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Ever since Michael Urie’s stint in “Oh, Mary!” on Broadway last year, he’s been wanting to return.
The actor, known for his TV roles in “Ugly Betty” and “Shrinking” in addition to a plethora of theater work, starred
as Mary’s Teacher alongside Jinkx Monsoon as the title character in Cole Escola’s Tony-winning play — about a reimagined version of Mary Todd Lincoln who is prone to humorous outbursts and just really, really wants to be a cabaret star. Its ridiculous premise, hilarious physical comedy and shocking twist have made it a huge hit, not only in New York but also on London’s West End, where it transferred last year with Mason Alexander Park in the lead role.
“I was like, ‘Please tell them that I want to come back.’ And then my manager at one point was like, ‘It might be London,'” Urie says. That’s where I’m meeting him now, on a balmy day in July, at a coffee shop around the corner from the “Oh, Mary!” rehearsal space. He’s arrived less than a week ago and has just come from rehearsal, but shows no signs of exhaustion or jet-lag — the only potential tell is the pot of tea he orders, but he could just be fitting in with the locals.
Though Urie has worked in London before, he’s never starred on the West End. That, plus the fact that he would be playing opposite Escola themselves as Mary and featuring in a filmed version of the play, made saying yes to the opportunity a no-brainer. There was just one problem: Urie had a prior commitment.
Production on Season 4 of “Shrinking,” Apple TV’s acclaimed comedy-drama starring Jason Segel as a grieving therapist — in which Urie plays his lovable yet selfish best friend Brian, a role for which he just earned his second Emmy nomination — clashed with the summer dates the “Oh, Mary!” team proposed.
“Immediately, my ‘Shrinking’ bosses were like, ‘Let us look into this. Obviously we want you to do this, we know how important it is to you,'” Urie says, running his fingers through perfectly-coiffed curls. “Because, you know, it’s such an honor to be the one that they asked.”
It took some rearranging, but Urie was given the green light to take three weeks off from “Shrinking” — one for rehearsal and two for performances beginning Monday through Aug. 1. It’s not lost on him how rare that is.
“I mean, I kind of have the two greatest jobs in the world right now,” he says. “Not kind of, they are the two greatest jobs I’ve ever had.”
Shockingly, one week of rehearsal time is more than Urie got when he played Mary’s Teacher on Broadway. “I only had three days,” Urie says, adding that when he got the call, he’d already committed to going on a family cruise with his partner, the actor and writer Ryan Spahn. “This is long for me!”
So how does it feel to be back in Mary’s Teacher’s britches? “It’s like riding a bike, but it’s a different bike. It’s like, how does this bike work?” he jokes. “I had to refresh, but it came back. I probably feel a little more ownership this time just because I’m getting to really collaborate with the director and the playwright … To get to be in the room with Cole and [director] Sam [Pinkleton] and their amazing London team — it’s been really cool, really dreamy, really exciting.”
He’s just come from a one-on-one rehearsal with Escola to “make it our own and find what our version of the play is like,” particularly for the live capture on July 28, where “we’re making choices that are forever,” he says. No pressure.
The two met back in 2018, when Escola came to see Urie in “Torch Song” off-Broadway, and stayed in touch ever since. “They’re wildly inventive and constantly learning,” Urie says of Escola. “I watch them learn every day on a play they’ve done hundreds of times over the course of years and wrote. And they’re so sweet and generous, and not at all like — you know, this could easily be old hat to them now. And it’s not. I really feel like I’m part of the family and not a guest.”
Not only is Urie returning as Mary’s Teacher, but he’s doing so alongside Giles Terera as Mary’s Husband — who was Olivier-nominated for originating the role on the West End — as well as original Broadway cast members Bianca Leigh and Tony Macht as Mary’s Chaperone and Mary’s Husband’s Assistant, respectively.
“I do a lot of theater and I’m really invested in queer theater. And to get to be a part of this play… I mean, I was so proud of the play long before I was even part of it; just proud that it existed. And then it was a giant hit,” he says. “It’s very hard to make a hit on Broadway, especially these days, and this play captured something. And it’s done it here, too!”
“Oh, Mary!” is still going strong on Broadway, with “Hacks” breakout Meg Stalter currently in the title role and past Marys including Maya Rudolph, Jane Krakowski, Betty Gilpin and more. And with its West End run having been extended through January, there will be plenty more stars stepping into her petticoat. When asked who should take on the role next, Urie takes his time to ruminate — and then opens the floodgates.
“Martin Short as Mary and Steve Martin as Mary’s Husband,” he suggests, eyes wide. “Oh my God, that would be so funny! I think an older Mary could be really interesting, because Mary Todd Lincoln was actually older than Abraham Lincoln. So, you know, what about Meryl Streep? There’s a lot of amazing people from ‘SNL’ that could do it: Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Ana Gasteyer. Just anybody who’s like, an animal on stage.”
When Urie returns from London, he’ll go right back into production on “Shrinking” Season 4. The show, which was originally written for only three seasons, will pick up after a two year time-jump — and Urie teases that “everyone is in a very different place than they were at the end of Season 3.” His character, Brian, finished the season by deciding to move to Tennessee with his husband, Charlie (Devin Kawaoka) — and their baby daughter, Sutton — so that Charlie can pursue a job opportunity.
“I can’t imagine he’ll have a good time,” Urie says of Brian’s time in Tennessee. “He’s starting to put other people first, and he’s starting to understand the importance of family. Brian was, in some ways, at the beginning of a journey when we left him. So you get to find out a little bit about how that journey’s gone.”
Urie found out he was Emmy-nominated for best supporting actor in a comedy series — for the second-year running — when co-star Jessica Williams FaceTimed him. Also for the second year in a row, he’s up against his other co-star, the inimitable Harrison Ford.
“I want him to win. He’s fucking awesome, and he’s always been awesome,” Urie says, adding that the two texted after finding out the news. “Yes, he’s been given the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille, the SAG Life Achievement Award, but they don’t give him prizes in any of these competitive categories ever.”
In a bit of a full-circle moment, Urie’s also been texting with Vanessa Williams, his old friend and “Ugly Betty” co-star who happens to also be starring on the West End in “The Devil Wears Prada” musical. The two plan to meet up in London “at some point” just as the groundbreaking series prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary this fall.
“She kind of taught me how to be famous,” Urie says of Williams. “I remember her teaching us how to walk a runway, and she taught me how to find the lens on a camera. I learned so much from her because we had so many scenes together — little things about being on set, and about how to treat people.”
Though there’s no plans as of yet, Urie says some sort of “Ugly Betty” reunion or revival “would be the greatest,” adding: “We would all love that so, so much.”
“I also think it would be so interesting in a woke world, you know?” he adds. “Because that show was so ahead of its time. When you watch it back, there’s a couple of cringey things, but for the most part, it was ahead in terms of the way you treat people, in terms of diversity. It was very feminist, very queer-friendly, queer-forward. It was all those things — in 2006.”
Where does he think Marc St. James would be now? “I like to think he’s running Mode, but the truth is he’s probably still an underling of Wilhelmenia somehow,” Urie says, smiling and taking one last sip of tea. “He’s definitely still best friends with Amanda. I really wanna know where Justin Suarez is, what’s he doing now? And what has Betty done? What empire is she conquering? Because she was always the brightest and the boldest.”
