An absolutely glowing review from Chris Daniels at THE SHOW REPORT. Read the full review online at theshowreport.org
Below are some excerpts from the review:
Jay Dysart is phenomenal in the lead, a Phil Connors with a more frenetic, brittle edge than the stillness of Murray’s film version. As the musical unfolds you watch his Connors spin through detached disbelief to detached hedonism to acceptance of his fate without ever feeling less attached to his arc.
– Chris Daniels, The Show Report
Portraying a man doomed to relive a single day over and over and over again in a small town that becomes his custom-fitted purgatory, Mr. Dysart is so outrageously inventive in ringing changes on the same old, same old, that you can’t wait for another (almost identical) day to dawn.
– Chris Daniels, The Show Report
Phil gradually trades in his cynicism for a grateful acceptance of life’s simpler pleasures. These, of course, include the love of a good woman, who, in this case, is a morally grounded young television producer named Rita Hanson, charmingly embodied and sung by Lauren McGunigale, (last seen in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”) who provides perfect counterbalance to Phil along with excellent vocals throughout.
– Chris Daniels, The Show Report
It’s Phil’s journey more than his destination that makes GROUNDHOG DAY such joy, as Mr. Dysart gives a many-splendored life to each faltering on the road to self-discovery. Using every tool in the musical theatre arsenal — Anger, prickliness, outrage, wonder, godlike omnipotence, drunken whoopdeedo exhilaration, suicidal angst, Zen-like resignation — Mr. Dysart turns these different feelings into a replete gallery of self-portraits, drawn with both comic spunk and genuine feeling. Even his antic dancing traces a precise evolution of character. And his pliable baritone covers a waterfront of emotions, from sardonic, pattering blitheness (“Small Town, USA”) to heavy-metal despair (the paradoxically titled “Hope”).
– Chris Daniels, The Show Report
the riotous country & western rouser, “Nobody Cares,” in which Phil goes driving drunk with a couple of hilarious barflies (Joey Krumbein; “Rent” and Charlie Carlos; “Titanic The Musical”), becomes an ingeniously staged exercise in hedonistic hopelessness. The choreography to this number is insanely clever — like a bunch of teenage merry prankster theater geeks putting on a high school show. Later, they up the ante on that illusion with a three-dimensional car chase that has to be seen to be believed. It’s like “Avenue Q” meets “The Fast and the Furious.”
– Chris Daniels, The Show Report
thanks to Jay Dysart’s undeniable star power, charisma, and quicksilver stage presence (how does he keep managing to make his way back into that bed without the audience seeing?), this is going to be a show that I suspect will feel totally fresh and new every night.
– Chris Daniels, The Show Report