Groundhog Day The Musical is based on the famous film that came out in 1993. If you like the film, you’ll love the musical on stage. Here’s my Groundhog Day The Musical: Theatre Review.
Overview of Groundhog Day The Musical
Groundhog Day The Musical follows the same story as the famous 1993 film. It’s a really popular film that most people will have seen before seeing this musical. So my Groundhog Day The Musical: Theatre Review shouldn’t give too many plot spoilers, if you know the film!
The story follows the story of Phil, who is stuck in a timeloop. Phil is a TV weather presenter, who has been sent to a small town to cover the story of the Groundhog Day, where a groundhog can apparently tell what weather they’re going to have. Phil isn’t impressed at being made to cover a news story like this, and at the beginning he is miserable and not nice to the people around him. Things get worse when a storm means that Phil, and the rest of his news crew including Rita, need to stay another night.
However, the next morning when Phil wakes up, it’s Groundhog Day again. He’s stuck repeating the same day. Each time he wakes up, it’s the beginning of the same day, so he relives that day over and over again.
At first, he takes advantage of it. He breaks the law, and isn’t nice to people, fuelling his ego and arrogance. But over time, Phil starts to change. He starts to become a better person, and do good things. And he starts to genuinely fall in love with Rita. The spell of the Groundhog Day is broken when Phil is a genuinely better person and Rita likes him back.
What I liked about Groundhog Day The Musical
I really enjoyed this show. The lead character, Phil, was played by Andy Karl in the production I saw in London. And he was brilliant – amazing acting and singing. The whole show was funny, and really well produced. The staging was great. There were some really clever moments where the audience would be watching Phil, and think that you were continuing to watch him. But then suddenly, when the next day starts, he’d be back in bed – so you’d been tricked to think you were watching him, when actually he must have been sneakily getting back into bed. It was so clever how they did that.
The songs had really interesting lyrics, and definitely added to the story. I liked listening to the words of the songs, and how they helped the story-telling and made you think as well. Some of Rita’s songs were my favourite. In fact, the whole show made me think about how I’d use the time, if I could live each day over and over.
I liked Phil’s character development throughout the show, and Andy Karl played it really well. There was a particularly lovely soppy moment between Phil and Rita, where Phil is reciting all the things he knows about her, showing that he’s really listened to her.
What I wasn’t so sure about
Although I loved the songs while watching the musical, I haven’t enjoyed listening to the soundtrack at home as much. Often, after I’ve seen a musical, I’m desperate to start listening to the soundtrack the next day to remember all the great moments from the show. But I didn’t feel that way about the songs from this musical. The songs worked well listening to them live in the show, but for me they don’t work as well as stand-alone songs to listen to in the kitchen. Some songs are still nice, but there weren’t any ‘wow’ songs for me. But I think that’s the only thing I wasn’t so sure about.
Would I recommend Groundhog Day The Musical
I’d definitely recommend going to see Groundhog Day The Musical. It’s a really great show. The acting and comedy is great. And the production is amazing as well, with great sets on the stage and clever effects where Phil seems to suddenly appear places. It’s a great show to see.