In the national tour of the musical “Mrs. Doubtfire,” Rob McClure plays Daniel Hilliard, an out-of-work actor who dresses in drag and poses as a nanny / housekeeper in order to be around his children after a messy divorce.

McClure doesn’t have to go to similar extremes to be with his family. His wife, Maggie Lakis, is playing Miranda, Daniel’s ex, in the musical, which opens Tuesday at Cleveland’s Connor Palace for a three-week run. And the couple’s 5-year-old daughter is on the road with them.

During a telephone interview from a tour stop in Minneapolis, Lakis said they’ve worked together seven times and toured together three times since meeting in 2005 and getting married in 2009.

“We’ve gotten to work quite a lot together,” she said. “It’s pretty rare, and we’ve been very lucky.”

Playing an estranged couple hasn’t hurt their relationship, and Lakis said she believes their lives together off stage help inform the characters.

“Unlike Daniel Hilliard in the story, who is an actor who keeps getting fired because he’s difficult to work with, Rob is not difficult to work with at all,” she said.

“I think what helps is we have a history together. We’ve known each other so long and trust each other on stage, it’s fun to just listen and talk to each other, and I think our history translates on stage,” Lakis said.

“Because this is a couple who’ve been together for a while, they had three kids. Sadly, it’s not working out, but having that history and ease with each other, I think it really helps. Even though we’re not playing a couple that’s together, that chemistry just works as scene partners on stage.”

It’s a show their family has been living with for several years. McClure was cast early on in development. He did one of the first readings of the musical in New York and starred in the show for its out-of-town tryout in Seattle.

“When we were in Seattle, our daughter had her first birthday, and the cast was all there and everything,” Lakis said. “We just had her fifth birthday, and we had a party and the cast all came to celebrate. That’s how long the show has been in our family.”

Advance sales were strong for “Mrs. Doubtfire” on Broadway, but it had just started its previews when it was forced to shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It finally opened in late 2021, but the surge of the omicron strain closed it after 29 performances. It returned to Broadway in the spring of 2022 but ended its run in late May after earning a lone Tony nomination for McClure’s performance.

When McClure first became involved with the show, they were new parents and Lakis was focused on their daughter. However, she definitely was interested when McClure joined the tour and she was asked to audition for Miranda.

The musical, which features music by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, is based on the 1993 movie of the same name directed by Chris Columbus, who grew up in Champion and graduated from John F. Kennedy High School.

“I remember it being an important film for my friends who came from divided families,” Lakis said. “The movie meant so much to them. It was the first movie about divorce where the happy ending isn’t the couple getting back together at the end. It’s the first one that accepts the parents stay apart, and it’s still a happy ending. They get to redefine what their family means to them, and they get to find a new normal, and that was just revolutionary at the time.

“It’s still an issue that people are dealing with, and it’s still relevant today. The play expands on the idea of finding your family.”

Lakis said the musical is faithful to the film version, but the creators also drew upon the film’s deleted scenes for inspiration.

Lakis’ favorite moment for Miranda is the second act song “Let Go.” She said Miranda isn’t the “villain” of the story, but the show is called “Mrs. Doubtfire” and is told from his perspective. “Let Go” allows the audience to see their relationship through her eyes.

“She’s talking to Mrs. Doubtfire about what went wrong in the marriage, and there’s this great song, ‘Let Go,’ that is so fun to sing every night because you get to watch Daniel learn she really wanted the marriage to work and was heartbroken. She was trying, but she couldn’t get him to meet her halfway and work with her. They grew apart and with great sadness she had to let go of the marriage. It wasn’t working anymore, and she didn’t want to be unhappy, because the kids would watch her be unhappy, and that would be bad for them too.

“It’s a really touching moment where she has her guard down, and it’s a transitional moment where Daniel realizes he has to step up and be a better person and be a better father.”

Lakis said their daughter is enjoying life on the road. Much to the joy of her parents, she’s adjusted to the night-owl schedule of theatrical performers. There are two sets of children playing Daniel’s and Miranda’s children on stage, so their real-life daughter gets to hang out backstage with whichever group of children isn’t working that performance.

She’s listened to the show backstage, but she hasn’t watched a performance yet.

“She watched a little in rehearsals and got upset seeing us looking upset,” Lakis said. “She’s seen other plays, but I think there’s something different about it being mom and dad. We’re trying to strategize the best way for her to watch it, maybe being in a place where she could leave if she gets upset. I think just being us makes it more personal for her, and she gets a little emotional.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Mrs. Doubtfire”

WHEN: Tuesday through Jan. 28. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Connor Palace, Playhouse Square, 1519 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $39 to $139 and are available online at playhousesquare.org and by calling 216-241-6000.