Mrs Doubtfire musical to close one month after reopening
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NEW YORK • Mrs Doubtfire, the Broadway musical adapted from the popular 1993 film, announced that it will close this month after a bumpy run that was interrupted by the pandemic shutdown in March 2020 and included a return amid the tumultuous current Broadway season.
The show's producer, Mr Kevin McCollum, said last Thursday that the musical's final performance, at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, would be on May 29, just over a month after it reopened after a three-month hiatus.
The news comes days after the show's star, Rob McClure, scored a Tony nomination for his comedic and chameleonic performance in the title role. The musical, however, failed to garner nominations in any other category.
The closing reflects the challenges of this Broadway season - the first since the pandemic shutdown - when tourism remains down, Covid-19 cases are a constant complication and a large number of new shows opened around the same time last month, making it difficult for a returning Mrs Doubtfire to break out.
For the week ending on May 8, Mrs Doubtfire grossed US$477,132 (S$665,000), and the theatre was just 69 per cent full.
In development for years and capitalised for US$17 million, the production had just three preview performances in March 2020 when Broadway shut down.
After a 19-month hiatus, Mrs Doubtfire resumed previews in October and opened on Dec 5, bolstered by a nearly US$10 million grant from the United States Small Business Administration.
It opened to tepid reviews just as the Omicron variant began causing the number of Covid-19 cases to spike again.
The musical comedy closed temporarily on Jan 10 and had planned to reopen on March 14. It later postponed its reopening until April 14.
Mrs Doubtfire is about a struggling, out-of-work actor who loses custody of his children in a divorce. The father (memorably portrayed in the film by late actor Robin Williams) is so determined to spend time with his children that he pretends to be a woman to land a job as the housekeeper.
NYTIMES
