As the "Mrs. Doubtfire" musical returns center stage to San Francisco today, critics are accusing the play of containing "tired, transphobic tropes."
"Never once did we want to be asking the audience to laugh at the notion of a man putting on a dress," actor Rob McClure, who plays Daniel Hillard in the live-action production, told SFGate.
"To see them celebrate a story that ends with a guy in drag getting his own children’s television show, they’re giving it a standing ovation, not realizing they’re cheering against their own preconceived biases… In a weird way, they’re showing their hand, that their issue isn’t drag, it’s homophobia. It’s that if the character isn’t gay, they’re not scared of it," the Tony nominee added.
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The initial premiere of the musical version of this beloved classic in Seattle was met with outrage from its audience, catapulting 457 offended viewers to sign a petition pushing for the removal of the production in 2019. The petition demands "the tired, transphobic tropes in Mrs. Doubtfire should be left in the past."
Inspired by the words of trans theater critic, Brin Solomon, the petition cited the premise of men wearing dresses as a "ridiculous" joke.
"The core premise of the man-in-a-dress joke is that it’s ridiculous and unnatural for a man to wear a dress. Because mainstream society, by and large, thinks of trans women as "men in dresses" instead of women, the man-in-a-dress joke perpetuates the idea that trans women are "unnatural" and fit for ridicule and scorn," Solomon wrote.
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A "New York Times" review of the musical brought cause for concern about the potential for the production’s revival to live up to that of the original 1993 film starring Robin Williams.
The critique read that McClure’s version of Daniel was "more irritating than entertaining" and that the character’s behavior came off as "more creepy than kooky."
According to SF Gate, McClure will once again be the lead of "Mrs. Doubtfire" in 2024.
The comedic classic was set in San Francisco, a fact that remains consistent in the remake, which will also highlight the local landmarks of Steiner Street and the Painted Ladies.
"The musical language of the show was born out of what’s going on for the kids in the family… [The writers] thought that was an unexplored thing from the film, the real struggle that the family is going through, and the kids’ point of view of that messy divorce was something that could sing beautifully," McClure said.
The Broadway production will be at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco throughout the month of July.
