Groundhog Day the Musical - Old Vic

Thanks so much! Much of the stage missed?

Not sure whether to go for these or back of the stalls... 

Hello everyone.
I’ve just booked tickets for this and I’m hoping that I got a good deal. I bought a ticket for the stalls for £84 from London Theatre Direct. I have the email confirmation and the e-ticket, but I’m wondering why the seat shows as £140 on the Old Vic website (this was the price for the same seat for the same performance when I compared prices on the two sites).

I know ticket prices vary, but this seems such a huge difference. I guess I’m asking if tickets from London Theatre Direct are genuine or have I made a grave error in purchasing from this company?

A friend told me not to worry, but I am - simply because the price difference was so great. Does anyone have experience in dealing with this company?

Yup, they are fine.

I thought they did an alright job of cutting it down from 8 to 2 mins to be fair.. its the rest of it. Showing a double bass whilst a solo violin is playing etc. Lack of continuity, some horrible jumps too. In the age of digital media, where content goes up and can last forever, for a professional company 'cobbled together' doesn't cut it.

That doesn't appear to happen on a Saturday though!

You’re not alone. I felt the same. Andy Karl left me cold, I didn’t find it very funny, the music (apart from the final song) didn’t make much of an impact on me and I felt the adaptation had elements in it ( particularly the bed-hopping) which were quite unpleasant. I didn’t understand the need to graft that onto a plot that was so well honed in the film ( especially as the original writer was involved in the adaptation). Still, the majority of audience & critics seem to absolutely love the show, so us conscientious objectors are very much in the minority.

I appreciate that everyone's opinion can and may differ but for me, both Groundhog Day and most recently Assassins, are the best two things I've seen all year

Saw this on Wednesday afternoon and kinda enjoyed it, the songs are not memorable, I could not hum you one! But I will say the show is a real homage to the funny film. If you love the film there are many moments similar to the film as the plot is basically the same as the book is by Danny Rubin who wrote the original 1993 movie.

I was pleased to see Andy Karl as heard him on recordings and seen YouTube videos before, he does play the role of Phil well and came across as an ass until he realised the errors of his way.

Tanisha Spring has a very nice voice and played Rita strong. Eve Norris also shines as Nancy the town tart, as people said about her song weird to start off the second part with her song after the interval but as someone on here put it made me realise she is stuck too and longs for real love.

Highlights for me were the magic tricks during "Hope" and the Groundhog playing the drums!

The audience was packed for a Matinee and the group next to me had travelled over from the US to specially see the show.

No 'need' for reinforcing my views. Its just sometimes nice when others share your view, espwlecially when you seem to be in minority, that's all. Nothing complex and no agenda. Never said others were wrong either so not sure where you're getting that from.

Not sure why you chose to pick on me when I've not stated anything others haven't done before in many other threads when they've been in the minority 🤷‍♂️

After so many years since the first run I saw it again with a friend

This time however I’m over the spectacle of the show and am actually joining the dissenting opinion

The main problem I have is the first act, which goes on too long with sequences and jokes they linger on too long

Jokes that my friend felt verged on vulgarity compared to the film. The Avenue Q kind of vulgarity. And re-watching scenes from the film I can see where he’s coming from

Sure this is a musical adaptation and you want to play up and make fun of Phil Connors behaviour. And Andy Karl’s interpretation of the role is still great. But the musical goes too far to show how much an asshole Phil is

There’s a groundedness to the films delivery, together with bill Murray’s natural performance, that is missing here. The first act works hard to bring you pizzazz, hijinks tricks and jokes but it gets tiresome and I could have cut 10 minutes out of it

Sequences like when Phil tries getting medical advice, where the musical extends the sequence from the film and includes a colonoscopy where I thought “did I really need to see that”.

It’s only in the second act that the musical finally settles down and we see character growth from Phil. It made me realise that this what what I like the most the first time I saw the musical. Especially the big dance sequence with the groundhog on the drumkit driving the story along and the very ending.

Still, I feel a play adaptation might have been better than a heightened musical. I can only vaguely remember the ‘There will be sun’ song

3.5 stars for me. Production values and performances great for me. It’s just the long first half that let it down for me