MRS. DOUBTFIRE Previews- Page 2

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 7:06pm

Yeah, it's whomever is the fastest which is not great. But, most people who buy the tickets will be seeing the show, but Im sure there is a cancellation line for people who don't show. My friend got a ticket for this rush because she bought them within 15 seconds of them going on sale. Crazy times we live in. I miss theater rushes where you actually show up, but I'm sure none of the theaters do! 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 7:09pm

I’m sure it’s a latex mold that he just throws on super quick! It’s the same they did in Priscilla! And probably Tootsie!

[hayleyann]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 8:09pm

I'm excited.  I love Jenn Gambatese. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 9:28pm

Intermission. I’m in musical comedy heaven.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 9:44pm

Can't wait to hear your thoughts! The preshow looks very similar to Tootsie. 

[jonah3500]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 10:09pm

I was at the invited dress rehearsal on Saturday, and I know you’re not supposed to judge an invited dress, since it’s just a rehearsal. But I think that anything significant will have been fixed if it’s the last day before previews. Anyway here’s what I wrote on the way back:

Remember Something Rotten!? That gloriously chaotic show about two writers that compete with Shakespeare by writing a musical about breakfast? If only that were similar enough to Mrs. Doubtfire to necessitate the use of the same writers.

Don’t get me wrong: I loved Mrs. Doubtfire a LOT. The cast was phenomenal, and the songs were great, if sometimes hard to hear. (That can be excused, though, since it was an invited dress.) But it seems that the writing team of the Kirkpatrick brothers and John O’Farrell can only write chaos and hilarity. (Doubtfire’s version of Something Rotten’s omelette number is a number about cooking chicken, with 10 tap dancing Siri chefs.)

If you’ve seen the movie of Mrs. Doubtfire, it may seem like that’s the kind of writer a show like this needs. But here’s the thing: Something Rotten was pure musical comedy with a dash of heart mixed in. But Doubtfire is heart, sautéed in pure musical comedy. And when it comes time to write a song with real soul, it seems the writers slink immediately to “Love matters.” And this message is absolutely fine to have in a musical, as long as it’s not thrown at the audience constantly. So that’s one reason Doubtfire isn’t as earnest as it could, and should, be.

And then there’s the inevitable comparisons to Tootsie, last season’s musical comedy that won over everybody’s hearts, until it suddenly didn’t. Tootsie closed last year after theater fans rejected it for being anti-trans and sexist. And this show, while it could have the same problem, could not be more different. Tootsie is about taking a job from women by pretending to be one. To quote Rob McClure at BroadwayCon, though, “We tried very hard to make sure the punchline was never that it was a man in a dress. Because that’s not funny.” Furthermore, Mrs. Doubtfire is about a man taking a job as a nanny to be with his family. Those two things could not be more different. And even if Tootsie was as sensitive as Doubtfire, the quick changes are less impressive. So that’s something Doubtfire has going for it.

I would be remiss without mentioning Rob McClure’s amazing role in this show. He knocks it out of the park, performing an insanely difficult role with ease and grace in a way that few performers can. He carries so much of the show, though, that I don’t know what it would be like without him.

To summarize, Mrs. Doubtfire is a brilliantly hilarious show that has trouble finding the balance between brilliantly hilarious and touching, but when it tips towards hilarious, it’s brilliant in a way that most musicals aren’t. I’m really glad I got to see it.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 10:55pm

Wonder if Casey N passed on the show? Same writers and seems 100% up his alley!

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:02pm

Tootsie closed last year after theater fans rejected it for being anti-trans and sexist

Tootsie ended this year and that was not why it closed. 

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:05pm

I'm seeing Olympia Dukakis and Cheri Oteri in that pic. I'm in!!

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:12pm

It's too long. Miranda had too many songs, and that dancing Mrs.Doubtfire has.to.go.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:18pm

Does she have all boring ballads? 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:19pm

Quickly - act one was basically perfect. The first half of Act two though felt like a completely different show. The huge number with all the Doubtfire’s and the enormous mask and hands (wasn’t this also in Billy Elliot with Thatcher?) needs to go. There’s no reason for the social worker to have a production number that big that just stops the show for no reason.

Updated On: 3/9/20 at 11:19 PM

[DaveyG]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:24pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Quickly - act one was basically perfect. The first half of Act two though felt like a completely different show. The huge number with all the Doubtfire’s and the enormous mask and hands (wasn’t this also in Billy Elliot with Thatcher?) needs to go. There’s no reason for the social worker to have a production number that big that just stops the show for no reason."

Sounds like my feelings towards Something Rotten. I adored Act 1 and thought Act 2 was a giant mess. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:30pm

Act two isn’t a giant mess, it’s just very uneven for the first half. It’s a tough thing to get right because the movie is also quite serious in the issues it deals with. And that leads me to something I did love and want to give special props to the show for - the songs dealing with divorce. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a musical (and someone will correct me if I’m wrong) that deals with that. There’s a song with the three kids in act one where they’re very angry and wondering if they’re to blame and then Lydia’s song with her dad at the end of the show about how a parents love for their children after a divorce will never change. Really great stuff that I don’t think has ever been addressed in a musical.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:45pm

>The huge number with all the Doubtfire’s and the enormous mask and hands

I was under the impression this was a joke about Beetlejuice. Am I to believe this is for real?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:49pm

It’s not a joke about anything. It’s during the whole “what am I doing/what have I become” thing Daniel is going through.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 11:55pm

Yeah sounds like “Something Rotten.” I thought the first 45 mins were perfection.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 12:09am

RippedMan said: "Does she have all boring ballads?"

Yes.

[DoTheDood]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 12:20am

Jordan Catalano said: "There’s a song with the three kids in act one where they’re very angry and wondering if they’re to blame..."

Do you mean "What The Hell"? There's a clip of that song from BroadwayCon and I keep going back to it for some reason. Analise Scarpaci really kills it as Lydia.

 

Updated On: 3/10/20 at 12:20 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 12:22am

Yeah that’s the song.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 12:42am

SouthernCakes said: "I’m sure it’s a latex mold that he just throws on super quick! It’s the same they did in Priscilla! And probably Tootsie! "

There were no prosthetics in Tootsie, just makeup 

[Glam3]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 1:24am

Divorce in a musical....? Hmmm, Falsettoland, off the top of my head.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 1:43am

Glam3 said: "Divorce in a musical....? Hmmm, Falsettoland, off the top of my head."

And Diana from this season but it’s not addressed from the children’s point of view.

[h6p8gv]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 5:38am

Was there a song list in the playbill if so can someomne post it

Updated On: 3/10/20 at 05:38 AM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 6:17am

InTheBathroom1 said: "EW has a first look.

https://ew.com/theater/mrs-doubtfire-broadway-rob-mcclure-first-look/
"

Does anyone else feel like with the prosthetics widening his face, the wig should be bigger/styled differently to compensate? The color also feels very aggressive like a brassy platinum blonde but maybe it reads differently under the stage lights.