There are three reasons why Mrs. Doubtfire, currently camped out (and camped up) at Broadway in Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre on its national tour, is one of the decade’s best film-to-stage-musical adaptations: a book (Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell) and score (Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick) that create poignant emotional arcs for the characters amidst all the madcap fun; Rob McClure, who brilliantly reprises his Tony-nominated Broadway performance in the title role; and the late Robin Williams, who gave McClure and this production the gift of a remarkable performance to build on, in much the same way he did for the Genie role in the Broadway adaptation of Aladdin.
When McClure dons the costume of Scottish nanny Doubtfire (an incredible creation by designer Catherine Zuber that accommodates breathtaking onstage quick changes), he leans into the Williams characterization (the only choice, really). But when he’s just Daniel, the voiceover artist desperate to be close to his three kids after a court awards custody to his ex-wife (portrayed beautifully and sympathetically by McClure’s actual wife, Maggie Lakis) at the close of their divorce proceedings, McClure creates a fully realized protagonist all his own. He starts with a run of virtuoso vocal impressions of various fictional and real characters and then essays a middle-aged man whose entire identity is wrapped up in those impressions and his zany life with his kids (Giselle Gutierrez is the standout here as firebrand teen daughter Lydia).
As Miranda, Daniel’s estranged wife who is no longer willing to put up with having four children instead of three and a mature adult husband, Lakis more than holds her own with McClure as she builds an athleisure wear business funded by love interest Stuart (Leo Roberts, who plays the thankless Pierce Brosnan role as winningly as possible while towering over poor Daniel).
In Daniel’s corner are his makeup-artist brother and his husband, richly, humorously rendered by Aaron Kaburick and Nik Alexander as they help Daniel transform into Doubtfire against their (and everyone else’s) better judgment. Romelda Teron Benjamin also turns in a deft supporting performance as the court-appointed social worker who will determine whether Daniel gets to share custody of the kids.
The best musical numbers include “Make Me a Woman,” “Easy Peasy,” “I Want to Be There” and Act I closer “Bam! You’re Rocking Now,” which has great fun with vocal looping. For as good as this Jerry Zaks-directed production is, though–and make no mistake, it is very, very good–there are no true vocal stars in the cast. They all do well with the material, but there are no shivers.
The show also flags slightly at the top of Act II, but then kicks into high gear as Daniel desperately transitions back and forth between Doubtfire and Dad during a restaurant meal where a Flamenco singer (a hilariously deadpan Lannie Rubio) meta-narrates his downfall in “He Lied to Me,” a number reminiscent of several classic Second City sketches. The marvelous, high-energy finish shows there’s life after divorce if everyone works at it and “As Long as There Is Love,” without sugarcoating the tremendous toll it takes on families in the meantime.
Mrs. Doubtfire runs through March 10 at Broadway in Chicago‘s Nederlander Theatre.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Joan Marcus
