Video: Betty Gilpin is Living For the 'Stupid Joy' of OH, MARY!

It's just such a high-speed million miles an hour current of a play

So once you jump in, it's just all of a sudden it's over. So there's almost no time to break or think about being terrible

Hi, I'm Emily Grace Tucker and I'm here at Sardy's with Broadway World to talk to Betty Gilpin about her Broadway debut in O'Mary

Well, I, like everyone in New York, rushed to see it at the Lortel when it was downtown

because we thought, oh, this special incredible once-in-a-lifetime thing is only going to be

at this little theater for so long. We all have to see it. And then, of course, now it's

been running for a year and is now on Broadway and so incredible. And I, like everyone, you know

laughed harder than I ever had in a theater, but also felt this reverence

for Cole and what was happening on stage, that it is a very rare thing that happens in O Mary

that, you know, Cole has reached into their brain and soul and pulled out this demented hidden opus

And it was an honor to behold. And now, yeah, getting to play Mary myself

I just, I cannot believe it. The offer came out of the sky

which is not the way that my career usually goes. I was doing a mini about President James Garfield who was a different president who was assassinated in the 1800s and I was playing the first lady to him And I was literally in an oval office set in a bustle dressed as the first lady just sitting waiting for you know something to be ready and across from a Lincoln bust

And my phone, I got a text from my agent saying there's a possibility that they would want you to come in for Mary and, you know, Mary

And I just, I started totally sobbing. That's amazing. So did you go in and audition after that

What was that process like? No, I didn't audition, which is not, I don't know what they're thinking or what is happening

So, yeah, it was, I'm just so excited. That's amazing. Okay. So in the rehearsal process, currently you're about a week out, right

So how are you feeling? A week out. Oh, just a two week put in

So quick. How have you been learning, you must have started before two weeks

Yes, yeah. I've really been disturbing my children by doing Oh, Mary, over and over and over again in our living room to my toddler and baby

And they've been looking at me, like, you know, mumbling it. It's not appropriate for children, of course

But, yeah, it's me and Philip James Brannon and Chris Renfro are the three newbies in this production or this round

And we all walked in off book and holding hands and jumping into this

this tidal wave of insanity. It's probably nice to have two other people that are also learning the show at the same time

Yes, yeah. And we all just so happy to be there and just so honored to experience such stupid joy every single day Now this is not your first play but it is your first Broadway play correct Technically your Broadway debut

Yes. That's incredible. Is this something you've been picturing for a long time

Was this a childhood dream of yours? Talk to us a little bit about what it means to be making your Broadway debut

Yeah, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I mean, Sardis is somewhere that as a theater nerd growing up, I would demand to have my

birthday here. My mom would take me and we'd go to Joe Allen's as well. And I, you know, I, of course

it was my dream forever. And then I kind of just let the dream go. And I called my dad when I got the

part. And both my parents are and were actors when I was growing up and did theater. And I called

my dad to tell him. And he said, what theater is it at? I said, the Lyceum. And there was a pause on

the phone. And he said, I made my Broadway debut at the Lyceum as an understudy in 1917

and I went on one time. So a week from today, next Tuesday, when I am in the wings about to pass out from nerves

I will think about my dad in the exact same spot. And one of my best friends, Kristen Miliotti, went on one time as an understudy in the Lyceum

So I'm just going to try and channel the people I love who have almost thrown up and passed out in that very spot where I will in one week

Wow. that's a very like so special so serendipitous and so unique to you and the timing of all of this that's

so very cool um speaking of like nerves you're talking about like not wanting to throw up in the wings

and nerves how do you as a performer personally you know brain space where is your brain space at how are you doing is your brain so full And how do you personally as someone who been in this business for a

very long time and been so successful, still get nervous? And how do you deal with it

I definitely still get nervous. And I'm definitely super terrified. But I'm also sort of on parallel

tracks of I've never been more scared. And I've also never been more excited about something

so I'm going to try and lean that way. But also, you know, Cole has written such, albeit silly and ridiculous, the play is beautiful and the bones of it are so strong

And it is ultimately about someone, without spoiling anything, someone who is given a chance and really, or really wants their chance

And I'm just going to try and let the play be this meta experience where I'm getting a chance

Yeah. How do you keep yourself from breaking? I think that would be the hardest part for me as someone who has seen it and you're just cracking up the entire time

Even when you're in it, it's still hysterical material. How do you keep yourself from breaking constantly

Yeah. Well, you know, we're trying to treat it like it's Hamlet, honestly, and let the audience experience a comedy

I mean, it's Hamlet with Brat Falls, I guess, and rubber chickens, metaphorical rubber chickens

But yeah, and also the play, it's just such a high-speed million miles an hour current of a play

So once you jump in, it's just all of a sudden it's over. So there's almost no time to break or think about being terrible