Mrs Doubtfire - Manchester Opera House / Shaftesbury

A long running bugbear of mine - portrayal of gay characters in musicals is abysmal and I remain appalled by how it's failed to move on over decades (and seriously - an industry with so many gay creatives....)

As for Broadway vs here - am not massively surprised they felt they could take a punt on the West End. Film musicals that mainly involve slapping a well loved film straight onto stage, adding a serviceable unremarkable barely memorable score, generally fare pretty well in London. Better than on Broadway I'd say. So I think one could expect Doubtfire to do better here.

In fact in general, in the current post pandemic era, I do think Broadway is doing a better job bringing in new and varied things (Shucked, New York New York, Here Lies Love, Kimberley Akimbo, Sweeney Todd, Some Like It Hot etc etc currently) than the West End. We've had quite a bit of decent fringe/subsidised sector (some of which has transferred) but the jukeboxes and films still dominate. Which does sadden me slightly.

For anyone interested, there was a feature story on The One Show this week, reported bu Gabriel Vick, about the real Madame Doubtfire

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001mx45/the-one-show-14062023

If you start at 19 minutes in.

They also have in person dayseats and have had some discounts on TKTS

I saw this from the front row on Wednesday. Just as good as in Manchester. Gabriel Vick has new jokes and impressions (not sure how often they change). For an American, Daniel Hillard has rather an obsession with Boris and Charles! Gabriel is such a talented actor.

I don't remember the Mrs Doubtfire mask being as scary looking before, especially with glasses hanging off at an odd angle for much of the time!

Always good to see the Heathers' alumni in the cast. Vicki Lee Taylor is so underused, but I guess she's cover Miranda.

The front row is rather difficult. At 5'8" and sat bolt upright, I could see enough to the point I was happy. I did feel rather sorry for a mother and two young children (maybe 7 or 8 years old) sat at the other end of the row. All three of them stood up at various points, and the children could only just see over the top of the stage even standing. They were very well behaved considering.

I paid (I think) £27.50 for the front row, which is fine, but they have these seats priced up to £60 (depending, I suspect, on the date and dynamic pricing), which is mad. I'll likely try for Rush next time.

This is a real feelgood show.

Yes I remember seeing Gabriel in Promises Promises. Thought he was excellent.

He also directed Miss Atomic Bomb at St James Theatre.
I loved that musical as it was totally bonkers and Simon Lipkin had a brilliant comedy role in it.

Yes, I remember that. In fact I still have a postcard stuck on my fridge!

I saw it on Thursday (yes, Press Night). Stalls, Row T.

I've read through the reviews here, and I agree with the comment about it being a three star production with a five star performance. Gabriel Vick is really great - especially when he's allowed to make the role his own, rather than having to try to channel the spirit of Robin Williams - who is the huge elephant in the room here.

I also agree with the several other comments talking about the lack of memorable songs - three days on I can recall one line from the song that closes act one, and similar from one of the songs in act two.

The plot is barely there. You can tell that Frank and Andre are gay because they wear animal print, block heels, and mince a bit. It's lazy and reductive, but those actors are trying their best. All the actors are trying their best, but it's all just so thin - and the inclusion of lots of British references and character impersonations doesn't make sense if you think about it for more than about three seconds.

There's also the unfortunate problem that, in the time between the movie and now, we've had the "Fathers for Justice" movement/campaign in the UK, and the entire premise has a whiff of being about a member of that group that we're supposed to sympathise with, despite his patently appalling behaviour as a husband, father, and employee. You could make a production that ran that storyline, but it's not this one, and all that Daniel's crassness in Act One does is make you think that his wife did the right thing. It's compounded by Daniel hacking into Miranda's emails on his phone, something he's very proud of, rather than slightly contrite about and/or shown as being doing it out of desperation - in short, the character's sense of entitlement to do whatever he wants is so high that he could be one of the Tory politicians he impersonates.

I suspect the reason the reviews published so far have focused on the technical aspects is because they're where this is good. There's obviously been a lot of money spent on the set, all the bits of which look fantastic. The transformation from Daniel into Mrs D (and back again), is also really well executed, and quick. At a couple of points they show you the trick, and it still remains impressive.

Overall however, this is too long, too unmemorable, and, from the programme notes, heading towards being a project of love on the part of the Producer, rather than a decent show. I've looked back on here, and when it was in Manchester, people seemed to like it. I wonder if something significant has changed since it ran there?

Does Graham Vick do all 8 shows?

Feel like I need to tick this off the list- but also keen to know if there any offers for it

It's not just you. I really didn't enjoy it im Manchester but again I felt I was in a minority

Same! But then again, when the strength of the film is largely Robin Williams, what's the point in even trying when no one could ever come close?