Rob McClure on Mrs. Doubtfire's Broadway Return, His Hero Danny Burstein & His One-Man Sweeney Todd

Upon the announcement of the Broadway shutdown, Tony nominee and former vlogger Rob McClure was three previews deep into Mrs. Doubtfire. Playing dedicated father Daniel Hillard and his alter ego, Scottish nanny Euphegenia Doubtfire, McClure was delivering a powerhouse performancs full of comedy, heart and quick changes. "The show felt great. Audiences were cheering and tearful. It was the best we could hope for. The stage door was madness, so exciting. And then the rug was pulled out from under it," McClure told Paul Wontorek on #LiveatFive: Home Edition.

On March 12, the company was in rehearsal at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, implementing changes for that evening's performance, when the news of the shutdown broke. "Our producers were so lovely in saying, 'We will come back here. Leave your stuff in your dressing rooms.' It's weird to think about our costumes and sets and props just sitting in the empty Sondheim waiting. We are lucky in that we are going to come back. Curtains will rise gain, and it's going to be so electric when they do."

McClure recognizes this is not the case for all Broadway shows. Before taking on Doubtfire, McClure was appearing in another screen-to-stage musical, Beetlejuice, which announced its closing at the Winter Garden Theatre as a result of the shutdown extension date of June 7. "I'm still crossing my fingers that they find another theater. Having a last night at the Winter Garden and not knowing it was your last night is a cruel trick. I love them so much, and I'm rooting for them to come back," McClure said. "It's too good, and there are too many fans loving it for it to just go away. Beetlejuice fans are some of the best fans."

In addition to cheering on his Beetlejuice family, McClure is also thinking of students during this challenging time. "I think about these kids at their high school who just didn't get to do the thing that they built. It breaks my heart." McClure's title role performance in his own senior year production of Where's Charley? earned him the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Outstanding Performance, which included a scholarship to attend their Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory. "If I didn't get to do my senior year musical—the chain of events that that caused for the rest of my life—it's scary to think about," McClure said. "I hope that people find a way to lift these kids up and get their work out there so that they can have the opportunities it would have provided them."

As an advocate for young theater lovers, McClure is a hero for many aspiring performers, and he has role models of his own. "I want to be Danny Burstein when I grow up," McClure said. "He stylistically can do anything. He can do Aldolpho in The Drowsy Chaperone or Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, and I always buy it. He just doesn't have an inauthentic bone in his body—and he just kicked COVID-19's ass, so he's my hero."

Burstein-level versatility is something McClure strives for. He shared one of his dream roles:  the title role in Sweeney Todd. "Listen, it's going to take 20 years before anybody will ever buy me as it, but Sweeney Todd is my favorite show of all time. While I might not seem scary, I know it's in there," he said. McClure revealed he's thought about doing a one-man Sweeney, in which he plays all of the characters. "I have found some conventions that might actually make that happen. We'll keep our fingers crossed," McClure said. "Maybe down the line we'll do something crazy." 

Watch McClure talk about Mrs. Doubtfire and more in the full episode below.