the groundhog day project

I've been obsessing over the Groundhog Day musical of late. I often obsess when I get a new musical to listen to, of course; this is not unique to Groundhog Day ; it's just the latest. And, I wanted to talk about it. I have not gotten to see it live yet, of course, because it's just in New York for now and I cannot afford to just fly off to New York whenever. As much as I'd like to. (And, as I was writing this, I just got a notification about Tim Minchin's tweet about the show being nominated for seven Tony Awards.) Thing is, I cannot cover all of it in one entry. Nor would I need to. Nor would I want to. This isn't a blog about stage musicals, after all. But, there are a few details that stand out. First: Nancy. I've written about Nancy many times, of course. I swear I spent an entire entry just on her once but I cannot for the life of me find that one. But, that's almost poetic in itself--that she is just a detail in other entries. That is Nancy...

Some stray observations: On the HOTEL sign outside Vivian’s building, only the H and O are lit up. This seems both too on-the-nose and over-the-top. Kit’s and Vivian’s motto is “We say who, we say when, we say how much.” Later when Vivian is mad at Edward, she forgets that last part. She says, “I say who. I say when.” And then, she repeats, “I say who.” Despite the opening line of the film, that it is “all about money,” it’s no longer about money. She doesn’t even take the money, though she does demand it, when she leaves then. And, ultimately, after she has been paid and is back home, she gives some—not sure how much—of the money to Kit. I’ve written about the major differences between $3,000 and Pretty Woman before, but not a lot of the details. For example, this was Lawton’s second produced screenplay. It reads, especially early on, like someone’s first time writing a screenplay; there’s bit too much exposition setting the scene. Looking at the script again right now, I thou...

This blog entry begins late--1:27 A.M.--because I've been playing games. Played some Tsuro , some Carcassonne , some Munchkin and some Monster Fluxx . Two members of the speech team are here at this point to watch Groundhog Day . Victor has seen the film before, even used it in an Impromptu round (like I have ) at Districts this past March. Tracey has not seen the movie before... so figure most of what follows will be descriptions of her responses, if any. For example, but not a very interesting example, she laughed at Larry's "Home Shopping Network" line. And at Phil imitating Rita in the van. (An aside: I was asked two nights ago what my (current) favorite scene in Groundhog Day was. As I hesitated in answering, Dr. Classen (who taught the class for which I wrote my Christ-figure paper) suggested that maybe that would be like picking a favorite child. Still, I tried to answer. I didn't go with my favorite per se, but a scene that is still consistently ent...

Quiet... Like silence, but not really silent... Just that still sort of quiet Like the sound of a page being turned in a book, Or a pause in a walk in the woods. Quiet... Like silence, but not really silent... Just that nice kind of quiet, Like the sound when you lie upside down in your bed. Just the sound of your heart in your head... (Lyrics from the Matilda musical by none other than Tim Minchin who is purportedly working on a Groundhog Day musical) I wonder how much noise pollution there was in Punxsutawney circa 1993. I’m guessing not a lot. Except that they’ve got electricity so there would be the hum of transformers and whatnot. It’s midwinter so the crickets might not be making the noise they’re making outside right now as I write this. The rooms at the Cherry Street Inn do not all have their own TVs, so Phil probably wouldn’t hear the neighbors’ TV like I do right now, either. In the Global North, we don’t much have actual silence anymore. In Uttar Pradesh, so-called “...

I've joked--I think more than once--about creating a one man show version of Groundhog Day , I've shared how my daughter recently dreamed about being in a stage production of Groundhog Day . So, it should come as no surprise that Groundhog Day may soon be a musical. Broadway World proclaims: MATILDA THE MUSICAL's Tim Minchin and Matthew Warchus could have theatergoers returning again and again... and again for their upcoming musical adaptation of the 1993 movie GROUNDHOG DAY. Danny Rubin, who doesn't tweet very often, confirmed the news with a photo of himself with Tim Minchin. Now, I haven't seen the musical version of Matilda ; I'm not sure it's even come to Los Angeles yet. But, I like Minchin's other musical works, comedic songs like "You Grew On Me" or "Prejudice." I've got a good feeling about this project. It won't just be a copy of the film, of course. Minchin writes on his blog : Our version of Groundhog Day i...