Mary Jane
Opening Night: April 23, 2024
Theater: Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Website: www.manhattantheatreclub.com
Captivating, affecting and compassionate, it’s the story of a single mother in an impossible family situation. Faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, Mary Jane relies on unflagging optimism and humor, along with the wisdom of the women around her who have become a makeshift family, to take on each new day. But will inner strength and newfound friendships be enough to see her through?
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April 23, 2024
Like all great plays, “Mary Jane” catches light from different directions at different times, revealing different ideas. On the other side of the worst of Covid, “Mary Jane” feels less like a parent’s cry for more life than an inquest into the meaning of death.
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April 24, 2024
There are two sick people in Mary Jane’s home, we realize, and Herzog has coaxed us into falling in love with both of them. The realization, just like the play, is gutting.
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April 23, 2024
All are rendered in lovely detail by Herzog and the five women of the cast, directed by Anne Kauffman with characteristic attention to the importance of offhand nuance.
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April 23, 2024
By the time the final curtain on “Mary Jane” drops, the audience is fully immersed in the titular character’s experiences. McAdams masters her portrayal of a determined caregiver continually sitting in the uncertainty of worry, despite constantly leaning toward positivity.
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April 23, 2024
That tonal balance is delicate, and it could tilt in any number of directions: too grim and it might be impossible to watch (I would understand someone not wanting to engage with the premise), too woo-woo and it might become sentimental. It asks a lot, specifically, of the actress playing Mary Jane. Rachel McAdams turns out to be more than up for the task.
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April 23, 2024
Ultimately, McAdams gets her big theatrical moment, but much of the play’s power comes from Herzog’s scheme to withhold that moment. We expect Mary Jane to break down, explode, get pissed off long before she does. What sets her off is unexpected. It’s worth the wait.
READ THE REVIEWApril 23, 2024
In less assured hands, the play could be a downer or familiar movie-of-the-week material. It transcends both traps. Mary Jane is clear-eyed, compassionate, and leavened with humor. Herzog (4000 Miles, 2023’s Broadway adaptation of A Doll’s House) is known for her fine-tuned, lived-in dialogue. Director Anne Kauffman’s cast breathe life into the script beautifully.
READ THE REVIEWApril 23, 2024
Amy Herzog’s beautiful play “Mary Jane” is, at its core, a study of the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to care for her child. But the takeaway from time spent at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre goes beyond even that realization. You leave after 90 minutes with a near-crushing awareness of the unfairness of life.
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April 23, 2024
Herzog has written a mournful lullaby, somehow simultaneously upsetting and soothing, thoughtful and gut-wrenching. It’s difficult to sit through, and yet, there is something consoling about it. Perhaps it is the comfort of seeing how people can come together to meet another’s need, no matter what the need is.
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April 23, 2024
Herzog weaves each of these strings into her narrative delicately, carefully piling them on without causing suffocation. And it’s Mary Jane’s dedication to an unseen peaceful future, filtered through McAdams’ touching performance, that stops it from becoming unbearable. Like the character, Mary Jane reaches the depths of dread, but with the most human of touches.
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