A Mrs. Doubtfire Musical Is Sweeping Toward Broadway
Chris Columbus’ 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire is set for its own stage adaptation.
The beloved film famously starred Robin Williams as a newly divorced actor who dressed as a Scottish nanny to trick his ex-wife so he could spend more time with his children. Jerry Zaks (Hello Dolly!) is set to direct the stage production.
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Fox Stage Productions announced the news on Monday with a joint statement from Kevin McCollum and Bob Cohen that read, “Mrs. Doubtfire is such a beloved story, both laugh-out-loud hilarious and extremely moving. Getting this team together and crafting Mrs. Doubtfire for the stage has been pure joy. We can’t wait to get into production.”
Zacks is a four-time Tony Award winner, and will be joined by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick for music and lyrics. Karey is also teaming with John O’Farrell to write the show’s book. Howard Shore composed, orchestrated and conducted the movie soundtrack, but with memorable hits like Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” and House of Pain’s “Jump Around” heard in the background, there are plenty of songs for the musical to tackle.
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Winning the Academy Award for Best Makeup, Mrs. Doubtfire also earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Williams a Golden Globe for Best Actor. Williams served as a co-producer on Columbus’ movie and was linked to a possible sequel as early as 2001. Despite Fox announcing a sequel in April 2014, Mrs. Doubtfire 2 was canceled after the death of Williams in August 2014.
Composer Alan Menken proposed a Mrs. Doubtfire musical in 2015 but admitted a year later that the project had been put on hold. With other fan-favorite children’s movies like Matilda and The Lion King already taking Broadway by storm, can Mrs. Doubtfire follow in their footsteps?
(via Entertainment Weekly)
