Blank Canvas Production of the 'Groundhog Day' Musical Mostly Channels the Laughs and Pathos of the Bill Murray Classic

Do you ever get the feeling you're doing the same thing, day after day, with nothing ever changing? Same brushing teeth, same coffee, same cup, same drive to work. It's enough to drive you batty.

As we all know, that daily repetition we all deal with was taken a step further in the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day. That's where snarky big-city TV weatherman Phil Connors repeatedly wakes up to the same February 2nd in the small Pennsylvania town, where all the yokels wait to see if the local rodent Punxsutawney Phil will or won't see his shadow and thus predict the length of winter.

Phil (not the rodent) hates being there, and when he is thrown into a time loop where he keeps waking up to the identical Feb. 2—including the same people saying the exact same words at the exact same places—he starts to unravel before he changes his ways.

Groundhog Day is now a stage musical with book, music and lyrics by the renowned Tim Minchin (Matilda). But this production at Blank Canvas Theatre struggles with the material due to a complex and demanding score and the fact that that the company lost a week of rehearsal time due to a brush with Covid.

Still, under the direction of Joanna May Cullinan the flawed play manages to stay on its feet and deliver some tender and reflective moments in Act Two, following the amusements revolving around a repeated day that take place in an overlong first act.

There's a big challenge in presenting repetitive moments on stage instead of in a movie. On film, you can always slam-cut to an alarm clock where it is always 6 AM on February 2. Neat and clean. But the stage version requires a resetting of the hotel bedroom scene, bed and etc., before the gags can commence. That delays the timing and as we know, timing in comedy is everything.

In the lead role of Phil, Danny Simpson warms to his task as the show progresses, creating some very amusing moments. However, at the start his Phil is mean and egotistical, but not in a fun way. As a result, it takes a while for his character to emerge.

This also delays the development of the relationship between Phil and his TV producer Rita (and excellent Tasha Brandt), since the love-hate thing they have going never quite heats up.

One of the bright spots early on is Reed Kruger, who plays insurance peddler Ned Ryerson as an energetic and weirdly endearing twit. Also generating some laughs are Carson Betts and Trey Gilpin as drunks in the bar where Phil goes to drown his stuck-in-Punxsutawney sorrows.

Much space and time in Act One is occupied by the ensemble, who are called upon to sing and dance in Minchin's music-heavy creation. Try as they might, their singing voices and dance synchronicity leave a good bit to be desired.

As a result, many of the songs fall flat. There are also two songs that, while written and performed well, seem like an odd fit for this show. "Playing Nancy" is a heavy-handed meta piece that seems wildly out of place—especially as the Act Two opener. In it, Nancy (Allie Darragh) laments her fate as a hot girl whom guys only like for her looks. Since she only appears as eye candy in the rest of the play, this seems an odd choice indeed.

Almost as strange is Ned's solo, "Night Will Come," which attempts to force-fit Ned's grief over his deceased wife into this unrelated story. Book author Minchin should have a serious chat with composer Minchin about these unusual musical excursions.

Eventually, we see that Phil learns how to be a caring and compassionate human, even while stuck in the identical day for, it seems, eternity. Simpson and Brandt handle that final transition with smooth panache, giving this Groundhog Day the conclusion it needs and the audience deserves.

Groundhog Day
Through August 3 at Blank Canvas Theatre, 78th Street Studios, 1305 West 78th St., Suite 211, 440-941-0458, blankcanvastheatre.com.

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