Here is another Gen X film reborn for the stage in musical form to add to the explosion of celluloid nostalgia on the boards.
Even in 1993, the story of Daniel Hillard, masquerading as an elderly Scottish nanny in order to be with his children after separating from his wife, Miranda, seemed liked a derivative cross between Tootsie and Kramer vs Kramer.
But in its favour, that film had a winning triumvirate in Robin Williams as the titular nanny, a loveably uptight Sally Fields as Miranda and Pierce Brosnan as her good-looking boyfriend.
This adaptation, directed by Jerry Zaks, is a generic production which does not go the way of the Old Vic’s Groundhog Day in trying to give us anything original. Like the recently staged versions of Elf, it does a workman-like job of replication with a few not-so-convincing plot twists and updates for our time (there is talk of Love Island and Tinder). Brothers Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick’s music and lyrics are workaday with a few energetic songs (such as Make Me a Woman, when Daniel is undergoing his transformation). But many of the musical numbers feel randomly attached to the story.
Lines from the film are repeated in Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell’s play, including the jokes, which are still not especially funny, although the cast deliver them very well, and are on the whole, full of exuberant energy.
Gabriel Vick plays manchild Daniel efficiently and his gift for impersonation (including King Charles with his leaky pen) is his biggest strength. His Mrs Doubtfire, in full regalia, looks little short of creepy, just as Williams did, with a face that barely moves when he speaks.
Among the Hillard’s children, Carla Dixon-Hernandez, as Lydia, stands out for her singing voice, and there is some texture to her relationship with Daniel.
But there are too few moments when we connect emotionally to the story, which does not relay the adult pain of divorce or the confusion for kids three-dimensionally enough (there is one song, What the Hell, which generally sums up the latter). The final reveal of Mrs Doubtfire’s identity lacks emotional bite too.
Miranda (Laura Tebbutt) stays a cardboard cut-out and is given one power ballad, Let Go, which she sings with gusto. Daniel’s gay makeup artist brother (Cameron Blakely) and husband (Marcus Collins) bring camp comedy but it is one-note.
The show may delight a younger generation encountering the story for the first time but it ultimately serves as a cautionary tale against taking a well-loved film and giving it a bland treatment on stage.
• Mrs Doubtfire: The New Musical Comedy is at Shaftesbury theatre, London until June 2024
