Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher embrace second chances in 'Left on Tenth' on Broadway

The TV stars return to the stage as Delia Ephron and her husband, Peter Rutter, in the new play adapted from the You've Got Mail screenwriter's memoir.

Life comes with curveballs. Delia Ephron’s new Broadway rom-com Left on Tenth, based on her bestselling memoir of the same name, is a rich reminder of that fact. In it, Delia, a widow, falls fast for Peter, a widower from her past, only to face a dire medical diagnosis. How the couple gets through it is the heart of the story.

Directed by five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman (The Producers), the play stars TV favorites Julianna Margulies (ER, The Good Wife) and Peter Gallagher (The O.C., Grace and Frankie) as Delia Ephron and Peter Rutter, a psychiatrist.

Margulies made her Broadway debut in the dark family drama Festen; Gallagher has done 10 previous Broadway shows. Margulies told New York Theatre Guide her current character is a world away from her Emmy-winning Good Wife role. “Alicia Florrick had to put on her armor in order to survive,” she said. “Delia had to open up her heart in order to survive.”

Read on for more from New York Theatre Guide's candid conversation with the Left on Tenth leads. Be sure not to get left out: See the show at the James Earl Jones Theatre.

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What’s it like being back on Broadway?

Julianna Margulies: It’s been exactly 18 years. We’re having a ball, and it's very fulfilling. It's something else to feel the energy in the audience.

Peter Gallagher: What I love most about being back on Broadway is what I've always loved about being on Broadway. We’re all members of the same tribe. It's very powerful. It's all about the people and the script. And we have a very appreciative audience.

What drew you to Left on Tenth?

Margulies: I've always been taken with Delia’s writing. I've read all her work. And there had been a moment in time when I was on The Good Wife where she had written an op-ed in The New York Times about the show. I remember turning to my husband in bed on a Sunday and saying, "I'm in the Ephron orbit."

We kept in touch, and then all of a sudden, this past January, she sent me an email. She said, "I actually wrote my memoir into a play, and I'd love you to play me." Honestly, I feel so passionate about her story and her and Peter that I did say to her, "No ego here. Let's do a reading of it. Because if you hear the words come out of my mouth and it doesn't feel right, I want you to get this right for you and for the world."

Gallagher: What is a greater thing in the world than getting a script that you can't put down? I realized it's one of the best roles I might ever play.

Peter, did you spend time with Peter Rutter to prepare for the role?

Gallagher: Not until after we had done the workshop. I gave my version of Peter Rutter based purely on Delia's words.

How does the play's theme of second chances resonant to you?

Gallagher: Second chances coexist in any given moment. You just have the courage and the willingness to see them and receive them.

Margulies: The cynicism of the world evaporates when you step into the theatre because of joy and hope. Peter and I take our time with everybody at the stage door because it means a lot to us that they’ve come. I see a lot of people really affected by the joy of just believing in it — the romance and second chances and getting through something tough.

How about its themes of aging and relationships?

Gallagher: It's just absolutely responsible storytelling. I appreciate the fact that it's Delia's story. She wrote it and she lived it.

Margulies: I always look to people older than me to learn because they have something to say. They have life experience. I'm always shocked when I'm on a set that the younger actors don't ask me for advice. I asked George Clooney every single day when I was 25 on ER. He was maybe 33, and he had done 14 pilots. And I would say, "How does this work?" That's how you learn.

Did anything scare you about your role? Actors sometimes say they take parts that scare them.

Margulies: I was excited. But I guess in the beginning, I was scared because the performance, for me, is for Delia. I want her to love it. The thing I was scared most of is, I wanted to tell her story the way she wanted her story to be told.

Gallagher: The whole nature of this game is terrifying. It’s nothing less. It's just the nature of the beast. I'm nervous before every entrance every night.

Julianna, you tap dance on stage. Did you have to learn that for the play?

Margulies: I did not tap before I got this, but I will be tapping after because it's such a joyful dance. My mother was a ballerina with ABT [American Ballet Theatre] and my sister was a ballerina. Ballet was never for me because it felt so rigid. But tapping — I'm going to keep doing it.

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This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.