Philly couple star as on-stage couple in the ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ musical at the Academy of Music

Actors Rob McClure and Maggie Lakis like to joke that they met in Greece. But in reality, the South Philly couple met during a local production of Grease at the former Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in Marlton. McClure, who was fresh off of his Broadway debut in I’m Not Rappaport, knew by the second week they worked together that there was magic beyond the lines of dialogue.

“She was a die-hard Phillies fan who was taking kung-fu in Chinatown, doing lion dances outside of businesses for Chinese New Year, and working at a video game store on South Street,” McClure said of Lakis. “I was like, ‘You’re the coolest person I’ve ever met. I fell in love with Philly and [Lakis] at the same time.”

Starting Feb. 6, the happily married couple will get divorced eight times a week on stage as stars of the Mrs. Doubtfire musical.

The Broadway production of the 1993 comedy-drama is coming to the Academy of Music, with McClure leading as Daniel Hillard and the famed Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire. Lakis takes on the role of ex-wife Miranda, who gets sole custody of their children, played by actors Giselle Gutierrez (Lydia), Cody Braverman and Axel Bernard Rimmele (Christopher), and Emerson Mae Chan and Kennedy Pitney (Natalie), after Daniel loses his job as a voice actor. To spend more time with his children, Daniel puts his acting skills to the test.

In their 18 years as a couple , McClure and Lakis have worked on seven major productions together, starting with the musical comedy Avenue Q. “It’s really a lot of fun,” Lakis said.

Still, McClure said, there’s never a shortage of surprises between him and Lakis. She sings a song in the show’s second act that leaves him in awe on a nightly basis. “It’s an amazing thing to watch your partner do something so extraordinary in front of so many people,” McClure said. “You have eight reminders a week that your partner is a superhero.”

It’s the same for Lakis, who sees McClure’s change from Daniel to Mrs. Doubtfire and back a total of 31 times during the show, including one in 18 seconds. Despite his heroic effort, she said, “the most important part of my job is I can’t find this amusing at all ...It’s an honor to see what he’s been doing all night, but I can’t laugh at the moments.”

McClure, who’s been playing Mrs. Doubtfire since the show’s debut in Seattle five years ago, wanted to avoid imitating Robin Williams, who played the iconic character in the movie version.

Lakis took the same approach. “You don’t want to be comparing things,” she said.

McClure said the musical’s writers and Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks looked back at the movie’s deleted scenes to flesh out the stories of Miranda and the three children even further. The fact the costume changes are seen in real-time, he says, “raises the stakes.”

“It makes [the musical] thrilling and the comedy richer.”

Instead of the 1990s backdrop, the musical is set in the present day.

The modernization of the production, McClure said, will “warm people up to the material and expand the message of the movie and musical. While neither version ends with Miranda and Daniel getting back together, they both point to the idea that “as long as there’s love, your family can look like anything.”

As the show makes its way to Philadelphia, McClure said he’s excited to see some familiar faces from the “breathtaking” stage at the Academy of Music. “We can go into our local bakery and be like, ‘Come check us out, we’ll be here for two weeks,’ and get all of the people that make art lovely in Philly to come check it out. It feels good to bring it to them.”

“Mrs. Doubtfire” will play at the Academy of Music from Feb. 6 through Feb. 18. For more information and tickets, visit ensembleartsphilly.org.