Best Seat In The House: RBTL’s ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’
ROCHESTER,N .Y. — Say “Helloooooooooo!” to the Rochester Broadway Theater League’s latest offering. “Mrs. Doubtfire” is on stage now at the West Herr Auditorium Theater.
News10NBC’s Emily Putnam spoke with cast members and takes us to the “Best Seat in the House.”
Real-life husband and wife, Rob McClure and Maggie Lakis, lead the cast playing the title role, and the role originated by Sally Ffield, respectively.
“A lot of people ask about… ‘Is it weird to get divorced eight times a week from your husband?’ But it actually, it’s not an issue,” explains Lakis.
This is the couple’s seventh time working together, and their third time touring the country together.
“Just, that history, it translates on stage. That there’s just an ease and a trust around each other that the audience can believe that this is a couple that’s known each other or was a couple that’s known each other or a long time,” says Lakis. “I think that history really does translate to the stage.”
While the musical has many of your favorite moments from the movie, Lakis says there are plenty of new additions.
“He will light himself on fire, he will dance with the vacuum cleaner, he will put a pie in his face,” says Lakis. “Where I think they tried to musicalize it is by expanding the voices of Miranda, his ex-wife, and the children.”
Giselle Gutierrez plays the eldest daughter, Lydia.
“She takes on a big responsibility as her parents are getting divorced. She sort of takes the role of third unofficial parent, and she’s also dealing with this divorce as well,” says Gutierrez. “So there’s just a lot of pressure on her to kind of be a big role model for her siblings.”
Gutierrez is a college student, making her professional debut on tour with “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
“It’s not something that I ever planned for,” says Gutierrez. “But it’s been such a huge blessing, and it’s so much fun, and definitely solidified, this is what I want to do as a career.”
“Mrs. Doubtfire” is on stage now through Sunday, February 25.
“We feel like the message of the movie has also been modernized in our show about what makes a family, what a family looks like today, and all you need is love in order to have a family,” says Lakis.