Review: MRS. DOUBTFIRE at Bass Concert Hall

MRS. DOUBTFIRE: THE NEW MUSICAL COMEDY brings the beloved 1993 film to the stage with a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell and music and lyrics by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick. At the center of the story is Daniel Hillard, an out-of-work actor and devoted father struggling with the changes that follow the breakup of his marriage. Desperate to spend more time with his children, Daniel creates the formidable Scottish nanny Euphegenia Doubtfire and discovers that becoming someone else may teach him a few things about being a better father. The musical retains the comedy and outrageous disguises audiences expect while placing particular emphasis on family, divorce, parenting, and the sometimes messy ways people learn to love one another through change.

Broadway in Austin, presented by Texas Performing Arts, brings MRS. DOUBTFIRE to Bass Concert Hall September 22–27, 2026, opening its 2026–27 Broadway season. Bass Concert Hall provides the scale necessary for a national touring production filled with music, choreography, technical effects, and the famously rapid transformations between Daniel and Mrs. Doubtfire. 

MRS. DOUBTFIRE is the kind of musical that seems determined to keep everyone moving. Characters change, costumes change, scenery flies in and out, and Daniel Hillard somehow becomes Mrs. Doubtfire right before our eyes. The result is big, bright, unabashedly silly, and frequently hilarious. But underneath the wigs, voices, tap dancing, puppets, and disco is a surprisingly tender story about a family learning that love can remain strong even when the shape of a family changes.

The musical follows Daniel Hillard, an unemployed actor whose considerable talent for voices and improvisation is accompanied by a considerably less developed talent for adulthood. When his marriage to Miranda falls apart and his access to their three children becomes limited, Daniel concocts an elaborate solution: transform himself into Scottish nanny Euphegenia Doubtfire and get hired by his unsuspecting former wife.

It is a premise requiring an actor with enormous reserves of energy, comic timing, vocal dexterity, and charm, and Craig Allen Smith brings all of them to Daniel Hillard. Smith’s mimicry is excellent, with voices slipping in and out cleanly and naturally, but his performance succeeds because there is much more happening than impersonation. His Daniel is charismatic and endearing while also being unmistakably immature. Smith allows us to see why his children adore this man and why Miranda has reached the end of her patience with him.

Daniel’s journey works because becoming Mrs. Doubtfire ultimately changes more than his wardrobe. Smith carefully traces the character’s growth from a man who assumes his love for his family should excuse his behavior into someone beginning to understand that love also requires responsibility, listening, and change. By the time someone tells him, “Mrs. Doubtfire, you’re just what this family needed,” the line lands with considerably more emotional weight than the evening’s broad comedy might lead us to expect.

Melissa Campbell gives Miranda Hillard equal humanity. She plays the frustration of a spouse who has spent years trying to hold things together without turning Miranda into the villain of Daniel’s story. Campbell has a beautiful voice, but more importantly, she gives Miranda an emotional life independent of her former husband. The musical is at its strongest when it allows both adults to be people who love their children deeply while acknowledging that love alone cannot magically repair a marriage.

The Hillard children complete that emotional center. Alanis Sophia is terrific as Lydia, bringing a wonderfully spunky confidence to the oldest child while providing strong leadership within the young cast. Christopher is alternatively played by Teddy Rayburn and Hudson Vander Voort, and the character’s silliness and wonderfully timed outbursts provide some of the evening’s most endearing moments. Layla Parton and Luciana VanDette alternate as Natalie, whose sweetness and innocence add another important dimension to the family.

The people surrounding the Hillards provide some of the production’s biggest laughs. Kennedy V. Jackson is excellent as Wanda Sellner and possesses a terrific voice. Brian Kalinowski has enormous fun as Daniel’s brother Frank; his comic outbursts are hilarious, but beneath them is an obvious devotion to his family. DeVon Wycovia Buchanan, as Frank’s husband Andre Mayem, matches that energy beautifully, with a powerhouse voice and a gleeful embrace of the show’s disco-infused humor. Together, Kalinowski and Buchanan make Frank and Andre much more than supporting comic characters.

Mia Dorsett is absolutely hilarious as Janet Lundy, delivering dry humor with exquisite precision. Collin Salvatorè gives Stuart Dunmire exactly the balance the character requires, resisting the temptation to turn Miranda’s new romantic interest into an easy antagonist while also getting opportunities to show off an impressive voice.

