Groundhog Day tells the story of Phil Connors (Andy Karl), a disgruntled big-city weatherman mysteriously stuck in small-town America reliving the same day over and over and over again. But when he gets to know associate TV producer Rita (Barrett Doss), he discovers that a day of second, third and fourth chances just might bring him the promise of a lifetime. It's a classic boy meets girl... boy meets girl... boy meets girl story.
Based on the iconic film, Groundhog Day is re-imagined by the award-winning creators of the international hit Matilda The Musical- including director Matthew Warchus and songwriter Tim Minchin- with a book by original screenwriter Danny Rubin. Starring two-time Tony Award nominee Andy Karl, Groundhog Day is the new musical comedy about living life to the fullest, one day at a time.
When it comes to credible depictions of small-town Pennsylvania, 'Groundhog Day the Musical' is about as veracious as a woodchuck named Phil is a qualified rodent meteorologist. This British import to Broadway - staged by people for whom small-town America is a typology, rather than a collection of souls - is more Whoville than Punxsutawney. Director Matthew Warchus' overstuffed and near-chaotic production is similarly far from Woodstock, Ill., the doppelganger for exurban insularity used to film the 1993 movie - a film forged in the caustic and improvisational Second City style by the late, great Harold Ramis, with Bill Murray as his melancholic muse. Andy Karl, the handsome, courageous and hugely talented star of these musical proceedings, is closer to the open-face sandwich that is Jim Carrey than to the iconoclastic Cubs fan Murray, benign and dangerous, perplexing and perplexed and a guy who looked like he'd been knocked around by the storms of life. But, you know, this is still a new Broadway musical that works - even one that has a few moments of greatness, replayed and redux.
The meta way to review Groundhog Day would be to repeat the same sarcastic, nit-picking paragraph three or four times before softening up and saying aw, heckfire, it's great!-thus breaking the spell of grouchy repetition. And while there are likeable, inspired elements in this musical adaptation of the great Bill Murray movie, time crawls as you wait for boorish weatherman Phil Connors to surrender to human kindness and true romance.
2016 | West End |
World Premiere Production West End |
2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2023 | West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Andy Karl |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Andy Karl |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway of Off-Broadway Musical | Groundhog Day |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Andy Karl |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Danny Rubin |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Matthew Warchus |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Musical | Groundhog Day |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Tim Minchin |
2017 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | Barrett Doss |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Book of a Musical | Danny Rubin |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Choreography | Ellen Kane |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | Matthew Warchus |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Groundhog Day The Musical |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Tim Minchin |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical | Andy Karl |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Rob Howell |
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