Mrs. Doubtfire is Very Funny and Even a Little Moving at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis

Look, I like the film Mrs. Doubtfire just fine, it’s not a favorite but it’s good, mostly due to the performance of the late Robin Williams. So I wasn’t exactly going in with high expectations, I mean the whole movie to stage musical can be really hit or miss, for every Little Shop Of Horrors there are two Pretty Woman‘s. This is also the second touring production this year at the Orpheum that’s an adaptation of a movie that centers around a man masquerading as a woman in order to get a job. Tootsie, the stage musical of which played the Orpheum last June, was the better movie but Mrs. Doubtfire is the better stage musical by a rather wide margin. My thoughts on Tootsie were that it would have made a better non-musical stage adaptation. With Mrs. Doubtfire the music works much better, and while I recall Tootsie‘s script being fairly funny, it’s completely left my memory whereas I’m sure I’ll be thinking about Mrs. Doubtfire for awhile. The strength of the film was Williams performance in the titular role and the same must be said of Rob McClure in the role on stage. McClure was nominated for a Tony Award for the role in the Broadway production in 2022. It’s rare to see the Broadway star on the touring production, but when you see McClure’s performance in the show it becomes clear why he is. There might not be anyone else who could actually do the role.

McClure as Daniel Hillard opens the show doing voice over work as an actor, where he runs through several spot on celebrity impersonations trying to improve on the lines he’s being asked to read. He’s quickly fired for being too difficult to work with. This is of course very similar to the beginning of Tootsie. Now that I think about it, I suspect the original film script for Mrs. Doubtfire was written by a Dustin Hoffman fan who took two of his big back to back hits, Tootsie and Kramer vs. Kramer, and combined them into one story. Which brings up another element that worked surprisingly well for this child of divorce and divorced parent, the parent child relationships in the midst of divorce. The divorce aspects of the story are not super weighty but it also doesn’t make light of it either. It’s utilizing a conflict that is familiar to many people as the catalyst for why our hero does what he does. He wants to spend time with his children, so when he discovers his ex-wife Miranda is hiring a Nanny, he enlists the help of his brother Frank and his husband Andre, who work in hair and makeup at a film and TV studio, to transform him into Scottish Nanny Extraordinaire Euphegenia Doubtfire. While playing the situation for laughs it addresses some of the less funny aspects of divorce, successfully maintaining a nice balance of emotional undercurrent without overdoing it or becoming cheesy. While the book by Karey Kirkpatrick & John O’Farrell draws heavily on the film for both plot and jokes, there is enough fresh material to keep the show engaging and to offer some surprises. Two of the best additions are the scene where Daniel is caught riffing with the equipment on the set of a failing Children’s TV show. The other is when he reluctantly steps in as Mrs. Doubtfire to model Miranda’s new clothing line. The only scene that felt a little forced is the first attempt at cooking dinner as Mrs. Doubtfire. There was clearly a requirement that there be a reenactment of the scene where the front of her blouse ends up scorched and she uses the lids of pots to put it out. It feels a little rushed and perfunctory rather than organic. But aside from that 30 second bit, the humor is consistently strong and the audience is laughing throughout the entire show. In fact, that moment is surrounded by a hilarious song “Easy Peasy” that centers around Daniel using his smart phone to watch cooking videos.

As mentioned above, McClure is irreplaceable as Daniel Hillard and his alter ego Mrs. Doubtfire, not only does he have the amazingly accurate comedic vocal impressions, patter, and timing down, but he can also sing the songs and get the perfect amount of pathos and frustrated bitterness across when the story goes to those places. McClure shares the stage with his real life wife Maggie Lakis who here is playing his ex-wife Miranda. She’s great as the rock of stability that McClure’s Daniel bounces off of and all around. She has the button down role and it could be easy to see her as the stick in the mud, but Lakis makes sure that a softer side shows through. She has a wonderful song “Let Go” that allows her to open up and reveal the struggle it’s been trying to stay with the ever upbeat and over the top Daniel. Lakis injects the song with bittersweet emotions that show that she too mourns the loss of what they once had. I think every person who’s ended a long term relationship can relate to those conflicting feelings of hope and loss. Giselle Gutierrez plays the oldest child Lydia who’s 15 when her parents split. She does a really nice job with the song “What the Hell“, it’s a nicely emotional song punctuated strategically with humorous lyrics. It’s a nice representation of the tone of the show as a whole. Aaron Kaburick and Nik Alexander are a lot of fun as Daniel’s brother Frank and Frank’s husband Andre Mayem in roles that seem to me enlarged from the film to the shows benefit. Leo Roberts plays Stuart Dunmire, Miranda’s love interest the role Pierce Brosnan played in the film, he has a rich Baritone voice that only get spotlighted in one song, but it conjures visions of him stomping around wearing boots in a way no one else can.

I’m not sure who to credit for the transformation from Daniel to Mrs. Doubtfire but the overall effect and the speed in which they are done is really impressive. There was one moment when Frank and Andre are figuring out how to accomplish it when there is a distinct resemblance to Michael Myers from the Halloween films. I was rather impressed at my composure through that scene as I resisted screaming hysterically and running out of the building directly into oncoming traffic. There really should have been a Michael Myers trigger warning. Aside from that brief moment, it’s a fairly accurate duplicate of the look from the film. Hats off to those who had a hand in it Costume Designer Catherine Zuber and Hair & Wig Designer Philip S. Rosenberg. The production actually gives us some peaks behind the scene as there are several moments where we get to she Daniel change as quickly as he can on stage, and the prosthetic used for the face is really quite a marvel, it’s basically one piece that gets strapped in place but in such a way that McClure and move the mouth and we can see his eyes.

I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a night full of laughs and I think it’s appropriate, engaging, and enjoyable for anyone 12 and over. Given the choice of watching the film or seeing this again, I’d not only see this again but be excited about it. Mrs. Doubtfire runs through December 24th at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/mrs-doubtfire-orphem-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2023/

This Holiday season why not start a new tradition of taking in a live theater production with family and friends? It’s a great way to create lasting memories and will give you something to look forward to every year as you experience the magic of live theater. Whether your budget is large or small, there is a show for you. Looking for gift ideas? Don’t we all have enough “stuff”? Give the gift of live theater, go to your favorite theaters website, see what shows they have coming up in the new year and give the gift of an experience over material.

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