Amy Ryan Reveals the Sweet Gesture Tyne Daly Made After Last-Minute Broadway Replacement (Exclusive)

The Tony nominee opens up to PEOPLE about stepping in for the legendary actress in the revival of 'Doubt: A Parable'

Amy Ryan’s “terrifying” jump into her role as Sister Aloysius in John Patrick Shanley’s play Doubt: A Parable earned her praise from the play’s original star Tyne Daly. 

Ryan, 56, spoke with PEOPLE at the 2024 Meet the Nominees junket earlier this month and revealed that the Cagney and Lacey actress sent her flowers and a lovely note after her first performance.

“I was backstage getting suited up,” Ryan says. “There was a bottle of champagne and a lovely note from Tyne just encouraging me on, which was just beautiful.”

Related: Amy Ryan Says She Felt 'Sheer Terror' Replacing Tyne Daly in Broadway's Doubt Revival Last Minute

Daly, 77, was originally slated to play Sister Aloysius in the Broadway revival alongside Liev Schreiber, Quincy Tyler Bernstine and Zoe Kazan. However, she ended up dropping out of the production after she was hospitalized due to an undisclosed health issue on Feb. 2. 

On Feb. 6, show director Scott Ellis told PEOPLE that the cast and crew were “elated that Tyne is on the mend and on her way to a full recovery." Ryan also tells PEOPLE that she is “so glad [Daly] is in good health.”

Doubt — which originally premiered on Broadway in 2005, won four Tony awards including best play, and was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama — tells the story of a principal nun at a Bronx middle school, who suspects that one of the new priests might have an inappropriate relationship with a student. The play was later adapted into the 2008 Oscar-nominated film starring Meryl Streep and the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Ryan made her debut in the play on Feb. 13, just 10 days after the show had it's official first preview. She had been getting up at 5:30 a.m. every morning to learn lines and rehearsing all day long.

The Office alum recalls to PEOPLE that joining the show under those circumstances was “a terrifying thing to do" — so much so that even now that the run is over, she "still" feels like she’s "getting [her] bearings."

She relied on “quick gut instinct” to shape her portrayal of Sister Aloysius. “I was very struck by this woman without power in a patriarchal system who was risking everything,” Ryan says. “She’s risking her whole life in the church for what she believes to be true in order to protect children.” 

“The audience might think that ‘she's harsh and mean,’ but these are really serious circumstances in which you are meeting her. But she is also part of a different generation focused on rule-following and the idea that children should be seen and not heard, but yet she's loving in a protective way.”

Related: Liev Schreiber Reveals Why He Was Reluctant to First Take on Tony-Nominated Role in Broadway’s Doubt (Exclusive)

Ryan’s performance ended up landing her a Tony nomination for lead actress in a play, which she calls a “great, wonderful surprise." Schreiber, who played Father Flynn, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine (as Mrs. Muller, the role Viola Davis played on screen) also received nominations for their work.

Speaking with PEOPLE at the Meet the Nominees junket, Scheriber, 56, praised Ryan for her performance — especially after joining the show with such short notice. "Amy just did an extraordinary job getting up to speed really quickly," he says.

The 2024 Tony Awards will take place on Sunday, June 16 at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater in New York City. Viewers can watch the show on CBS and Paramount+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Select awards will also be handed out on a preshow that will stream on Pluto TV.

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Read the original article on People.