Theatre McClure's first professional acting role was at the
Paper Mill Playhouse in
Carousel shortly after graduating high school. He next performed on Broadway in the musical
Avenue Q as Nicky and Trekkie Monster in 2006 and in the show's national tour for two years, beginning in 2007, as Princeton and Rod, returning to Broadway in those roles in 2009. McClure played the title role in the new musical
Chaplin in 2010 when it premiered at the
La Jolla Playhouse, California, under its former title
Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin. He continued in the role when the show transferred to Broadway in 2012. For this performance, he was nominated for the 2013
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. The
Newsday reviewer wrote of his performance: McClure … doesn't just replicate the waddle and pratfalls of Chaplin's little tramp. He doesn't just do a back somersault without spilling a glass of wine or tap dance on roller skates or walk a tightrope. He does all that without apparent effort, but he also has a pungent voice that pings and he embodies more than seven decades of Chaplin's life with a focused, altogether believable mix of gravity and light. In between these runs, he performed in the
New York City Center Encores! staged concert of ''
Where's Charley? in 2011. He also performed at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in the play Amadeus in 2011 as Mozart. He had previously performed at that theatre in The Producers and Oliver!. He appeared in mid-2013 at The Muny, St. Louis, Missouri in Shrek the Musical as Lord Farquaad, McClure continued as Jack in the Broadway production of the musical at the Nederlander Theatre in 2014 and 2015. He returned to Broadway in the role of Tim Allgood in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of Noises Off! from December 2015 to January 2016. From September 2015 to March 2016, McClure appeared as Max in the new Ken Ludwig play A Comedy of Tenors'' at the
Cleveland Playhouse and then at the
McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey. He next joined the Broadway production of
Something Rotten! as Nick Bottom in May 2016. He then played Nick in the US national tour, starting in January 2017, until it closed in May 2018. In June 2018 McClure appeared in ''
Jerome Robbins' Broadway at The Muny, as The Setter/Emcee. Later in 2018 he created the role of Adam in Beetlejuice, the Musical
when it premiered at the National Theatre in Washington, DC. He reprised the role on Broadway in 2019 leaving Beetlejuice
in September 2019 to create the title role in the musical Mrs. Doubtfire'', which premiered at the
5th Avenue Theatre in
Seattle, Washington, with performances in November 2019 - January 2020, to open on Broadway in April. It opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theater in March 2020 but was forced to close after three shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened December 5, 2021, and ran until May 29, 2022.
Concerts McClure made his solo cabaret concert debut at
Feinstein's/54 Below in New York City on July 1, 2016. His act was titled "Smile."
Television He was cast in the CBS
television pilot in 2016 for a series titled
Drew, based on the
Nancy Drew mystery books; however, the series was not picked up by CBS. In the 2022 HBO original series
Julia, McClure makes a cameo as a young
Fred Rogers. ==Personal life==