Groundhog Day the Musical

Well should I, or shouldn’t I watch the movie again before I see the musical? Isn’t that the question everyone asks when they are about to see a stage play that started its life as a screenplay?

In this case the screenplay of the 1993 movie of the same name (staring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell).

My answer, ‘no I didn’t and I am glad I didn’t,’ as this forced the musical to stand on its own feet without (unnecessarily) referencing the film.

This is an excellent adaptation which reinvents the plot from screenplay to stage through its entirety, to the limitations of what can be done by an editor in film post-production that simply cannot be done live!

The director (Matthew Warchus) calls it an American supernatural parable and I agree it is certainly in the ilk of The Twilight Zone series. None of us gets that chance to ‘make up’ in life (re-run a scene from your life, if you will) after you screw up the first time. 

But Phil Connors (TV weatherman) does so as he lives through the same day umpteen times, trying to work out how the parallel universe he finds himself in works. He eventually realizes that he is the only person who can do things differently from day to day and change the outcome of each day. 

This obviously leads to him experimenting in each daily iteration and then learning how to progress his life, and the lives of the people in Punxsutawney PA (where the scene is set). And like A Christmas Carol, the bad eventually resolves to good. It is a transformative resolution.

Tim Michin’s score & lyrics are a joy (that man is so multi-talented) and I have been humming them since seeing the show last week, especially “If I had my time again”.  This is his second collaboration with Director Matthew Warchus (seeing how well the first one went… Matilda!) and I cannot wait till they choose their third.

As a movie, the creatives have the luxury of the editing room and cutting scenes together for desired effect. Not so on the live stage. In the number Hope (2^nd Act), the director must make this happen, which results in what I believe will become one of the most iconic scenes in musical theatre. 

The number of times in swift repetition where Phil Connors walked off the stage, climbed a ladder into the rigging, was carried off the stage by police, or pushed off on a gurney or some other mode of transport for each iteration of the scene, was spectacularly followed not even one second thereafter, by the alarm clock and him waking up in bed in his pyjamas.

This blew my mind and that of many seated around me as there is no way he can be in one part of the stage and a second later back in bed. I found myself flailing my arms in the air is disbelief, enough to be chided by those behind me. Cleary masterful sleight of hand by use of body doubles, completely imperceptible to the audience, as we all discussed the scene in amazement between ourselves when leaving.

Another scene that followed (the car chase) sees your viewing perspective change from watching the action ‘front-on’, changing to 90° looking down on the chase from a police helicopter (complete with appropriate sound fx).

It’s absolutely hilarious and wonderfully executed, in fact the whole show was hilarious, way funnier than the film (a testament to the adaptation and direction again).

All four main creatives have all been OTT complementary about this Aussie cast in so many areas just too many to mention. Outstanding performances by the two leads Andy Karl (Phil Connors) and Elise McCann (Rita Hanson) plus Alison Whyte (Mrs Lancaster) and Ashleigh Rubenach (Nancy). 

Add a stellar ensemble of well-known names in Aussie musical theatre and swings who have done some of the biggest shows in Australia and there is not a single weak point in this show.

In fact I know a couple of the swings from the show and wish they had been ‘on’ for the show I attended, but hey, that’s the swing life unfortunately. It was technically flawless to the regular punter with LX and use of screens and projection technologies to die for. 

This musical is not showing anywhere else but Melbourne for 13 weeks after which the set returns to UK and Andy Karl returns to his home in USA. This is the reason you should book a trip to Melbourne to see Groundhog Day, as so many did for the Harry Potter double, because it is worth the trip! 

Hopefully it will get an outing in Sydney & Brisbane before release to non-professional companies, but only time will tell.

Andy Davis

Photographer: Jeff Busby

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