Groundhog Day was a earth shaking movie that turned an obscure weather predicting rodent into a cultural phenomenon. This was largely due to director and script doctor Harold Ramis though Bill Murray often gets the credit. My favorite scene:
Phil: What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Ralph: That about sums it up for me.
Which happily is one of the lines that gets referenced in the new Broadway Musical. It is fast paced and fun to watch and quite slickly mounted. But all through it I couldn’t help wondering, why? Nothing they could put on that stage could supplant the joy of watching that movie. They can hope to ride on the popular feeling and borrow some of the spirit, but again, why? And with all the great new musicals on the boards this season, why?
The music is fine but not distinctive, the performances as original as they can be in the context and effect credits pretty darn good as well. I had a good evening at the theater, but why?
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Walter Thinnes 