Groundhog Day – Old Vic Theatre

Andy Karl and company in Groundhog Day at the Old Vic Theatre, London. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Groundhog Day continues at the Old Vic Theatre, London until 19 August 2023.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

One of the funniest ever stage musicals, based on one of the funniest ever movies, makes a very welcome return to the Old Vic, and has lost none of its gloss and pizzazz. A five-star hit and multi-Olivier winner back in 2016 – winning Best New Musical and Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for its leading man, Andy Karl – Tim Minchin and Danny Rubin’s Groundhog Day is set to once again split the sides of audiences and is, funnily enough, one of these shows that – budget willing! – I can see time and time again.

Matthew Warchus’ stage version of the hit film – which starred Bill Murray as conceited TV weatherman Phil Connors who is doomed, inexplicably, to repeat the same day – captures all of the key comedic moments in the movie. The book has been written by the movie’s screenwriter Rubin and he ensures that fans of the original won’t be disappointed.

Like its spiritual stage cousin, Back to the Future, it’s also a visual feast – an overtly theatrical production packed with cunning illusions from magician Paul Kieve (Matilda, Lord of the Rings, The Invisible Man). The timings required are inconceivable to us mere mortals, but each new invention clearly gives the audience a real buzz, often triggering appreciative applause for the ingenuity of it all.

There’s also some fun use of scale models, with a car chase through the streets of Punxsutawney a real hoot. Rob Howell’s sets are very effective – particularly the claustrophobic B&B that Connors finds himself waking in relentlessly.

But we’re not here to applaud the sets. It’s all about the music, and Minchin does what he does best, offering up a soundtrack of hilarious, witty, sharp-tongued and even at times heart-melting songs.

Minchin does all the right things with the form, with the expected multiple reprises of various themes to hammer home the repetition. This works to great comic effect, especially when we hear that radio alarm going off (not ‘I Got You Babe’, but it’s not missed) and our brains are bombarded with repeated blasts from the local Sousa band. Subtle distortions of the thematic variations also resonate with our leading man’s increasing disorientation. We can really feel Connors’ pain!

The lyric writing is particularly exuberant – it’s wordy, showy and very Minchin yet still absolutely in step with what’s required dramatically.

Reprising his role as the sociopathic weatherman is Andy Karl, who couldn’t be more suited to this role. He has the sculpted look of an American anchor – he captures perfectly that central-casting TV cheeseball (sorry, Andy!) – and most importantly he can sing. He – forgive the cliché – makes the role his own, exorcising the spirit of Bill Murray and carving his own descent into madness before finally finding a meaning and purpose.

The focus of Connors’ attention and the source of his salvation – at least after sleeping with 90% of the women under 85 in the snowbound Pennsylvanian town! – is Rita, a newly assigned producer for his weather segment. She’s nicely fleshed out as a character by Tanisha Spring, who slowly reveals more about the idealist Rita, and her thoughts about Connors, in beautifully sung diary entries.

There are a couple of featured performances worth highlighting – Andrew Langtree as the irritating insurance salesman Ned Ryerson, and the superb Eve Norris as Nancy, whose ‘Playing Nancy’ is a rather odd fourth-wall-breaking number that ends up being a highlight of the evening – but really the entire ensemble is to be applauded. And it’s not a small company, either: Jasmin Colangelo, Kelly Ewins, Kamilla Fernandes, Aimée Fisher, Zack Guest, Nick Hayes, Jacqueline Hughes, Ashlee Irish, Chris Jenkins, Andrew Langtree, Billy Nevers, Mark Pearce, Ben Redfern, Durone Stokes, Alex Stoll, Jez Unwin, Amy Wensak and Matthew Whennell-Clark.

There’s a darkness to this version of the story – it’s darker than I remember the movie – and the music layers in more depth than you might expect. When atonement comes in Act II, and we see the redemption of Phil Connors, it’s surprisingly affecting.

So, what’s the message of Groundhog Day? It’s kinda about living life to the full and breaking free of a repetitive life on auto pilot. About self-awareness and the understanding that the only thing you can really change about your situation is you. But equally the knowledge that you can change the world if you make a positive effort.

As I’m writing this, I realise that it’s not 100 miles away from the other new time-warping musical that’s just also reopened in London after a hiatus: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, at the Southwark Playhouse. This delightful musical also reminds us of the value of our limited time here on Earth. My takeaway is that you should certainly make this most of your precious time by seeing both of these shows immediately. And more than once…

Craig Glenday