If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. This summer alone, the comedian has spent eight shows a week playing a boozy, bratty Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!,” taking over Broadway’s starry title role after Maya Rudolph and following previous Marys including Escola and Jinkx Monsoon. Her 10-week run, which ends in September, comes just months after “Hacks” wrapped its five-season run — and earned a record-breaking 24 Emmy nominations for its final season, including Stalter’s first individual nod for supporting actress in a comedy for playing Kayla.
While Escola’s catastrophically theatrical first lady has now been played by a growing roster of performers (Bowen Yang is set to replace Stalter next month), the comedian has put her own distinctly juvenile stamp on Mary. That newfound hobby made her an apt partner for the food brand Knorr, which tapped the comedian this summer for its “Ultimate Chicken Roast,” a new campaign built around its Chicken Bouillon and Premium Flavor Base. The partnership included a “Chicken Roast” event in New York earlier this month, where guests were served Knorr-seasoned dishes by partner chef Sohla El-Waylly while Stalter took the mic.
Following the roast, Variety caught up with Stalter to talk her newfound love for cooking, “Oh, Mary” and what we can expect from her Emmys red carpet look: May and I were just talking about how it’s a lot of lines — that before you even go into rehearsal, memorizing as much as possible is really helpful. Which is really practical, but really important. It helped me a lot to memorize it before I got to New York.
I really loved auditioning because it felt like a movie moment when I got it. And also, I wanted them to know what they were getting. People know my comedy, but I’ve never really sung on…well, maybe we shouldn’t say that.
But you had to sing in the audition, and I think they wanted to make sure they knew what my take was. It made me feel really confident because it was like, okay, they know what they’re getting, and I have proven that I understand the play and the character. So it was really fun, and I worked with a vocal coach.
I saw Jinkx do it, and I love Cole, and I’ve always wanted to see Cole do it. When I was in New York, I finally got to see Jinkx, and I just have never felt more seen in a character. Which is so funny, because I’m not the president’s wife and an alcoholic, but the way that she loves to perform.
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