Though January 28
Who is Mrs. Doubtfire? Well, she’s a nanny, but she’s no Mary Poppins. For that matter, she’s not even a she. What she is, is entertaining and a bit manic (and thereby hangs the tale, as we said in Olden Days).
Mrs. Doubtfire: A New Musical Comedy, Playhouse Square’s current Broadway Series offering, is more a comedy — sprinkled with farce and quick changes and ridiculous plot twists — than a musical. The music is forgettable. (I dare you to hum a tune after you walk out.)
But never mind that objection because Director Jerry Zaks lets the story (book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell) override the serviceable tunes and lyrics (by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick).
Of course, the main idea is to not get in the way of agile impersonator Daniel Hillard (Rob McClure) — and no one does as McClure, a talented one-man express train, powers his way through the story.
The plot, best known from the 1993 film starring Robin Williams, is simple. Actor Daniel Hillard and his wife Miranda have just gone through a nasty divorce. Miranda (Maggie Lakis) insists that Daniel see their three children only during supervised visits. She doesn’t trust him; she knows how he can get carried away by his imagination.
Daniel will have none of this, so he invents a way around the court orders. Thanks to the aid of his brother Frank (an earnest Aaron Kaburick) and Frank’s domestic partner Andre Mayem (a glamourous Nik Alexander), McClure assembles a disguise so he can pretend to be Scottish nanny Euphegenia Doubtfire.
It works. He’s hired to take care of his own children.
So now Daniel’s ex-wife, plus teenage daughter Lydia Hillard (Giselle Gutierrez), young son Christopher Hillard (Cody Sawyer Braverman), and even younger daughter Natalie Hillard (Emerson Mae Chan) all trust him and come to love him as Mrs. Doubtfire. (Side note: Axel Bernard Rimmele and Kennedy Pitney play the two youngest Hillards on alternate nights.)
Various complications ensue, including the kids finding out Mrs. Doubtfire’s true identity, Daniel’s ex-wife getting a super-perfect boyfriend (a suave and considerate Leo Roberts), and a disastrously comic dinner date/job interview, but all turns out happily in the end with the full company warbling “As Long as There Is Love.”
Bottom Line: It’s a bit of a challenge to believe someone would not recognize Daniel — plastic face bits, wig or no wig. I know it’s a necessary part of theater, but sometimes disbelief is harder to suspend than other times — in this case I kept thinking “Well, no wonder they split; she hardly knew him.” But that’s on the writers, not the actors and they gave it their all. Go for slapstick laughs to brighten up dreary January.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]