermaid Inn opened a location in Times Square, and it’s just as good as the one that I frequent on the Upper West Side. In Hell’s Kitchen, if we want to have a night, we go to Arriba Arriba. You can get the La Mamá Margarita, which is this huge bowl, and their tacos are incredible. If we want to splurge, then Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse is a few blocks from the theater. And Joe Allen. I’ve never been to Sardi’s — we have to remedy that.
On sharing a stage with Cole Escola:
I’ve been a fan of Cole’s YouTube videos since the early 2010s and went and saw their one-person show at Joe’s Pub. I’ve just always admired their creativity and how hilarious they are. Being on stage with Cole is maddening and challenging in the best way, because it feels like you’re on stage with a wild animal. The joke is, “Never share a stage with an animal or a baby or an infant, because they’ll always upstage you.” For me, it’s made me a better actor, because it is just like being with somebody that is so alive and so present.
