Hannah Solow knows what it’s like to wait in the wings. For months she was the understudy of Oh, Mary!’s boozy, chaotic Mary Todd Lincoln, watching others get the laughs and applause. But now, for two solid weeks, Solow is stepping center stage—and proving she’s more than ready for the spotlight.
(Photo: Daniel Rampulla)
Holding down the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! between Jinkx Monsoon’s exit and Jane Krakowski’s arrival on October 14, Solow calls herself “the turkey in the sandwich.” The turkey, in this case, gets a Broadway debut in the title role of one of the buzziest shows in town.
Solow was hired off-Broadway as an understudy, covering both Mary Todd Lincoln (playwright Cole Escola, originally) and Mary’s Chaperone. At first, she figured she might never set foot onstage. “I was like, I’m so happy to be here and soak up the energy of Cole and [director] Sam [Pinkleton] and the whole cast. But I thought, it’s probably not going to happen.”
But it did happen, once Oh, Mary! became a Broadway sensation. Seventeen times, to be exact, before this two-week official run. Her very first performance last November was something of a personal Super Bowl. “My family flew in from California. My friends made sweatshirts. It was like every person I’ve ever met in my life was there,” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘What if I do this thing I’ve dreamed of for so long and I fail in front of everyone I know?’ Thankfully that didn’t happen.”
She’s loved getting under the skin of the spotlight-starved former First Lady. “Every time I do it, I find something new. Mary bleeds into me and I bleed into her until we’re both this freakish monster,” she says gleefully. And now she’s relishing the chance to settle in. “With two weeks, I’m not just running on pure adrenaline. I can marinate and figure things out. See what it’s really like to be a Broadway star. Can I say star?” she laughs.
Broadway was far from a sure path. Raised in Orange County, California, Solow was the loud, bossy cousin corralling relatives into living-room plays. At her arts high school, she initially wasn’t even admitted into the musical theater program. “They were like, ‘You’re so loud and annoying, go write plays,’” she remembers. Eventually, she was let in—but always in the character roles. “I played an old matron hen in Honk. In Guys and Dolls, they cast me as [hulking Chicago gangster] Big Jule. I wore a full suit, strapped down my boobs, and said, [lowering her voice to the basement] ‘Hey, what’s up everybody?'”
Teachers told her she’d work when she was fifty. That’s a long time to wait when you’re twenty. So she pivoted to comedy: improv, sketch, writing her own material, making people laugh at places like Upright Citizens Brigade. “Nobody wanted me in 42nd Street, but comedy let me be loud and weird in a way that worked,” she said.
But that detour utimately led her back to theater in the most roundabout way: A friend from her musical improv days was casting Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! tour. Suddenly, Solow was back in the world she thought had rejected her.
If you don’t know Hannah Solow from the stage, you might know her as “babymcgoo,” the inexplicably funny Instagram handle she can’t escape. “People keep asking what the origins are [of the nickname] and I simply have no idea. I tried to change it once and everyone was like, ‘No, bring it back!’ Now people are screaming Baby McGoo at me on the street,” she says.
On Instagram, she’s become a micro-comedy machine, spitting out improvised songs and sketches that feel like pure impulse. In reality, she’s got a secret weapon: her husband Alex Mitchell, a composer who helps her whip up tunes at midnight when inspiration hits. “It’s very much Lin-Manuel into a voice memo, me being like, ‘I want it to sound like this,’ and then he’s like, ‘OK, let’s figure it out,’” she says. “Sometimes it’s midnight and I’m like, ‘Hey, we got The Rapture tomorrow, we gotta do a video tonight.’”
Solow is clear-eyed about what she wants. “I’d love to be on Broadway for longer than two weeks,” she says. Dream roles include Adelaide in Guys and Dolls (to undo the Big Jule trauma), Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, maybe even Elphaba (“Elphaba could be silly,” she laughs, trying to convince herself.) She wants to do TV, film, maybe a sitcom. And yes, she wants to release an album. “I’ll send it to you,” she promises.
For now, she’s savoring the two weeks where Broadway feels like home—and proving she belongs center stage.
Watch the full interview with Hannah Solow and Paul Wontorek below!
