Helllooooo! The classic Robin Williams movie comes to life on stage and is one of those adaptations where the source material just lends itself to the fun of song and dance. Currently performing in London’s West End at the Shaftebury Theatre, the cast includes Gabriel Vick, Laura Tebbutt and Carla Dixon-Hernandez.
With book, music and lyrics from Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, the plot remains largely unchanged from the movie it’s based on. The plot focuses around the Hillard family, who are dad Daniel, mum Miranda, and their three children Lydia, Chris and Natalie. Daniel and Miranda are complete opposites and although opposites can attract, in this instance, time runs out and they head for divorce. This leaves Daniel with limited visiting rights to see his kids, so he comes up with the scheme to masquerade as an elderly Scottish nanny who gets the job as the kid’s baby sitter.
By 2023 standards, the plot sounds messed up in soooo many ways, but don’t let political correctness get in the way of things here as the show, much like the film it is based on, has so my warmth and heart. Daniel really cares about his kids and the persona he takes on to become Mrs Doubtfire helps him become a better person who is more responsible and capable by the end of the show.
One thing that is a shame about the musical is that although there are some great songs included, they didn’t go the distance to license some of the songs that were iconic used in the movie. The most famous of these was Dude Looks Like a Lady by Aerosmith, and you can imagine that would have been the show stealer if in the stage version. Others such as Luck Be a Lady, and Matchmaker which was sung in the actual film are also disappointingly absent.
What we do get is lots of fun though. Make Me a Woman, About Time and others are all great and there is a good mix of songs that reflect the fun and emotional ups and downs of the characters.
There are a bunch of changes from the original movie and some of these are out of necessity of having a main character that needs to transform back and forth into Mrs Doubtfire. The restaurant scene that takes place towards the end of the film features a Flamenco singer for a long and prominent song and dance for no other reason that to cover costume changes. Also, some characters are given more prominence to fill out the stage time of cast like Lydia and Uncle Frank. Uncle Frank is given a strange new quirk where he shouts when he’s lying and to be honest this was overused and didn’t always hit home for me.
The whole show was really funny throughout and Gabriel Vick who stepped into the very large shoes worn by Robin Williams does the role proud. One thing that’s really fun is that they give him lots of opportunities to do voices which Williams was known for, and was needed as the character of Daniel is a voice actor. This leads to lots of pop culture impressions like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, and even members of the royal family.
Overall this musical of Mrs Doubtfire is a must see for fans of the original film, and will please anyone wanting a feel good evening out. It’s not groundbreaking, but doesn’t set out to be. It’s a really well produced adaptation and has enjoyable numbers.
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