Groundhog Day is back again! A few years ago, that comedy hit inspired a Broadway musical. Fans of the film will recall that its plot centers on disillusioned weatherman Phil Conners Matthew Call , who must make his annual trek to Punxsutawney for Groundhog Day.
While accompanied by his producer Rita Abby Bastian and cameraman Larry Dallas Foss , Phil discovers that he's seemingly fated to repeat Groundhog Day in an endless loop, unless he can discover a way to break the cycle. Kitty : Conceptually, this musical is certainly a challenge. You have to be very well-rehearsed and precise. The logistics are more visibly complicated in live performance than in film.
Yes, Phil Conners is supposed to go from being an unrepentant jerk to learning a life lesson of sorts. K : Yeah, I do think this show took itself too seriously. For context, Nancy Heather Foss is a woman Phil seduces for a one-night stand in the first act.
She just reverts to being a background character. It felt like the writers were trying to be philosophical without being logical. M : Kind of adding insult to injury: to have a character rightly complain about being disposable, and then getting thrown away again, but this time by the writers?
But the song felt very out of place. The music as a whole felt like a real grab bag of styles and topics. That it did make for an overall lack of cohesion. K : Despite that, the songs were still individually enjoyable. Overall, however, all the elements together seemed to be having trouble successfully gelling. K : I think that may have been due to pacing. There were a lot of moving parts to coordinate, and it appeared that some of the kinks still needed to be smoothed out. M : On opening night, at least, the cast did not get the perfect calibration that would have allowed all the bits to truly pop.
