Cole Escola Steals the Spotlight at 2025 Tony Awards with Dazzling Gown and Bold Performance

The 2025 Tony Awards lit up New York City with glamour, talent, and trailblazing performances — and Cole Escola was the beating heart of it all. The 38-year-old performer, playwright, and cabaret rebel turned heads on Sunday night with a gown that was as much a performance piece as it was red carpet couture. But it wasn’t just the look that stunned — Escola was also one of the night’s breakout stars, earning a nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for their work in the hit absurdist comedy Oh, Mary!.

Escola arrived in a silvery-blue, custom-designed gown inspired by Bernadette Peters’ 1999 Tony Awards look, a tribute that spoke volumes. “It’s my favorite blue — I call it Cinderella blue,” Escola told reporters on the red carpet. The elaborate creation by designer Wiederhoeft featured a lace-up corset, hand-embroidered metallic blue glass beads, and a cascading ornamental door motif that symbolized both homage and evolution — a nod to “the passage of time and historical femininity.”

The theatricality didn’t stop there. Escola’s curly reddish-brown wig was a direct salute to Peters’ iconic look, while their necklace, adorned with an image of 19th-century actress Laura Keene, added a haunting historical twist — tying together past and present with fearless flair.

Beyond fashion, Escola’s performance in Oh, Mary! — a surreal and irreverent take on Mary Todd Lincoln — has become one of Broadway’s most buzzed-about roles. Written and performed by Escola, the play reimagines Lincoln’s widow as a boozy, frustrated chanteuse trapped in a bizarre historical cabaret. It’s bold, it’s bizarre, and it’s brilliant — qualities that have defined Escola’s career from the start.

The 2025 Tony Awards were a celebration of originality, and Escola stood tall among a field of adventurous newcomers. Alongside wins by Sarah Snook for her mind-bending 26-role performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray and Nicole Scherzinger’s blood-streaked revival of Sunset Boulevard, Escola’s nomination represented a victory for experimental theatre and alt-comedy on Broadway’s biggest stage.

The night also belonged to Maybe Happy Ending, a Korean sci-fi romance that walked away with six Tony Awards, proving that Broadway’s future belongs to fresh, fearless storytelling. But even as the spotlight spread across genres and geographies, it was Cole Escola’s fusion of fashion, performance, and pastiche that many will remember most.

With Oh, Mary! continuing to captivate audiences and critical acclaim pouring in, Escola has officially arrived — not just as a Tony nominee, but as a cultural disruptor with Broadway in their palm.