Posted: 12/5/21 at 10:26pm
Associated Press is mixed.
Review: Broadway's 'Mrs. Doubtfire' follows safe formula
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/review-broadways-mrs-doubtfire-safe-formula-81576187
Posted: 12/5/21 at 10:28pm
The Telegraph is positive.
Mrs Doubtfire, Broadway, review: a heartfelt and faithful adaptation to make Robin Williams proud
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/mrs-doubtfire-broadway-review-heartfelt-faithful-adaptation/
Posted: 12/5/21 at 10:28pm
Ouch this will surely be gone by the new year
Posted: 12/5/21 at 10:42pm
BoringBoredBoard40 said: "Ouch this will surely be gone by the new year"
Bite your tongue… err… fingers?!? I have tickets for this my birthday weekend at the end of January and I want to see it! I don’t care what reviews say!
Posted: 12/5/21 at 10:45pm
Two different critics from NY Stage Review - one is generally positive, one negative.
http://nystagereview.com/2021/12/05/mrs-doubtfire-dad-turns-nanny-comes-to-broadway-manic-charm-intact/
http://nystagereview.com/2021/12/05/mrs-doubtfire-musical-comedy-misfire-from-something-rotten-team/
Posted: 12/5/21 at 10:49pm
BoringBoredBoard40 said: "Ouch this will surely be gone by the new year"
Recognizable/commercial subject matter can transcend mediocre reviews, at least for a while.
I don't think too many of us are expecting, say, MJ to be a critical fave, but that's a show that's going to print money nonetheless. Mrs Doubtfire is no Michael Jackson, but it still has a strong sense of nostalgia, comfort, and fun behind it.
Posted: 12/5/21 at 10:50pm
BoringBoredBoard40 said: "Ouch this will surely be gone by the new year"
I doubt this is any way a show that's dependent or at all affected by reviews. If it fails it will be because the family audience isn't ready to return to Broadway, not because of the critics.
Posted: 12/5/21 at 11:05pm
MemorableUserName said: "BoringBoredBoard40 said: "Ouch this will surely be gone by the new year"
I doubt this is any way a show that's dependent or at all affected by reviews. If it fails it will be because the family audience isn't ready to return to Broadway, not because of the critics."
I'm seeing the show on the 19th, and had a relatively hard time finding non-premium tickets for anything before the New Year. I wouldn't call this critic-proof, but i don't think these reviews are going to turn away its target audience. Poor word of mouth will, but I've only heard positive things from non-Bway types.
Posted: 12/5/21 at 11:23pm
I saw this show this past Tuesday. The people around me seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did. I had fun, but the writing just isn’t good. The score is super basic and a lot of the songs could be cut without their absence hurting the story or character development at all. I also thought the tone of the show shifted from broad sitcom to generic family drama way too jarringly. The cast, choreography, and design are all pretty good, though. It’s definitely not Diana bad. It’s sweet and the cast works hard to overcome the writing, but it just could have been something truly great. Can we get a different set of writers to take another crack at this source material?
Updated On: 12/5/21 at 11:23 PM
Posted: 12/6/21 at 12:33am
NOWaWarning said: "I saw this show this past Tuesday. The people around me seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did. I had fun, but the writing just isn’t good. The score is super basic and a lot of the songs could be cut without their absence hurting the story or character development at all. I also thought the tone of the show shifted from broad sitcom to generic family drama way too jarringly. The cast, choreography, and design are all pretty good, though. It’s definitely not Diana bad. It’s sweet and the cast works hard to overcome the writing, but it just could have been something truly great. Can we get a different set of writers to take another crack at this source material?"
Diana is a master piece compared to Doubtfire. Doesn't sound like you've seen Diana.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 12:50am
MemorableUserName said: "BoringBoredBoard40 said: "Ouch this will surely be gone by the new year"
I doubt this is any way a show that's dependent or at all affected by reviews. If it fails it will be because the family audience isn't ready to return to Broadway, not because of the critics."
It will fail because it can't make it through the winter without tourists, and there is nothing in any of these reviews that is going to prompt enough locals to see it. The real tragedy is not that these shows can't survive the winter but that the winter bloodbath is going to chill producers and investors from jumping back in. I hope for the best but expect the worst, and it doesn't help that the defining characteristic of all of these new musicals is mediocrity. We have to do better.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 12:56am
muscle23ftl said: "Diana is a master piece compared to Doubtfire. Doesn't sound like you've seen Diana."
I only saw it on Netflix. Regardless, I found both shows to be bad.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 1:05am
I went Wednesday night, and thought it was cute. But I was mostly astounded by the people sitting around me. It was definitely full of tourists who were there from name recognition and knew little to nothing about theatre, plus quite a few kids. The people in front of me (4th row center) asked to be moved to the back because it was too close. The guy next to me asked his wife if they were seeing the movie or a live show. And a person behind me asked his group of friends at intermission whether the actors had actually been singing that live! But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 1:18am
From the Vulture review. Relatively complimentary to McClure while acknowledging he's no Robin Williams: "He’s lovable and quick, a spinning top who isn’t afraid to seem like an out-and-out pill before his Doubtfirean redemption."
But pointing out the book's shortcomings:
"In the musical, the Kirkpatricks and O’Farrell have tried to pick only its cherries: Maybe (they seem to think) they can amplify the film’s sweetness and thoughtfulness while cutting its callousness wherever they see it.
