5 Things to Know about Broadway in Fresno’s ‘Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical’
By Donald Munro
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1. Yes, it’s that ‘Mrs. Doubtfire.’
“I loved the VHS,” says Collin Salvatorè, who plays the buffed-out role of Stuart Dunmire, the hunky “perfect” new boyfriend in the Hillard family mix, in the national touring production opening 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, at the Saroyan Theatre, and continuing Wednesday, May 27. (Salvatorè was not yet born when the Robin Williams film came out in 1993.) p “Being a child of divorce, my sister and I both watched it over and over. I think it was a very important movie and an important story in general. It tells a story that a family unit comes in different forms.”
2. People might be skeptical about a musical version of ‘Mrs. Doubtfire.’ But it’s a great fit.
“Theater is about the suspension of disbelief, which makes it transcendent,” says Salvatorè, who is visiting Fresno for the first time. “You know that’s a man up there wearing a grandma mask. But he’s tap dancing, and everybody’s dressed like a chef, and all of a sudden you’re having the best time. It’s just so fun. Mrs. Doubtfire has this endearing and intrinsic, likable essence, so whenever the ensemble follows her into a big dance number it just turns into something so much larger than life.”
3. There’s tap dancing.
Salvatorè isn’t in those tap numbers, but he watches avidly from the wings. “I love to watch tap. It’s one of my favorite things. Oh god, it’s just so fun. It’s so enjoyable.” (Note: Salvatorè is not a tapper himself — he has other talents — but salutes his coworkers who burn off all those calories, especially in the dancing-chefs number.)
4. It makes you feel good.
In the show’s final number, a reprise of “As Long as There Is Love,” you get what Salvatorè calls “fuzzy chest feelings” of happiness. For xxxxx, who has been on tour with the show since it started last year, this is the moment where it’s all worth it. No matter how long the travel day has been, no matter if he doesn’t necessarily feel like singing and dancing that night, every time he gets to that point in the show, it makes him happy. “I think the musical carries the torch of the film without tryintg to be the film — and lets you enjoy it for the entity and the story that it has become as a musical.”
5. There’s a fun local connection in the cast.
Connor Barton, a noted name in Fresno-area theater, is a swing in “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which means that he covers five male roles, or “tracks,” in the show.
Anahid Valencia, digital managing editor of The Collegian, nabbed an interview with Barton, who told her that he just celebrated his 50th “swing-on” in Omaha, Nebraska.
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I found four references to Barton in The Munro Review’s archive, including Selma Arts Center’s “Be More Chill,” CenterStage Clovis’ “The Little Mermaid,” StageWorks Fresno’s “Urinetown” and CenterStage’s “Fiddler on the Roof.”
