Laugh, practise yoga, drink tea, eat cake, listen to radio 4, read oodles, theatre geek/blogger, Young Patron of the National theatre and Mum to Milly, my dog.

Jul 28, 2016

Groundhog Day

The Old Vic, July 27, 2016

Again and again and again and again and…

We all know my fundamental dislike of musicals. The ones with big stars or that come from films… Oh…

But NO. This isn’t a Bodyguard/Thriller/We Will Rock You style musical… this is rather marvellous. It takes more from of The Book of Mormon, Wonder.land and of course Matilda than Mama Mia. Hurrah!

The story in a nutshell — weatherman Phil Collins is made to go to Punxsutawney to report on the annual Groundhog Day ceremony when a Groundhog (also named Phil) predicts the start of Spring. It’s small town America at its best/worst and our weatherman hero hates it. He’s made (divine intervention?) to relive this same day over and over and over. We’re never quite sure for how long but suffice to say long enough to learn how to play concert piano, learn everything he can about his producer Rita, fall in love instead of lust with her and become a kind and unselfish human. He’s a bit of an arse at the beginning.

So why is it different? Simple. The words. Tim Minchin is a creative comic genius. His words are hilarious, rude and honest. And because of this they hit home.

My only beef — and I have this beef with every single musical I have ever seen — I can’t hear all these wonderful words all the time.

Is the balance of orchestra vs microphones not quite right? Are too many people singing at the same time? It saddens me. At one point Phil is singing something rather rude about moving from a man who could masturbate 7 times in one night to being a better man — and I could’t hear it properly. Noooooooo. Don’t allow rude words and naughty puns to go to waste!

The other thing that singles this production out as a bit fab is the staging. Superb! At one point Rita literally disappears and another Phil seems to change places on the stage, mid song, as if by magic — the audience actually gasped. You could tell people were thinking, “How the hell?”

Those who love musicals will LOVE it. Those who want a bloody-good-fun night will LOVE it.

4/5 Clever, witty, funny. I just wish I could hear all the damn words…