Bernadette Peters Reacts to Cole Escola's Tony Awards Homage: "I Wore My Chest Hairs Different"

Published: June 10, 2025

Broadway legend Bernadette Peters has responded to Cole Escola's 2025 Tony Awards dress homage, and her reaction is priceless.

Peters, 77, said in a statement shared with PEOPLE, "I thought they looked absolutely lovely, but when I wore it, I wore my chest hairs in a different pattern." She also congratulated Escola on winning the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor."

Escola, 37, wore a custom Wiederhoeft gown inspired by Peters' 1999 Tony Awards look, where she took home the award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Annie Get Your Gun.

The Oh, Mary! star's custom creation featured a lace-up corset in pale blue taffeta with draping at the chest and hips and hand-embroidered metallic blue glass beads had an ornamental door motif cascading down the entire front in silver glass beads, faceted crystals, and tarnished metal sequins, which was "a nod to Bernadette's medals and the significance of the passage of time."

Escola took home the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a play for their work in Oh, Mary!, the hit Broadway comedy of which Escola is also the playwright.

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