While Robin Williams no doubt created the wacky, zany and lovable man-child who dresses up as a Scottish nanny to be with his kids after a divorce, actor Rob McClure has put his own stamp on the iconic character.
Now touring as Daniel Hillard, aka Mrs. Doubtfire, in “Mrs. Doubtfire, The New Musical Comedy,” McClure is at the top of the list of reasons to see this production at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts before it leaves on Sunday, April 21.
The guy is a quadruple threat. He is a man of a thousand voices (wait until you get a load of his Donald Trump impersonation; oh, and Gollum, E.T., Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog). He’s a comic and, when necessary, a serious actor — a great singer and dancer, too. Plus, he knows this character inside and out, having originated the role on Broadway when the musical opened in 2021 and been nominated for a Tony Award for his star turn.
Of course, there are a dozen other reasons to see “Mrs. Doubtfire.” With an exuberant cast and a modern take on the 1993 film (now Mrs. Doubtfire has an electronic tablet that can help her whip up a home-cooked meal complete with tap-dancing chefs, and there’s a Taylor Swift reference, too), the adaptation keeps what made the movie so endearing yet adds more comedy and dimension.
The musical numbers by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick — who wrote the score for “Something Rotten!” — bring the same smart musical comedy verve to this.
The film’s rapid-fire changes, which Williams made frantic, were brilliant, but bringing them to life on the stage is one heckuva feat. With Jerry Zaks’ magical direction and some seriously sleight-of-hand maneuvering, they manage to get Doubtfire entirely unspooled in a restaurant scene so that the actor ends up standing only in the padded underwear, including a stuffed fat tummy and an overly large Grandma bra. It earned such a long applause at the Broward Center’s opening night that the actors had to wait until it died down to continue the scene.
If you’ve never seen the film (some of the details have been slightly changed for the musical), here’s a quick plot recap: Daniel is a struggling voice actor. His wife, Miranda, is trying to make her line of workout clothing successful and, when we meet the couple, she is at the end of her rope with son Christopher (played during this performance by Cody Braverman), daughters Lydia (Giselle Gutierrez, from Plant City, Florida, and a sophomore at the University of Central Florida majoring in musical theater) and Natalie (in this performance played by Emerson Mae Chen), and her husband, who is like a fourth child. Even daughter Lydia says she feels older than her dad, and she’s only 15.
After Daniel throws a birthday party for his son where an R-rated singing telegram shows up, Miranda (played by Maggie Lakis, who in real life is married to leading man McClure) decides it’s the last straw. She wants a divorce and gets one and he loses custody of his three children. She is in search of a nanny, and with his knack for voices, Dad gets the idea to make a phone call to apply for the position. With the help of his Hollywood makeup artist brother, Frank (Aaron Kaburick) and Frank’s husband, Andre (Nik Alexander), a character who wasn’t in the original, they create Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire.
Miranda and the kids love her, but when Daniel’s alter ego starts to come apart, everyone realizes what was missing in their lives. Yes, everything is as tidy at the end as Mrs. Doubtfire’s beautifully set dining room table.
The composers knew exactly where comedic musical numbers would be the perfect fit. When Daniel decides he’s going to pose as the nanny, Act 1’s “Make Me a Woman” has a disco beat that is just right and echoes Andre’s expression of insane fandom for Donna Summer.
The musical gives Miranda’s new paramour, Stuart Dunmire (Leo Roberts), a little bit more to work with, and that adds another fine comic element. He’s a chiseled English hunk who becomes the fall guy to Daniel/Mrs. Doubtfire’s jokes. The workout gym song “Big Fat No” is another Kirkpatrick brothers’ highlight.
What doesn’t work in the musical? A few of the ballads slow down the pace, including Miranda’s second-act song, “Let Go.” (Even Lakis can’t dig deep enough for the heart-wrenching it is supposed to exude. And while it’s a sweet duet between father and daughter, another second-act song, “Just Pretend,” comes so late into the show, almost at the end, that the blocks of comedy that have been built upon turn the whole thing into a Jenga game.
Pull out one more piece and everything built in Act 1 could crumble. But it doesn’t because the show has such momentum. And it has Rob McClure.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Mrs. Doubtfire”
WHEN: Through Sunday, April 21
WHERE: Au-Rene Theater at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
COST: Tickets start at $39
INFORMATION: 954-462-0222; browardcenter.org
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