Rachel McAdams may not be in The Notebook on Broadway, but that doesn’t mean she’s any less excited about the show.
During a conversation with Broadway.com editor-in-chief Paul Wontorek on The Broadway Show, the Oscar nominee discussed her own debut on the Great White Way in new play Mary Jane by Amy Herzog, who recently adapted A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain. Two blocks away from the show, the musical adaptation of The Notebook is taking place in front of sold-out crowds.
“[It’s] crazy, just crazy,” McAdams said of the coincidence of both shows playing at the same time. She went on to joke that people keep thinking she’s starring in the musical adaptation of one of her breakout roles, based on the Nicholas Sparks best-selling novel.
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She recalled her friend’s mom saying, “We’re going to see Rachel on Broadway! And she’s going to be singing and dancing!” The Mean Girls star noted, “[My friend] was like, ‘Um… I don’t know if you are… I don’t think you have the right show.’ She was like, ‘She’s doing The Notebook, right?’ And he was like, ‘No, she’s not. She’s not.'”
McAdams also reflected on the rain scene in the film adaptation that co-starred Ryan Gosling and how they’re doing it in the musical. She noted that she hopes the iconic scene is handled a little bit gentler on Broadway than it was in the movie, where they were essentially “drowning” in water from a fire hose.
“I can’t wait to see it,” the Doctor Strange actress said of the Broadway adaptation. “It’s so exciting to see it take on a whole other life like this. It blows my mind. And we didn’t even know if anyone would see this movie when we were making it.”
Mary Jane follows a single mother who uses optimism, humor and the help of the women around her to make her way through “an impossible family situation,” per the production’s description. The play opens April 23 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
