Mrs. Doubtfire Heads to Broadway! See Rob McClure Step Into Robin Williams' Iconic Character
Euphegenia Doubtfire is back, and ready for her big Broadway bow.
On Monday, producers for the new stage adaptation of the 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire showed a full look at star Rob McClure in costume as Robin Williams’ beloved character.
The big reveal, in honor of the musical’s first preview on Broadway, is the first fans have been able to see of McClure’s take on the super nanny. While other promos filmed McClure from the back, these new shots capture the prosthetic mask, wig, and accessories used to transform McClure.
Back in January, McClure spoke to PEOPLE about stepping into the part, praising costume designer Catherine Zuber, makeup designer Tommy Kurzman, and hair and wig designer David Brian Brown for helping bring Mrs. Doubtfire to life.
“Part of the fun of this show is that I get to turn into her right in front of the audience’s eyes,” McClure, 37, said. “It’s exciting, but also completely nerve-wracking in some scenes because I don’t have the luxury of someone calling ‘cut’ on a film set and then taking 4 hours to go into hair and makeup to get dressed. I’m literally in the wings, with a pit crew from the Indianapolis 500 getting me dressed in 20 seconds.”
Luckily, the creative team designed a costume that’s easy for McClure to change into, and make it so that he completely disappears. In fact, his 1-year-old daughter named Sadie didn’t even notice him.
“I showed her a picture of me in my Mrs. Doubtfire gear and she had no interest in it because she was treating it like a stranger,” McClure laughed. “That really is the greatest compliment to this team, because between the costume and the bodysuit and the face and the wig and the teeth, it was important that she be unrecognizable. So it really worked.”
Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade The cast of Mrs. Doubtfire: Avery Sell (Natalie Hillard), Jake Ryan Flynn (Christopher Hillard), RobMcClure(Mrs. Doubtfire/Daniel Hillard), JennGambatese (Miranda Hillard), and Analise Scarpaci (Lydia Hillard)
Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade Rob McClure in Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire was a huge hit when it premiered in the ’90s, earning over $200 million at the U.S. box office and grossing over $440 million worldwide.
The musical — with a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell; and songs from Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, the team behind Something Rotten! — follows the same plot as the film, tracing the story of Daniel Hillard, a man who disguises himself as a British nanny in order to get more time with his children after a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife relegates him to supervised visits.
“It’s a really smart adaptation of the film,” McClure previously told PEOPLE. “The audience is going to get all of the things that they’re craving from the adaptation, just not in the way that they expect to get them, which I think is a clever spin of our adaptation. It’s worthy of 2020 and I think it has a lot to offer and tons of laughs.”
Of course, McClure certainly feels the pressure, playing one of Williams’ most iconic onscreen parts (it earned the late actor, who died in 2014, a Golden Globe for best actor in 1994).
Luckily, no one is more equipped to play Mrs. Doubtfire onstage. Not only is McClure an acclaimed musical comedy talent with a history of leading stage adaptations of hit movies (2019’s Beetlejuice, 2015’s Honeymoon in Vegas), he’s also a huge fan of Williams.
20th Century Fox/Everett Collection Mrs. Doubtfire
“I am the biggest Robin Williams fan in the world,” McClure said. “His death was devastating to me. It’s not just the loss of the things that we love, but the loss of the potential things he could have done; the new iconic performances that were sort of stolen away from us. He’ll forever be an inspiration.”
“His performance in Mrs. Doubtfire is truly one of the most genius of all time,” McClure added. “And I have been just as obsessed Mrs. Doubtfire as anyone. I know it forwards and backwards, I know every line. People say, ‘When you found out you got the part, did you watch the movie again?’ I don’t need to. When I close my eyes I have every frame of this movie behind my eyelids. I’ve probably watched it hundreds of times growing up, so the imprint of Williams’ performance is there.”
“The imprint that he left in everyone else, he left in me,” McClure continued. “So I promise you, I take Williams with me on stage every night and I try to do my best to pay tribute to Williams. You’ll see the Mrs. Doubtfire you love and crave. But you’ll always watch me take Mrs. Doubtfire somewhere new, somewhere we haven’t seen her go, in a way that I think would make him proud. It’s all I can wish for.”
Mrs. Doubtfire is now in previews at New York City’s Stephen Sondheim Theatre, ahead of an official opening night on April 5. Tickets are now on sale.
