ROB MCCLURE IS ON FIRE AS MRS. DOUBTFIRE
Mrs. Doubtfire started its theatrical life as the hit 1993 film starring Robin Williams. As happens so often with hit movies, it was adapted into a stage musical in 2019, ending its life struggling through several COVID-plagued short runs until it finally closed on Broadway in 2022.
Maggie Lakis and Rob McLure
A North American tour took to the road 29 weeks ago, and it’s currently stopping for a week’s run at the San Diego Civic Theatre. before heading to L.A. and San Francisco. The production had gotten mixed reviews during its tour, but it certainly looked and sounded good at the Civic. The large audience was audibly happy about what they were seeing and hearing.
Nik Alexander, Aaron Kaburick and Company
Mrs. Doubtfire deals with an offbeat San Francisco television actor named Daniel Hillard (Rob McClure), who loses custody of his three children in a divorce from his wife Miranda (Maggie Lakis, McClure’s real wife). After Maggie advertises for a nanny, Daniel disguises himself as an elderly Scottish nanny named Mrs. Doubtfire. Daniel gets the job and spends time with his three kids in disguise. Much of the show deals with Hillard trying to keep knowledge of his alternate identity from his wife and children, so the audience is asked to buy the premise that Maggie and the kids don’t recognize that the nanny is actually the man they have been living with for years.
Giselle Gutierrez, Cody Braverman, Emerson Mae Chan, Maggie Lakis and Rob McLure
Many of the loudest laughs were inspired by speedy costume changes in which Hillard feverishly switches back and forth between his normal appearance and Catherine Zuber‘s comical realistic costume designs and David Brian Brown‘s hair and wig designs.
Rob McClure
The laughs come fast and furious in Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell‘s book, which has an abundance of one-liners, quips, wisecracks, double entendres, and jokes that kept the spectators in a continuous state of giggles. Much of the broader humor comes from Daniel’s gay brother-in-law Frank (Aaron Kaburick) and Frank’s jive black husband Andre (Nik Alexander).
Rob McLure and Company
The score by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick doesn’t offer many hummable hits, but a handful of effective numbers underpin the production’s major virtue, the choreography by Lorin Latarro, who has assembled a chorus full of athletic, enthusiastic, swinging young men and women who delight in such numbers as “Easy Peasy,” set in a TV cooking video, and “So Long from Mr. Jolly,” set in a manic children’s TV show. Fans of Broadway dancing at a very high technical and entertainment level will find much joy in Mrs. Doubtfire.
Nik Alexander, Aaron Kaburick, Romelda Teron Benjamin, and Rob McLure
McClure, who was nominated for a Tony for his performance as Doubtfire on Broadway, is a multiple threat star, combining a wry sense of humor, outstanding singing and dancing gifts, and credible acting chops in the scenes in which he and Miranda struggle with the stresses of a broken marriage. Giselle Gutierrez showed star quality of her own as Daniel’s daughter, Lydia. Their duet “Just Pretend” was the emotional highlight of the show. The three Hillard children could all sing, dance, and act on par with their elders. In addition to Gutierrez, the others are Sam Bird (double-cast with Axel Bernard Rimmele) as Christopher and Emerson Mae Chan (double-cast with Charlotte Sydney Harrington) as Natalie. Well done, youngsters!
Axel Bernard Rimmele, Giselle Gutierrez, Rob McLure and Kennedy Pitney
Other major technical credits go to David Korins (scenic design), Philip S. Rosenberg (lighting design), Brian Ronan and Craig Cassidy (sound design), and Ethan Popp (music supervision and orchestrations), all worthy of high praise. And presiding over the entire operation is one of the grand master directors of the American theater, Jerry Zaks.
Leo Roberts and Rob McLure
Mrs. Doubtfire is ideal for fans of Broadway musicals suitable for the whole family (a significant percentage of the audience consisted of teenagers and younger). The storyline is easy to follow and the production values are at the top of the scale. The production lists twenty-nine performers in the cast, so this is not done on the cheap (although the North American tour of Mrs. Doubtfire has recouped its $5 million investment after 29 weeks on the road). I suspect that Robin Williams would have been pleased.
Giselle Gutierrezphotos by Joan Marcus
Mrs. Doubtfire
national tour
reviewed at the San Diego Civic Theater, 1100 Third Avenue where it ends June 9, 2024
for tickets (beginning at $40), visit BroadwaySD
tour continues; for dates and cities, visit Doubtfire Musical
