By Adam Bloodworth
Groundhog Day review and star rating: ★★★
Fans of ’90s film Groundhog Day, in which a beleaguered weather presenter wakes up on 2 February every day on a loop, will be pleased with this shiny, high-energy theatrical imprint, a restaging of the 2016 hit musical, which has a cultish similarity to the film.
Matthew Warchus’ production is similarly frenetic and chaotic, the director ambitiously copying the film’s structure by staging the same day over and over again. The style is so unusual and jarring that it takes 15 minutes or so to ease into the basic structure.
A chorus line of singers and dancers appear and disappear over and over again in a replica of the Groundhog Day celebration scene at the top of the movie, shot in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. And like in the movie, the same scene of Phil waking up every morning is staged multiple times. It’s done at such a speed that it feels abrasive and unnatural for the stage.
This kind of chaos is naturally better handled on screen, with the benefit of cuts and technological bells and whistles. But there is something courageous about the staging that has led this Groundhog Day to become a cult hit.
The plot follows weather presenter Phil Connors as he pursues a romance with producer Rita. Tanisha Spring and Andy Karl have a decently unfolding plotline with a good dollop of chemistry. There’s an especially effective scene in act two that exemplifies how Connors learns how to modify his behaviour day by day to engineer the romantic results he wants. (No one else in this universe repeats the same day over, it’s just him.) It feels pleasing, rather than creepy, to see Connors tweak his language to woo Spring more effectively with each passing attempt, gradually learning more about himself.
But other parts aren’t as cosy: Andy Karl has carved his leading figure Phil in homage to the movie, in which his role was played by Bill Murray, and this Old Vic production comes complete with the cringey ’90s sexist humour, which feels forced and uncomfortable – even since this first hit the stage in 2016 the conversation has moved on.
Groundhog Day is pitted as a musical, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin of Matilda, but the songs, like the humour, don’t stand up and by the second act, some of the solos fell positively flat. The lyrics are sometimes clunky too. In one line, Minchin tries to rhyme “mention” with “dementia.”
Ultimately, Groundhog Day just isn’t a piece of theatre: rather it’s a dizzying attempt at recreating a film. There are some high notes but the ferocious hauling in and out of set pieces and the general air of chaos ends up leaving you shaken.
Groundhog Day at the Old Vic plays until 19 August
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