The show’s smaller roles frequently become comic events of their own. Scott Taylor-Cole is especially memorable in a parade of characters including the Judge, Delivery Guy, Mr. Jolly, Rectisol Doctor, and Maitre’ D. His pharmaceutical advertisement sequence is outrageously funny, as are the recurring Mr. Jolly transitions. Kirstin Angelina Henry makes a striking impression as the Flamenco Singer; her vocals are excellent, but so is her ability to communicate the story within the song. Liv Pelton, Chaz Ingraham, Kasey Lazan, Patrick Joseph Wallace, Jayden Cyrus Nelson, Kade Wright, Jenna Sage, and the rest of the ensemble contribute to a company whose versatility is one of the production's greatest strengths.

And versatile barely begins to describe this ensemble. Performers move between characters and styles with apparent ease, and the dancing throughout the production is polished and exhilarating. The choreography is consistently first-rate, with a particularly killer tap sequence, while “The Clock Rap” is one of those numbers that makes an audience sit up and realize just how much technical skill is hiding underneath all the comedy.

One of the pleasures of this production is watching just how much theatrical invention director Steve Edlund, tour choreographer Michaeljon Slinger, and the creative team can pile onto the basic premise without allowing the show to collapse beneath it. Daniel's attempts to determine what MRS. DOUBTFIRE should look like become a wonderfully imaginative sequence involving puppet-like pictures and escalating visual jokes. The famous quick changes are theatrical magic tricks in themselves, and Catherine Zuber's costumes make those transformations possible while giving the entire production a colorful, contemporary visual identity.

David Korins' scenic design is remarkably versatile. Two large screens help frame the production: the rear screen can establish the city and surrounding environment, while a second screen at the front rises and falls as furniture and scenic pieces change behind it. Seasonal imagery helps mark the passage of time, and the physical settings, from the Hillard home to television studios, restaurants, and other locations, feel specific without slowing the production's relentless pace.

Philip S. Rosenberg's lighting design is equally impressive. Particularly effective are the lighting treatments surrounding the architectural arc of the stage and the rapidly deployed spotlights that punctuate the action. Keith Caggiano's sound design supports a production in which intelligibility and musical balance are especially important, while the hair, wig, and makeup teams have the unenviable task of making a show obsessed with transformation look effortless.

The orchestra deserves special praise. Under Eli Bigelow's music direction, the band is exceptionally tight, with a musical presence that sounds much larger than the number of players would suggest. Bigelow conducts and plays Keys 1 alongside Porter Matteson on Keys 2, Cody Cadena on guitar, Maximilian Levesque on bass, and Casual-T on drums and percussion, aided by Jim Abbott's keyboard and guitar programming. Ethan Popp's arrangements and orchestrations help give the score its expansive sound, and the balance between singers and musicians is excellent.

For all its technical wizardry, however, MRS. DOUBTFIRE understands that the story cannot end simply by restoring everything to the way it was before. That may be the musical's most valuable departure from the expectations of a conventional family comedy. Families change. Relationships change. Sometimes adults discover that the healthiest way to love one another looks different from what they once imagined.

“Sometimes that's the way it goes,” the show reminds us. “Love can’t take the highs and lows.”

Yet love can change shape.

That is where this enormous, ridiculous, tap-dancing, quick-changing comedy finds its heart. Daniel does not become a better father because he discovers the perfect disguise. He becomes a better father because inhabiting Mrs. Doubtfire forces him to see his family differently and, eventually, to see himself differently, too.

MRS. DOUBTFIRE is an enormously enjoyable night at the theatre: funny, fast-moving, beautifully performed, and technically dazzling. Craig Allen Smith leads a charismatic company with warmth and seemingly inexhaustible comic energy, while the supporting cast, ensemble, orchestra, and production team keep the evening moving at a pace that rarely lets up.

For families and for anyone looking for an evening filled with laughter, terrific dancing, impressive voices, and just enough tenderness underneath the chaos, this production delivers. And if nothing else, go for the Scottish nanny, stay for the Clock Rap, and marvel at how anyone manages to change clothes that quickly.

MRS. DOUBTFIRE: THE NEW MUSICAL COMEDY

Book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell; Music and Lyrics by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick.

Theater Company: Broadway in Austin at Bass Concert Hall

Venue: 2350 Robert Dedman Dr, Austin, TX 78712

September 22-24, at 7:30 p.m.; Sep 25 at 8:00 p.m.; Sep 26 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; Sep 27 at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Running Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with a 20-minute intermission

Tickets: $74-$760

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