Mrs. Doubtfire on Broadway

Sometimes life works out. It is wonderful when that happens.

Last month was our 29th wedding anniversary. Don and I both tried for "Mrs. Doubtfire" lottery tickets. Though we both did it at the same moment, somehow he was faster and won the $35 tickets (cheapest regular tickets were about twice that).

We left Yoran at home and celebrated our anniversary.

Allow me to take a step back and start from the beginning. A month before the pandemic I bought tickets to three shows: "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Diana," and "Little Shop of Horrors." A few weeks after the lights went out on Broadway, the theaters issued refunds. 

That was April 2020. 

The theaters stayed closed until the fall of 2021. That's a long time. Many shows returned, but not all. "Diana" filmed in a locked down bubble -- no one was allowed to come in or leave. I don't know the details about how they received food and other supplies, but they did whatever it took to keep COVID on the other side of their locked doors. It was filmed without an audience, and everyone was subjected to regular COVID tests. It worked. The musical debuted on Netflix before debuting on Broadway in November 2021. That gave us a chance to see it and realize (in our opinion) it was not worth buying tickets to it.

"Little Shop of Horrors" returned to off-Broadway. The role of Seymore has changed. We still hope to see this.

That left "Mrs. Doubtfire." Rob McClure received a Tony nomination, but that was their only nomination. They announced they would close on May 29th. Rats! We wanted to see it and were running out of time. When Don won the lottery (with a maximum of two tickets) we hopped in the car and went into NYC.

Our seats ended up being next to the parents of the woman who plays the oldest daughter. The next day she was graduating from college a year early (and summa cum laude), so her parents planned a surprise for her (a giant bouquet of flowers and an announcement from the stage). It was extra magical seeing it through the eyes of her mom -- which would not have happened had we bought the nosebleed seats. Oh, I forgot to mention -- we were in Orchestra Row H! 

It was a beautiful day, so we walked around Central Park, and back down to Times Square. In Times Square they have an exhibit of GIANT Playbills -- amazing just how many shows we have seen. Post-pandemic, Don and I have seen five shows: "Pass Over," "Six," "Harry Potter," "Music Man," and now "Mrs. Doubtfire." We have plans to see "Into the Woods" and "Paradise Square" in a few weeks.

In a weird twist of fate ... if we see "Little Shop of Horrors" this summer, we'll likely see it with Rob McClure as Seymour making it the second time I see him perform the lead.

Following are a sampling of pictures from our day in NYC.

We never did figure out the significance of this memorial.

With the accordion player serenading us,
for a moment I was transported to Paris.

Now I know how those carts disappear at night.

A must-stop for Don: a dollar slice of pizza.