Danny Hauskins, Eli Swailes, Heather Lueder, Matthew Call, Erik Finch, Haley Tromblee, and Zoe Zelnio in Groundhog Day: The Musical (photo by Nat20 Photography)
Groundhog Day is back again! This beloved holiday inspired the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. A few years ago, that comedy hit inspired a Broadway musical. And now, that musical is making its Quad Cities debut at the Spotlight Theatre under director Noah Hill. Does this mean we’re in for six more weeks of winter? 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. We were at the opening night of Groundhog Day: The Musical on February 7.
Kitty: Conceptually, this musical is certainly a challenge. Presenting what is essentially the same material over and over again, but in a way that’s going to be interesting to the audience, is inherently difficult. You have to be very well-rehearsed and precise. The logistics are more visibly complicated in live performance than in film.
Mischa: There are also too many layers of philosophical or ideological meaning added to an essentially frivolous story, as though a light entertainment were trying to turn into Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus. Yes, Phil Conners is supposed to go from being an unrepentant jerk to learning a life lesson of sorts. But it shouldn’t be so ponderous, right?
K: Yeah, I do think this show took itself too seriously. For me, the culmination of that came with the song “Playing Nancy” at the top of the second half. For context, Nancy (Heather Foss) is a woman Phil seduces for a one-night stand in the first act. She’s given no character development whatsoever. Then she opens Act II with this thought-provoking number that asks, “Is it my destiny to be / A brief diversion – / Just a detour on the journey of some man?” And then we barely see her again. 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?
K: For what it’s worth, I think that Foss performed the number well. But the song felt very out of place. The music as a whole felt like a real grab bag of styles and topics.
M: Yes, Foss’s performance was one of the production's highlights. I also really enjoyed Bastian’s singing throughout – not showy, but confident, and fluently doing justice to each song, such as her autobiographical “One Day.” Call also had some great moments of dramatic singing, as in the driving intensity of “Hope.” But the music was all over the place, genre-wise. That’s presumably intended as a way to showcase performers' range, letting them run the gamut from jazz to country to hard rock to soft guitar ballads – and Christine Rogers' pit navigated all those changes in style really well. You’re right, though. That it did make for an overall lack of cohesion.
K: Despite that, the songs were still individually enjoyable. And one that I think did mesh very well with the show's tone was my personal favorite “If I Had My Time Again,” Bastian's and Call’s voices blended nicely, and they gave the audience a reason to root for their characters as a couple.
M: There are a lot of townspeople, and their characters don’t get a lot of opportunity to shine individually, but some stood out with effective and distinctive roles, such as the Piano Teacher (Emma Hughes) who ends up dancing on a platform at the big banquet. Overall, however, all the elements together seemed to be having trouble successfully gelling.
K: I think that may have been due to pacing. The action spans several different locations within Punxsutawney – the B&B, Gobbler’s Knob, the diner, the bar, the town square – and the transitions between locations took some time to execute. 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. Some parts seemed rushed, others dragged.
K: And the repetitive elements weren’t very precisely reenacted: The variations in delivery and blocking weakened the repetition. Despite that, there were some nicely choreographed moments. The set (designed by Brent Tubbs and director Hill) featured a retractable bed that was used to great effect during “Hope,” where it served as the “spawn point” for each new day and also became a fun sight gag.
M: It was a little flimsy-looking, but it held up to repeated use! Another fun technical element was the projected “TV broadcast” above the stage at the start, which introduced us to our main character.
K: I enjoyed that a lot. I also liked Heather Blair’s costume choices. They were simple yet creative, and helped establish the quirky small-town feel.
M: On the whole, this musical certainly feels very contemporary. It's meant to be a cynical, even crass piece of work that pulls no punches and doesn’t shy away from ugly or disturbing language and themes – but it also wants its happy ending and positive message, which, to me, ultimately seemed too forced.
K: For me, the Groundhog Day musical itself has some core issues that would be challenging for any group to overcome. This production made a valiant effort, and they certainly enjoyed moments of success. But ultimately, I think the show’s flaws overshadowed the team’s individual talents.
Groundhog Day: The Musical runs at the Spotlight Theatre (1800 Seventh Avenue, Moline IL) through February 17, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)912-7647 and visiting TheSpotlightTheatreQC.com.
