‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ Musical Goes To San Francisco, Reigniting Accusations That Play Is ‘Transphobic’

Mrs. Doubtfire the Musical is playing in San Francisco this month. But some critics aren't too happy about it — arguing the play is full of "tired, transphobic tropes."

Because how dare you laugh at the idea of a grown man wearing a dress?

The musical, of course, is based on the beloved 1993 film starring Robin Williams, where a man disguises himself as a female housekeeper in order to spend time with his children held in custody by his ex-wife.

Mrs. Doubtfire will be at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco throughout the month of July.

(Photo by Bonnie Britain/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The initial 2019 premiere of the musical adaptation in Seattle was met with outrage from its audience, inciting hundreds of offended viewers to sign a petition pushing for the removal of the production from the 5th Avenue Theatre's lineup. 

Inspired by transgender theater critic Brin Solomon, the petition lamented the premise of men wearing dresses as a "ridiculous" joke.

"The core premise of the man-in-a-dress joke is that it’s ridiculous and unnatural for a man to wear a dress. Because mainstream society, by and large, thinks of trans women as ‘men in dresses’ instead of women, the man-in-a-dress joke perpetuates the idea that trans women are ‘unnatural’ and fit for ridicule and scorn," Solomon wrote. 

Defending 'Mrs. Doubtfire'

But the play's star, Rob McClure, has a different perspective. The Tony nominee stressed that the writers shared early drafts with transgender advocacy organizations and community members to "gauge sensitivity." 

In fact, he thinks overall warm reception of the lovable Mrs. Doubtfire character perfectly exposes hypocrisy in people he deems to be "transphobic" and "homophobic."

Robin Williams plays <i>Mrs. Doubtfire</i>.

(Photo by 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)

"Never once did we want to be asking the audience to laugh at the notion of a man putting on a dress," McClure told SFGate.

"To see them celebrate a story that ends with a guy in drag getting his own children’s television show, they’re giving it a standing ovation, not realizing they’re cheering against their own preconceived biases… In a weird way, they’re showing their hand, that their issue isn’t drag, it’s homophobia. It’s that if the character isn’t gay, they’re not scared of it"

I'm going to have to push back on that one. First of all, no one is "scared" of gay men wearing dresses. They have every right to do that if they choose. 

But McClure is really missing one major point:

The beloved character of Mrs. Doubtfire is pretending to be a woman. The audience is never once asked to buy into the delusion that he actually is a woman.

And that's a pretty big difference.