Rachel McAdams to make Broadway debut

Manhattan Theatre Club will present the Broadway premiere of Amy Herzog’s drama Mary Janes this spring at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Anne Kauffman will direct Oscar nominee Rachel McAdams in the drama, which begins performances on 2 April.

In Mary Jane, a single mother finds a community of women from many walks of life while caring for her chronically ill son. The drama premiered at Yale Rep in 2017 before an off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop later that year. Kauffman directed both productions, with Emily Donahoe playing the title role at Yale Rep and Carrie Coon taking on the role off-Broadway.

Kauffman also directed Herzog’s play Belleville in 2013. This marks Herzog’s second Broadway production of the season; her translation of An Enemy of the People is expected to open this winter under the direction of Sam Gold, with Jeremy Strong starring. (McAdams will also be on Broadway at the same time as a musical version of The Notebook; she starred in the film in 2004.)

Of Mary Jane‘s off-Broadway run, our sister site’s critic called it “perhaps the realest play we’ll see all year, one that is precise in its details and is delivered with exceptional dignity.”