Could it be that Mary Todd Lincoln is becoming a contemporary drag icon?
One of the hottest tickets in New York so far this year was the sold-out off-Broadway run of Oh Mary! The critically acclaimed comedy starred its playwright, Cole Escola, in drag as the troubled 19th century first lady as she strangely seeks out a stage career as a cabaret star. A limited Broadway transfer of Oh Mary! is set to begin in June.
But another drag take on Mary Todd Lincoln predates Oh Mary!, playwright’s Roger Q. Mason’s Lavender Men. This very queer historical “fantasia” had its 2022 world premiere at Skylight Theatre in Los Angeles, and is now receiving a handsome Chicago premiere at The Den Theatre courtesy of About Face Theatre.
In Lavender Men, Mary Todd Lincoln exists more as a spurned supporting character as dreamed up and depicted by the show’s narrator: a plus-size queer drag performer of color named Taffeta (Julian joolz Stroop). Taffeta announces at the top of the show that she’s in control at re-imagining her own fantasia of 19th century American history the way that she wants it, no matter the naysayers.
Hence Taffeta conjures up a mythologized and semi-clandestine romantic tragedy. It involves Abraham Lincoln (Matt Martin) as the martyred 16th President of the United States and his friend and law clerk, Elmer Ellsworth (Shea Petersen), who has been designated as the first Union Army casualty of the American Civil War.
Now queer historians have long speculated about Lincoln’s sexuality for decades, especially questioning his shared-bed sleeping arrangements with his friend, Joshua Fry Speed, in 1830s Springfield. But playwright Mason through Taffeta instead fictionalizes a bond between Ellsworth and Lincoln in the 1850s and ’60s, imagining the many complications they face amid political ambitions, marital vows and societal norms.
Director Lucky Stiff (not to be confused with the 1988 off-Broadway musical of the same name by lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty) helms a visually theatrical production that plays up the bunting-filled trappings of Americana while also being brazenly artificial at the same time. This is a great credit to scenic designer Caitlin McLeod and lighting designer Benjamin Carne who both collaborate well on a moody environment that alternately suggests a fold-out version of a 19th century wax museum and Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
There’s no denying that Lavender Men is largely well-performed, especially between Martin and Petersen as they navigate their power imbalances, simmering attractions and dread of their doomed fates. But I would have liked the Taffeta of Stroop to be far more commanding and in control (her often tatty costumes by designer Anna Wooden also call for more grandeur).
Taffeta takes enormous umbrage at being dismissed and dissed on social dating apps with exclusionary terms like “No Fats, No Femmes and No Blacks.” But the character’s defiance is frequently undermined as Mason often interrupts Taffeta’s narration by whispered taunts and catcalls that cut straight to her insecurities.
I’m also puzzled just why Mason has focused on this particular fantasized historical fiction love story for Taffeta to obsess over. Throughout Lavender Men, Taffeta often lashes out at Ellsworth and Lincoln. Taffeta’s anger zeroes in on Lincoln and Ellsworth’s 19th century racist views, while also painting them as if they’re the origins or the symptoms of white pretty boys who have previously been nasty to her.
Either way, Stroop’s Taffeta does do a fine job of assuming the role of the unhappy Mary Todd Lincoln. Taffeta alternately lays into Mary’s many insecurities and hurt at being neglected by her husband, while also being defiant about all of the financial connections that she possesses to help in their political rise.
While Lavender Men doesn’t quite make a case for itself writing-wise, many other aspects of About Face Theatre’s Chicago-premiere production nearly make up for it. And if you want to say that you were an early adherent of the 21st century Mary Todd Lincoln drag bandwagon, catch Lavender Men now before it closes.
About Face Theatre’s production of Lavender Men runs through June 8 at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets are $35 (Pay-what-you-can from $5). See AboutFaceTheatre.com.