GROUNDHOG DAY – it’s not really about groundhogs, it’s REALLY about learning from your mistakes, perseverance, striving for better, and having the courage to change things when what you’re doing is no longer ‘working’ for you.
Like the characters in the movie, the musical finds a pretty disgusting, highly cynical, jerk of a guy, Weatherman Phil (played with Olivier Award Winning Best Actor precision and energy by Andy Karl), in a ‘time loop,’ continually repeating his bad behavior, thinking it will get him different results (aka, ‘the definition of insanity’). By contrast, we find the smart, self-assured, kind and sweet News Producer, Rita (played perfectly by the talented and beautiful relative newcomer, Barrett Doss), trying to find love and contentment. Phil is the only one who is aware of the ‘loop’ he finds himself in – the others in his universe just stay in the loop, oblivious to the repetitiousness of their existence – they are “content,” until they realize that they, too, are stuck in a ‘loop’ of their own.
GROUNDHOG is a story about allowing yourself to learn from your mistakes; about having the courage to grow and evolve; about, well, learning how to add ‘LIFE TO YOUR YEARS.’
This SUNDAY SHOWSTOPPER SNIPPET is one of those VERY hard to find video clips – part recording studio/part on stage – the song represents the turning point of the lead characters’ mindset, asking the question, what would I do “if I had my time again.”
ASSIGNMENT: After you watch the clip, come back here or to the Facebook post (HERE) and answer the question …. ‘what would I do if I had my time again?’
The Broadway transplant of this Olivier Award Winning Best Musical and 7-time Tony Nominated production will be closing in two weeks, so you still have a little time to grab some tickets HERE, and go see it (over and over) before it leaves NYC on September 17. If you can get there, they are offering tickets at an enormous discount to fill-out the run. Rumor has it that the production will go on an 18-month National Tour starting in 2018, and that another company will return to London for an open-ended run (not sure of any of the casting yet).
[Disclaimer – I’m involved in the U.S. production of this musical.]
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