Amy Ryan Says She Felt 'Sheer Terror' Replacing Tyne Daly in Broadway's “Doubt ”Revival Last Minute
"It was really by hook or by crook," said Ryan, who stepped in for Daly after the Hollywood legend was hospitalized for an undisclosed illness
Amy Ryan was planning on seeing the Broadway revival of Doubt: A Parable — she wasn't planning on starring in it!
The actress made headlines in February when it was announced she would be leading the Roundabout Theater Company's production of John Patrick Shanley’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, after it's original star, Tyne Daly, was hospitalization and had to drop out.
Speaking about the last minute replacement during an interview on The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal, Ryan revealed how her surprise casting came to be, explaining that she had seen a flyer for the production — which also stars Liev Schreiber, Quincy Tyler Bernstine and Zoe Kazan — and was excited to get tickets. "I can't wait," she remembered thinking.
Then, her phone rang. "It was a late Sunday night phone call. 'What are you doing next week?' " Ryan, 55, recalled to host Tamsen Fadal. "'Oh, I'm suppose to go to Colorado with my family.' 'You think you want to do this instead?' "
"It was one of those moments I do remember saying, 'I'll call you back' — it was like, 9 p.m. on Sunday night," she says. "And I got off the phone and I spoke to my family. They were so calm, they were like, 'Well, why wouldn't you do it?' And that was an interesting challenge to lay at my feet. I was like, 'Yeah, I had no argument back, other than, 'I don't know how to get to do it, but I know I want to do it."
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Next thing she knew, Ryan — known for her roles in The Office and Only Murders in the Building — was thrust into the drama that was already on its feet, playing to packed houses.
"It was a fast decision, but then the work began," Ryan said, noting she'd get up at 5:30 a.m. every morning to "learn lines and figure out how to navigate through this world."
She made her debut as strict disciplinarian Sister Aloysius in the play on Feb. 13 — just 10 days after the show had it's official first preview (A preview performance on Feb. 2 had been cancelled due to Daly's health troubles, and Tony nominee Isabel Keating played the role while Ryan rehearsed).
"Those first few performances, I had scripts on stage," Ryan admitted. The fact that her character is a school principal helped. "Whenever I was at the desk, I had scripts," she said. "And I learned the lines when I was walking around the script. I knew those lines first."
"It was so out of order," she added, pointing to the challenges of learning blocking rather than understanding her character. "It was truly, 'Sit there, stand there.' Every once in awhile I'd say, 'Why?' You know, 'Do I have time for a question? Why do I stand there?' But it was really by hook or by crook."
Since Ryan was, as she put it, "shout out of a the cannon," she says she's relaxed into the role.
"Last week, joy took the place of sheer terror," the said on The Broadway Show. "So I'm so glad I made that decision to join this incredible company. And I'm having fun! ... I love it, I really love it.'
Her costars have been a "wall of love and support," Ryan said. "They had a very dramatic shift in their plans when I joined the show, and they were cool as a cucumber."
Doubt tells the story of a Catholic school teacher who, after she suspects nefarious relations between the charismatic priest Father Flynn (Schreiber) and a student, is "forced to wrestle with what’s fact, what’s fiction, and how much she’ll risk to expose the difference — all the while wrestling with her own bone-deep doubts."
The play premiered on Broadway in 2005, winning four Tony Awards including best play and a best actress trophy for Cherry Jones, who originated the role of Sister Aloysius. A 2008 Oscar-nominated film adaptation starred Meryl Streep in that part, along with Viola Davis, Amy Adams and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
"It's an excellent play," Ryan told Fadal, 53, praising it for being a "well-crafted" debate. "As I've calmed down over the weeks, it's such a great conversation with the audience. They're so responsive vocally. And that's thrilling. It's alive and that's such a thing.'
As for Daly, director Scott Ellis told PEOPLE on Feb. 17 that the Hollywood legend was getting back to better. "On behalf of the cast and crew of Doubt, and the entire Roundabout family, we are elated that Tyne is on the mend and on her way to a full recovery," Ellis, 66, said.
Daly has not disclosed anything about her health condition. She only performed the role in front of an audience once, for invited dress rehearsal.
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Doubt would have added to Daly’s seven Broadway credits, which stretch back to 1967’s That Summer - That Fall. Her work in New York theater includes the 1989 production of Gypsy, which earned her a Tony Award for best actress in a musical.
Her six-time Emmy-winning work on television includes Cagney and Lacey, Christy and Judging Amy. More recently, she appeared on screen in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and made guest appearances on Grey's Anatomy, Madam Secretary and Mom.
The limited production of Doubt, which official opened at the Todd Haimes Theatre in New York City on March 7, will close on April 21. Tickets are now on sale. The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal airs weekends in syndication (check local listings).
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