You're probably used to the standard Broadway slog. You know the drill: show starts at 8:00 PM, there’s a twenty-minute intermission where you battle a crowd of three hundred people for a lukewarm glass of $24 Chardonnay, and you finally stumble out onto 44th Street around 10:45 PM. It’s an investment. But Oh Mary! is doing something entirely different. If you are looking for the Oh Mary run time Broadway schedule, here is the short version: it is 80 minutes. No intermission. No bathroom breaks. Just eighty minutes of pure, unadulterated, campy mayhem.
Honestly, it's refreshing.
Written by and starring the cult-favorite comedian Cole Escola, the show has become the breakout hit of the 2024-2025 season. It moved from a tiny off-Broadway run at the Lyceum Theatre because people simply couldn't get enough of this "stupid" (Escola’s own word) reimagining of Mary Todd Lincoln’s final days in the White House. It is fast. It is loud. It is deeply weird. And because it clocks in at just under an hour and a half, it has fundamentally changed how people are planning their nights out in Midtown.
Why the Oh Mary Run Time Broadway Experience Feels So Short
Timing is everything in comedy. If a joke drags on for ten seconds too long, it dies. If a play about a drunk, cabaret-obsessed Mary Todd Lincoln dragged on for three hours, the audience would probably have a collective nervous breakdown.
The Oh Mary run time Broadway duration is intentional. Director Sam Pinkleton, who has a history of making theater feel more like a party than a lecture, keeps the pacing at a breakneck speed. From the second the curtain rises on the Lyceum stage, Escola is a whirlwind. They play Mary as a frustrated "nightclub singer" trapped in the life of a First Lady, constantly screaming for her "medication" and dodging a very stressed-out Abraham Lincoln (played with a hilarious, weary dignity by Conrad Ricamora).
Because there is no intermission, the energy in the room never dips. In a traditional two-act play, the first act builds momentum, the lights go up, everyone checks their phones, and the actors have to work twice as hard to get that energy back for the second act. Oh Mary! doesn't give you that chance. It traps you in its absurd reality. You start the show thinking, "What on earth am I watching?" and by the time the 80 minutes are up, you're wondering why every other show is so long.
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The Logistics of an 80-Minute Broadway Show
If you're heading to the Lyceum Theatre, you need to be prepared for the reality of a show with no break. Most Broadway houses are old. The Lyceum is actually the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre on Broadway, built in 1903. This means the bathrooms are... let's say "vintage" and limited.
Since the Oh Mary run time Broadway clock doesn't pause, you really have to hit the restroom before the lights go down. If you leave during the show, you're going to miss about 15% of the plot in the time it takes to walk to the back of the house. And trust me, with a script this dense with non-sequiturs and sight gags, you don't want to miss a single minute.
Interestingly, the short runtime has made the show a favorite for the "double-feature" crowd. Because Oh Mary! usually lets out by 9:20 PM or 9:30 PM, hardcore theater fans are actually catching this show and then hitting late-night sets at jazz clubs or even getting an actual dinner reservation at a time when most kitchens aren't closing. It’s the ultimate "efficient" Broadway experience.
Comparing the Pace to Other Broadway Hits
Most musicals currently running on the Main Stem—think Wicked, The Lion King, or Hamilton—land somewhere between two hours and thirty minutes to nearly three hours. Even dramas like Appropriate or Stereophonic (which famously runs over three hours) demand a lot of your evening.
The Oh Mary run time Broadway statistics put it in a rare category of "one-act bangers." It joins the ranks of shows like Six (80 minutes) and The Shark is Broken (90 minutes). But unlike Six, which is essentially a pop concert, Oh Mary! is a structured, though chaotic, narrative play.
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There’s a specific kind of brilliance in knowing when to stop. Cole Escola has mentioned in various interviews that the show was developed to be as lean as possible. There is no fluff. There are no subplots about the Civil War that don't directly serve Mary's desire to be a star. It’s a distilled version of a comedy, which is likely why it’s seeing such massive box office success. It respects the audience's time.
What Critics and Fans Are Saying About the Length
The reviews have been almost universally glowing, and many critics have pointed out that the brevity is a strength. The New York Times called it "sublime," and much of that sublimity comes from the fact that it leaves you wanting more.
Usually, by the time the curtain call happens at a Broadway show, half the audience is checking their watches and thinking about the subway ride home. At Oh Mary!, people are often still laughing as they walk out the doors. It’s a high-octane experience. One fan on Reddit mentioned that the Oh Mary run time Broadway was the reason they convinced their non-theater-going spouse to attend. "It's shorter than a Marvel movie," they wrote. "That's a win."
Is the Ticket Price Worth Only 80 Minutes?
This is the big question. With Broadway ticket prices soaring—sometimes reaching $300 or $400 for premium seats—some theatergoers calculate the "value" based on minutes spent in the seat. If you're paying $200 for 80 minutes, you're paying $2.50 per minute.
But value in art isn't about duration; it’s about impact. Oh Mary! delivers more laughs in its 80 minutes than most sitcoms do in an entire season. The production value is surprisingly high for a show that started off-Broadway, with lush costumes and a set that feels appropriately "presidential" before it gets completely wrecked by the actors.
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The demand for the show has been so high that they’ve extended the run multiple times. This suggests that the Oh Mary run time Broadway isn't a deterrent—it's a selling point. People are willing to pay for quality and a tight, punchy script over a bloated three-act historical drama.
Planning Your Visit to the Lyceum
If you’ve snagged a ticket, here is how you should handle the timing:
- Arrival: Aim to be in your seat by 7:45 PM for an 8:00 PM show. Broadway starts on "theater time" (usually a few minutes late), but with a show this short, they try to keep things moving.
- The "No Intermission" Factor: Drink your water after the show. If you have a drink at the bar, keep in mind you'll be holding it (literally and figuratively) for the duration.
- Stage Door: Because the show ends early, the stage door scene at the Lyceum is usually pretty lively and wraps up by 10:00 PM. If you want to see Cole or Conrad, you won't be standing in the cold until midnight.
The success of Oh Mary! might actually signal a shift in what Broadway audiences want. We live in an era of short-form content and shrinking attention spans. While there will always be a place for the sprawling, three-hour epic, there is clearly a massive appetite for theater that is fast, hilarious, and efficient.
The Oh Mary run time Broadway is exactly what it needs to be. It’s a sprint, not a marathon. By the time the final, absurd musical number ends and the lights go down, you realize that any longer would have been too much, and any shorter would have been a crime. It is the goldilocks of Broadway runtimes: just right.
Next Steps for Your Broadway Trip
If you're planning to catch the show, your next move should be checking the official telecharge site for "scatter" seats—single tickets that often pop up 24 to 48 hours before a performance. Since the show is a hot ticket, these are often the only way to get in without paying resale prices. Also, double-check the performance schedule for the specific week you're going; while the Oh Mary run time Broadway stays consistent at 80 minutes, matinee start times can vary between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM depending on the day. Once you've secured your seat, book a dinner reservation for about 90 minutes after the curtain rises. You'll have plenty of time to make it to a nearby spot like Joe Allen or Orso to discuss that wild ending.