From the outset, Danny Rubin and Tim Minchin’s Groundhog Day appears to be part of the trend to turn classic films into musicals. But after watching this musical, it's imporrible to dismiss it as such. Directed by Matthew Warchus, Groundhog Day presents itself as an adaptation set on evoking feelings of nostalgia, but instead takes a sharp turn towards a visualization of the philosophical debate about how to live a good life.
This is a show to see again, and again. And again
Set against the backdrop of the American holiday, Groundhog Day, during which a groundhog - Punxsutawney Phil - is taken out of its burrow and used to predict whether there will be six more weeks of winter or an early spring. Phil Collins (Andy Karl) is sent by his news station to cover the holiday, and finds himself stuck in an endless loop, repeating the same day over and over again.
In Micnhin's score, each character appears to have their own genre or style of music that they speak through, capturing their personality through the use or absence of acoustic melodies. This ability and focus on character is particularly clear during If I Had My Time Again, a duet between Phil and Rita (Tanisha Spring), whose contrasting melodies captures each character’s personality and outlook on life perfectly. This song is generally indicative of Minchin’s skill as a composer; taking every opportunity for comedy and contrasting this with whole-hearted optimism, whilst delving into philosophical ideas. Minchins’ score is a great study in character, for example indicating through music who Phil is and setting him apart from everyone else from the start. Every song intersects with Rubin’s book to show the passage of time in this circular narrative, balancing the development of the narrative and character at the same time. It’s particularly interesting how Minchin and Rubin allow us to see Phil from both Phil’s own perspective and others seem him; neither viewpoint shows him as anything but terrible, and this icontinuously condemns this character.
The design of this show is conveniently simplistic, giving us a taste of the context that frames each scene and adding to the circular nature of the show, but also creating these visually stunning moments onstage that normally we might only find in films. This couldn’t be achieved without Paul Kieve's illusions that make us think that Karl is one place, before having him appear somewhere else. These illusions are baffling and are impossible dissect, meaning that we really can't come up with a better explanation for what happens apart from ‘theatre magic’. Hugh Valstone’s lighting design predominantly uses gel washes from the back, either in a block colour or the American red, white and blue tricolour to fill the stage, and draws our eyes to the characters as well as act as an extension of the set. This dramatically changes in particular during Philandering and If I Had My Time Again, songs which represent a shift in Phil’s character development and strategy to living life in the loop. The festival lights during the latter song create moment that is filled with so much hope and love. It's so beautiful and enchanting when they light up. Simon Baker’s sound design plays an important role in the show, as it is responsible for indicating the restarting of the time loop. The blare of the alarm clock radio leads the musical, and becomes an important association for us.Rob Howell's repeating motif that is introduced at the start is a creative and stylistic detail in a set that stays true to the ‘small town’ nature of Punxsutawney. The rotating set allows for the recreation of moments that otherwise would be difficult, if not impossible, to replicate on stage, for example using miniature houses and vehicles to show a movie-like car chase in a tongue-in-cheek lightheartedness that fits with the tone of the musical.
Karl reprises his role as Phil, and it is difficult to picture anyone else in the role. He is a very talented voice actor with a remarkable ability to convey a lot about the character through his careful command of tone - we can clearly hear every emotion in his voice from his thinly-veiled contempt at the beginning to the fatigue, friendliness and affection towards the end, a marked change. He guides us through the character arc, and eventually wins us over despite how much he leans into the awfulness of the character, to the point of shocking and disgusting us with how terrible he is. He fills in the gaps that the various cut scenes leave out; we don’t always see the effort behind Phil’s actions all the time, but there’s an implicitness in Karl’s performance, showing us the change, effort and time that he experiences. There is a marked difference in Karl's performance during the entire musical (espeically the comparison between how the character was in the beginnign and end), but even the difference between how Karl acts between Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 is incredibly amusing, as we witness the gradual deterioration of his sanity and composure as Phil is forced to come to terms with his new reality.
Rita is such a normal character, who is completely different from Phil Collins in that we naturally like her because she is a decent person. Spring is a welcome breath of fresh air from Phil’s terribleness, and there are moments where she manages to imbue us with a sense of hope and ability to believe in the inherent goodness of people, despite what we know about Phil. She has an astounding ability to charm us with her performance and makes us believe in what she says, something that comes into full force during If I Had My Time Again.
Everything about this musical is proof as to why the film Groundhog Day is considered a timeless classic 30 years on. It’s a show about life, how to live well and the importance of connection with other people, which is incredibly uplifting to watch. This is a show to see again, and again. And again.
