The two actresses attended Cole Escola's acclaimed play on Thursday, July 25
It was "Oh, Jennifer!" and "Oh, Whoopi!" for the crowd at Lyceum Theatre in New York City on Thursday night, as Jennifer Aniston and Whoopi Goldberg popped up in the audience to see Cole Escola's hit Broadway comedy, Oh, Mary!
The two stars attended the July 25 performance separately, a source on the scene tells PEOPLE, with Aniston, 55, going with friends and Goldberg, 68, attending with her View co-host Sara Haines. But all gathered together backstage where they mingled with the cast and posed together for photographs.
"Everyone was so joyful," a second insider says. "Jennifer and Whoopi were both telling Cole and the rest of the stars how much they loved the show. Jennifer was even talking about how she wants to bring her Morning Show costars back to see it, and Whoopi and Sara were joking about wearing their Oh, Mary! T-shirts to work the next day."
Photos snapped showed Goldberg, 68, flashing her signature pearly whites as she hugged a smiling Aniston, 55, and held the show's Playbill.
Aniston also embraced Escola, 37, in one sweet pic.
The three weren't the only stars backstage on Thursday. Bill Hader and Justin Kirk were also in attendance.
Celebrities have been flocking to see Oh, Mary! since performances began back in June. Just this week alone, Cindy Crawford, Dan Levy, Kiernan Shipka, Carly Rae Jepsen and EsteHaim have been to see it. Zoë Kravitz went twice — once by herself and once the next night, with boyfriend Channing Tatum.
Oh, Mary!, which Escola penned, casts the comedian as "a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln" and follows the former first lady in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 assassination.
How to Get Away with MurderbreakoutConrad Ricamorastars as the former president, withJames Scully(as Mary’s teacher),Bianca Leigh(as Mary’s chaperone) andTony Macht(as Mary’s husband’s assistant) rounding out the principal cas -
t.Hannah SolowandPeter Smithalso star.
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The comedy originally premiered Off-Broadway, where it played a sold-out run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre that wrapped back in May.
Performances for an Broadway transfer, announced in April, began June 26 ahead of a July 11 opening. Reviews and sales have been so good, the show has already extended its limited run through Nov. 10.
"Unrequited yearning, alcoholism and suppressed desires abound in this one act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln through the lens of an idiot (Cole Escola)," an official synopsis for the play reads.
Escola is making their Broadway debut in Oh, Mary though they've long worked on stage, having gotten their start performing in New York City's cabaret circuit where they had monthly solo shows at the Duplex in the West Village.
A cult-favorite YouTube series with fellow comedian Jeffrey Self led to Escola's first major TV credit, Jeffrey & Cole Casserole, which premiered on Logo in 2009. Other credits have included Difficult People, Search Party, Mozart in the Jungle, National Lampoon Radio Hour and At Home with Amy Sedaris.
As for the celebrity love, that's nothing new.
The play, directed by Sam Pinkleton, has been a go-to destination for the stars since it first began performance Off Broadway in January.
Not only haveTimothée Chalamet,Bowen YangandAmy Schumerbeen spotted there, but a former Mary Todd Lincoln even made a visit whenSally Fieldsaw the show on Feb. 21. She attended with Steven Spielberg, who directed her in the 2012 film,Lincoln.
"That's the movie we should have made," Spielberg reportedly said afterwards.
Tickets forOh, Mary!are now on sale.
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