Video: Rachel McAdams Is Getting Ready for Her Broadway Debut in MARY JANE

You know, we've only been together for a week, but we've done so much already

It feels, I keep thinking, are we going on next week? Because we're going like gangbusters here, so it's been great

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. The latest from Manhattan Theatre Club is the Broadway premiere of Amy Herzog's critically acclaimed play, Mary Jane

Under the direction of Annie Kaufman, it stars Academy Award nominee Rachel McAdams

who was making her Broadway debut, and I caught up with a company, during a break in rehearsal

When I first read it, I was so overcome. You know, I was, I couldn't stop thinking about it

I couldn't put it down when I was reading it. And I felt like I could play this character

but it was also scary the idea to take this role on. It's a huge undertaking

This woman is formidable, and she has such a gift of human spirit in her

and she's so resilient, so I knew it was a big job

Yeah. But that's what actors live for. Totally. To be given something like that is such a gift

and they don't come along very often, if ever. So, and then, you know, just Amy's writing is

there's something magical about it. It's spare, and yet it's so full, and there's, you know

and the characters are all so deep and complex. There's so many surprises, and like you said

there's so much humor, you know? I think the audience is gonna be really, really taken with it

I hope. What do you love about Mary Jane? Talk about her what you love about I know you still finding her but what you love about her already Yeah I mean she has a joie de vivre you know She really she does not bemoan her situation

The only thing she bemoons occasionally is the system she finds herself in

You know, I mean, it really takes a village to raise a kid, and everyone needs a lot of support, and she needs a little bit more

And it's just not set up for her to always receive that

But I just love her lust for life, the joy she gets from her child, her get up and go every day

You know, she's really an extraordinary person to play. I find this play a kind of love letter to humanity

and a love letter to those folks who make their livelihood and their lives out of helping other people

And also, for me, I mean, this is a play about a single mother with an ill child

and there's a lot of fear around that, and people assume that it's going to be something sad

But I think what's so incredible about the play is that Amy really shows us

and illuminates the joy of motherhood, no matter what kind of kid you have

And in fact that there equal or lots of times more joy and ease And I want to invite people into this world to understand to visit it and understand it and to not fear it

I'm just thrilled. I'm really thrilled. And Manhattan Theater Club is the place where when I graduated college, I had my very first internship in the casting office many, many, many years ago

So it's also an incredible full circle for me to come back here and make my Broadway debut

What a fabulous full circle moment. I love that. And for you being back, what it means to with this play

Well, this is a really beautiful play, very different from piano lessons

And what's great is that I love the play. I love the people that I'm working with

I love the team. We just feel so supported and cared for

And I'm so grateful to get to tell this really beautiful story

It's just very rich and full. How does it feel to be back living in this play

I was waiting for it and waiting for it, and that it is happening is a dream come true for me

that it's happening again. And then being with different people, Susie and I are the only ones from the original

but it's the same play, but it's a different production full of the same wonderful heart and soul

that it had the last time. It's just, it's stunning how beautifully anyone, all of us can adapt to it and learn from it

I learning things about the play right now She writes for humans which is such a relief because it weird to say that that like something that doesn happen often but she writes the way people speak and she writes the

awkward moments, she writes the tough moments, the vulnerable ones, the funny ones, and she's just

so skilled at diving into who people are at their core and letting them sit with that

You know, because of your success in film and television, everything else, many people may be

coming to the theater for the first time saying, oh my God, I'm going to see Rachel McAdams do

something live, and you're going to introduce them to this art form as we were all introduced

What that means to it may be bringing a whole new audience to the theater? I had not thought about that until this moment

I guess that's really amazing. I remember, you know, the first time I saw theater when I was eight and it changed my life

So I do think this play could be life-changing. I do think this play is, it's an important story to tell

and I do think it's something people, I think, will take home with them

But, yeah, young people. And MTC is doing amazing educational outreach programs

that we all just learned about to bring audiences in or people who wouldn't normally have access to plays

There's so much outreach, which I think is extraordinary. Especially for a play like this

I feel like this is about, things that we don't talk about, you know, like a part of our global village that we sort of

put in the corner and that's not okay. And it doesn't create compassion or awareness. So I think

this play is doing good work there too