ORLANDO, Fla. – The movie first made famous by Robin Williams in 1993 is now a musical.
“Mrs. Doubtfire” follows the story of a Daniel Hillard, a struggling and out-of-work actor. He loses custody of his kids during a messy divorce and creates the character of a Scottish nanny, Euphegenia Doubtfire, as an attempt to stay in their lives.
With this new persona, he learns how to be a better parent to his kids.
The musical based on the 1993 film first made its Broadway debut with previews in 2020 right before the pandemic shut everything down.
The show then returned in 2021 and stopped performances in 2022 before premiering in Manchester and London.
The North American tour started last year and stars Rob McClure alongside his actual wife, Maggie Lakis.
Sheila Jones and Bianca Rivera-Irions are part of the ensemble and also understudy some roles. Both are from Central Florida.
Jones is from the Polk County area and Rivera-Irions has ties to Winter Garden and Tampa.
They talked about how Central Florida played a role in their acting careers.
“I feel like there are so many art schools here, specifically and that is where I got so much nurturing, you know? There’s community theatre and all that stuff, so it’s such a rich community in the arts. It’s very well supported,” said Jones.
“Some of the best performing venues in the country are in Tampa and Orlando, so you have so many opportunities to see so many touring shows, which is really great for people to have access and that’s how I got my inspiration and knew what musical theatre was to begin with,” Rivera-Irions said.
Jones and Rivera-Irions also spoke about all the work that goes into being a part of the ensemble.
“Because I cover 6 different roles, it depends on who I’m going on for and when I get told that I’m going on for. So if I have the ample amount of time, maybe I’ll have an hour or 2, then I’ll go and do my full warmup. Sometimes, depending on the role, I’ll vocally warmup if I have to sing solos or something like that,” said Rivera-Irions.
“If it’s the speaking characters, I’ll run through my lines. If I’m told I have 5 minutes to get into hair and makeup, there’s no prep. I grab my little book that has all my notes for that track and I run on stage, or if it’s mid-show, I have to trust myself,” she explained.
“It’s lots of practice, you know, taking your time to do it, having great scene partners, I think, too, is really helpful,” Jones said.
When they’re not on stage, they’re backstage getting into their next costume and preparing for their next scene. They said they have at least 10 costume changes and McClure has the most at around 33.
Shows run at the Dr. Phillips Center April 23-28. Click here for ticket information.
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