But often, though the movie-to-musical idea may seem a sure bet at first, the results can be disappointing. This is what has happened to some recent film-to-stage adaptations such as The Bridges of Madison County, Tootsie, Groundhog Day, Pretty Woman and Rocky. We saw every one of those. We enjoyed them. But somehow, they never quite clicked. And none of them had a healthy, profitable Broadway run.
Now comes Mrs. Doubtfire based on the hugely successful film that starred Robin Williams. And interestingly enough, this comedy-to-musical adaptation stars Rob McClure who undertook a similar assignment as the lead in the ill-fated Honeymoon in Vegas musical. That was a more intimate undertaking. Mrs. Doubtfire, on the other hand is a big show with a large cast and 17 musical numbers. But it doesn't always seem that big or that formidable. And that's too bad for a the genuinely likable and obviously gifted McClure.
Let's chart the pluses and minuses of this show.
On the plus side, McClure pulls out all the stops as Daniel, a husband facing divorce who concocts a gender-switching scheme to continue to see his kids. This multi-talented dynamo is the dad (Daniel) one second and the nanny (Mrs. Doubtfire) the next. And he has so many voices and personas that he could easily be a one man show. At times McClure seems downright manic but who was more manic than Robin Williams himself?
Still, while this musical basically follows the same storyline as the movie, it races along at such a loud and breathless pace that there's little room for nuance or subtlety. And you begin to wonder why so little room appears to have been left for character development. It's as if somebody decided that a musical has to be shrill, rapid-fire and short on depth to appeal to today's attention-span-deprived audiences. Sometimes, you almost want call out "Hey, everybody -- slow down!" But the people behind this project seem to believe that we need to have sight gags, pyrotechnics, acrobatics, tap-tap-tapping, strobe lights and special effects to keep us attentive and amused. One or more of these devices, strategically placed, would have been fine. But all of them and more in the first act? Well, not quite.
Even with all that, there are many appealing aspects to this production. McClure's co-stars are excellent, particularly Jenn Gambatese, Brad Oscar, Peter Bartlett, Charity Angel Dawson, Analis Scarpaci, Jake Ryan Flynn and Avery Sell. The ensemble works well together in a production that is largely seamless even with all the gymnastics and scene and costume changes. Jerry Zaks' direction has the actors playing their roles broadly and mostly for laughs and they more than dutifully comply.
It isn't until the second act that things begin to blessedly assume normal, everyday life speed and we start to unravel why this divorce was initiated in the first place and what that has meant for the mom, dad and kids involved in this boisterous tug of war. And, as Jenn Gambatese sings Let Go, the musical begins to redeem itself, we get to catch our breaths and we start to see three-dimensional characters. But since the musical has been updated from the San Francisco of 1993 to the San Francisco of today, instead of having a soft, meaningful ending built around a promising number called "As Long as There Is Love", we get a cheap, preachy, condescending pop sermon about the modern meaning of "family". Regrettably, it comes off as gratuitous and just this side of patronizing.
In short, Mrs. Doubtfire winds up being too much fire and frivolity and not enough doubt and ambiguity. But inasmuch as, on the heels of a grotesque pandemic, audiences returning to Broadway may be thirsting for precisely this kind of quick-fix, formulaic comedy, who's too say it won't be a hit?
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