Rachel McAdamsis making herBroadwaydebut this April in thenew playMary Jane.And while she’s “excited” to be stepping on the famed New York City stage for the first time, she admits she has some nerves about it.
“[I’m] terrified, absolutely terrified,” the Oscar nominee, 45, laughed toPaul Wontorekduring an interview onThe Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal. “I was intimidated to take it on, so there was always something hold me back a little bit.”
“It just got its hooks in me and I was like, ‘There’s something in the universe that’s telling me this is the one,' " McAdams said, noting it’s “hopefully not the last one” she’ll do on Broadway.
Rachel McAdams attends a photo call for the new Manhattan Theatre Club Broadway play “Mary Jane” at Manhattan Theatre Club Rehearsal Studios on March 7, 2024 in New York City.John Nacion/Getty
John Nacion/Getty
“The energy that this play follows moves in a lot of places, but it’s all relatable; it’s all is grounded still, even at its most heightened moments,” she explained. “This play is just so gorgeous, the writing is incredible. It’s heartwarming and it’s heart-wrenching and it’s surprising and it’s funny. And it’s a testament to the human spirit. It certainly is a play that has changed me.”
Her fears about doing Broadway have been squashed a bit since she’s gone through the rehearsal process, McAdams said. The show has only had a few performances so far, having began previews on April 2 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre ahead of an opening night on April 23.
“We’ve gotten up on our feet,” McAdams noted onThe Broadway Show, opening up her experience of working with director Anne Kauffman (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window). “I’ve gotten to ask a million questions, still have a million more. … [But] I can feel it, you know, the nerves subsiding a little bit as we just, you know, find it.”
“It’s hard to kind of wrap — I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it, to be perfectly honest,” she gushed. “I pinch myself every day and the little theater nerd in me is freaking out.”
Lily Santiago, Susan Pourfar, Rachel McAdams, April Matthis and Brenda Wehle attend a photo call for the new Manhattan Theatre Club Broadway play “Mary Jane” at Manhattan Theatre Club Rehearsal Studios on March 7, 2024 in New York City.John Nacion/Getty
Asked the difference between performing in those mediums, McAdams told Wontorek, 51, that there are pros and cons.
On the downside? The dialogue. “The workout my brain is going through to learn all these lines and then not just throw them away, you know?” she said. “In film and television, you learn a page, you throw it away, you never see it again until maybe a reshoot a year later on.”
But then there’s the comfort of rehearsals. “I love coming to work in my pajamas and staying in them,” she noted. “Film and television, you might show up in your pajamas, but you’re not going to stay that way. So, you know, just kind of not thinking about hair and makeup and just really getting into the nitty gritty and the meat of it every day.”
Rachel McAdams poses at a photo call for the new Manhattan Theatre Club Broadway play “Mary Jane” at Manhattan Theatre Club Rehearsal Studios on March 7, 2024 in New York City.Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Bruce Glikas/WireImage
She also loves the time she’s able to put into the work. “I love the finessing,” she said. “Sometimes in film and television… Like a year later after I wrap something, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night like, ‘That’s how I should have played that scene.’ And it feels like, you know, maybe there’ll be moments of that here, but you just get so much time with the material and so much time to mess it up and get back on track and then mess it up again.”
And then there’s the live audience, something that’ll be new to her. “That sizzle of playing with an audience and talking to them and whatever they’re going to give back? I’ve been told you can hear everything; you really do feel them so palpably, so I’m sort of terrified of that,” she said. “And also, looking forward to it.”
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Mary Janealso stars April Matthis, Susan Pourfar, Lily Santiago and Brenda Wehle.
Tickets for the Manhattan Theater Club productionare now on sale.The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadalairs weekends in syndication (check local listings).
source: people.com