“Wherever they see it,” though, isn’t everything, and director Jerry Zaks and the all-male writing collective miss a lot. The makeover song “Make Me a Woman,” for instance, starts with brother Frank affirming Daniel’s desire to be turned into a woman. “If he wants to be a woman he has every right to be!” Whereupon Frank’s husband, Andre (J. Harrison Ghee), moves us decisively away from the idea that this kind of transvestism is gender expression. “That’s not what he’s talking about. He’s talking about putting on a disguise to deceive his ex-wife,” says Andre. The creative team dusts its hands; they’ve taken care of people thinking this is a musical about transness! No one can be offended now! But then they immediately make a whoopsie in the misogyny department. Frank, Andre, Daniel, and the ensemble leap into a song-and-dance number about what kind of lady he should become. Will Daniel’s new guise look like … Princess Di? Donna Summer? Cher? The lissome women from the chorus dance around in tiara, disco gear, sequined jumpsuit. Or will he choose another model? Say Eleanor Roosevelt, Janet Reno, Julia Child? Now the men of the ensemble come out, pirouetting in tweed skirt suits. The joke, ha ha ha, is that these actual women looked like men in drag. Oh, did they, now? I started to grind my back teeth down to stumps."
"Can they give the mom, Miranda (Jenn Gambatese), more of an inner life? (No.) Can they add enough LGBTQIA+ representation to make us feel better about the guy-in-a-dress jokes? (Hmmm.) Can they make the eldest daughter Lydia less of a cipher? (Yes, by giving her several songs, which Analise Scarpaci kills.) Can they solve some of the original’s issues by making Daniel’s new boss a woman? (Not exactly, since there are now three lady-boss types who present as humorless scolds.)"
Posted: 12/6/21 at 1:19am
i have no opinion on its quality but most of the people in my family, professional, social life are not theater people, and there is no other show that has sparked their interest like this one except for Moulin Rouge---a show that got great reviews but i think would be doing gangbusters regardless.
well see.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 1:35am
WaPo seems pretty harsh on McClure: "But McClure’s gifts — robustly on display in the musical that marks its official opening Dec. 5 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre — don’t include a radiant star element. It’s a wholly admirable, workmanlike performance: technically impressive if not charismatically embraceable."
And that "sweaty and hyper" dig at the choreography is going to stick with me.
The whole review is very anti-movie musical and even the original film though so it's not surprising that it's one of the worst ones.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 5:03am
muscle23ftl said: "Diana is a masterpiece compared to Doubtfire."
Thank you so much. Best laugh out loud moment I have had in weeks.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 6:23am
The show will be around for a while.
Don’t forget the $10M SVOG grant and the insurance monies the shows received ! Have you all forgotten?
Posted: 12/6/21 at 7:50am
Do we take bets? Between this and DIANA, which closes first?
Posted: 12/6/21 at 8:44am
ACL2006 said: "BoringBoredBoard40 said: "Ouch this will surely be gone by the new year"
Do we take bets? Between this and DIANA, which closes first?"
Diana closes first! After watching the pro-shot on Netflix, I knew it was not going to last. After the critics destroyed it, I am shocked that it is still running. Doubtfire has an advantage. It can appeal to younger audiences. When I went over the weekend, there were a lot of families with young children. Granted, there are some things in the show that are not particularly child-friendly, but it is the message of love and family that stands out in Doubtfire. Diana on the other hand has no place on the broadway stage and needs to go. Plus, Sing Street needs a theatre for their broadway opening.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 9:29am
"I hope for the best but expect the worst, and it doesn't help that the defining characteristic of all of these new musicals is mediocrity. We have to do better."
I agree but "Diana" for example is not mediocre, it is embarrassingly bad.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 11:36am
I found it to be pretty charming. The score isn't top shelf, but is certainly better than TOOTSIE. I was very fearful about Robin Williams' looming shadow, but happily McClure has been able to transcend that. It's fun to see screwball comedy/door-slamming back on Broadway, performed by people who know how to do it well (McClure and Brad Oscar).
Weirdly, the presence of Sally Field loomed larger over Jenn Gambatese's performance and even some of her line-readings (THE WHOLE TIME bit should have been cut in the restaurant scene because Jenn can't find a way to do it without mimicking Field). Field does deceptively excellent work in that movie. I know Kate Baldwin did the readings of this, and she probably could have brought more depth to the part.
The biggest issue for me is that the most of the songs do not further the plot, so every time there's a musical number, it becomes kind of inert. The songs are fun and lively, but ultimately unnecessary. A two-hour film gets 20 minutes + intermish added to its running time because the songwriters lack the skill of conveying story through song. There's also a stretch of maybe 20 minutes where there are no songs (which includes the Mrs. Sellner/pie-in-face scene). The new moments are better than the retreads of the movie's iconography.
As to how long it will run...that all depends on how much interest there is from ticketbuyers + how much money is in the bank. It will likely have a hard winter ahead and at best runs through end of Summer 2022. I certainly don't see it closing in January as some here are saying unless advance sales are truly abysmal.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 12:30pm
Having seen both Diana and Mrs. Doubtfire back to back in the same week... Diana was my favorite comparatively. It was at least entertaining and we all understood what it was. Mrs. Doubtfire had very little laughs the night I attended. It took a while to get on board with it. And the score? Not memorable at all. Diana songs are bad, but I at least could hum them after. If you're choosing between the two, see Diana. You'll be having the best time. It was the most fun I've had at a Broadway show since COVID.
Posted: 12/6/21 at 1:03pm
Could someone explain the SVOG grant to me? Are shows running simply to receive the grant money? That would explain a lot.
