Groundhog Day: The Musical – Behind the scenes
“There’s great humanity in this story of Phil Connors, a public figure who, it turns out, is very unappealing off camera,” said Artistic Director Jim Corti. “Phil is the type to take advantage of situations, of others, of women in particular. When he gets stuck in the trap of reliving the same day, every day, he takes advantage of that, too. Until the question becomes ‘what do you do with the day now?’ That’s when Phil’s story takes a turn into a morality tale of sorts. Use every day to help others. In a rut? Be the change.”
Leading the cast are Alex Syiek as Phil Connors in his Chicago debut and Phoebe González as Rita Hanson. Syiek performed Off-Broadway in Zorba! at Ensemble City Center, and regionally at Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Playhouse Square, New London Barn Playhouse and 14th Street Theater. González is a Chicago-based Mexican-Irish-American actor and singer making her Paramount debut. She has worked with such Chicago theaters as Steppenwolf, Marriott, Writers Theatre, The Hypocrites and Teatro Vista. Regionally, she has appeared for three seasons at American Players Theatre in Wisconsin and toured with the Kennedy Center.
Rounding out the 25-member cast are ensemble members Kyle Adams, Adia Bell, Matthew Bettencourt, Christian Denzel Bufford, Lydia Burke, Max J. Cervantes, Aaron Conklin, Andres J. DeLeon, Vasily Deris, Nick Druzbanski, Veronica Garza, Carisa Gonzalez, Sophie Grimm, Karl Hamilton, Ciara Hickey, Ron King, Michael Kingston, Teressa Rose LaGamba, Michael E. Martin, Andrew MacNaughton, Jake Morrissy, Emily Rohm and Haley Jane Schafer.
The full production team is Jim Corti, director; Megan E. Farley, choreographer; Kory Danielson, music supervisor, music director and conductor; Courtney O’Neill, scenic designer; Jordan Ross, costume designer; Greg Hofmann, lighting designer; Adam Rosenthal, sound designer; Mike Tutaj, projection designer; Katie Cordts, wig, hair and makeup designer; Jesse Gaffney, properties designer; Ethan Deppe, electronic music designer; Harmony France, associate director; Ariel Etana Triunfo, assistant choreographer; Celia Villacres, associate music director/associate conductor; Sean McNeely, orchestra contractor; Maegan Burnell, stage manager; and Kathleen Barrett, assistant stage manager.
Jim Corti (Paramount Artistic Director and director of Groundhog Day: The Musical) inaugurated Paramount’s Broadway Series with President and CEO Tim Rater in fall 2011 with the critically acclaimed My Fair Lady and a subscriber base of 12,500 patrons. In 2015, Paramount’s Broadway Series became Jeff Award eligible. Since then, Paramount has garnered 68 nominations with 19 wins, including three consecutive Best Large Musical awards for Les Misérables, West Side Story and Sweeney Todd. Corti helmed all three, and won Best Director for two of them, Les Misérables and Sweeney Todd. Prior to the pandemic, Paramount subscriptions had risen above 41,000 with a record- breaking 350,000 patrons in attendance in 2019. Corti also directed Paramount’s Fiddler on the Roof, Miss Saigon, Rent, The Who’s Tommy, Oklahoma!, Mamma Mia!, Million Dollar Quartet, Once, The Producers and Newsies. A Broadway veteran, he appeared in the original New York casts of Ragtime and Candide, joined the long running A Chorus Line and toured nationally in Urinetown, Cabaret and Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. Other highlights include being the only director to have two productions in the same year in the Chicago Tribune’s list of 10 Best Shows for Drury Lane’s Cabaret and Writers Theatre’s Oh, Coward! in 2009. He remains the sole honoree to have won Jeff Awards as an actor (Marriott’s Grand Hotel), choreographer (Drury Lane’s Singin’ in the Rain) and director (Paramount’s Sweeney Todd and Les Misérables, Drury Lane’s Sweet Charity and Northlight’s Blues in the Night).
Groundhog Day: The Musical is based on the 1993 Columbia Pictures film comedy starring Bill Murray. Story and book are by Danny Rubin, who co-wrote the original screenplay. Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Orchestrations and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale. The musical premiered at The Old Vic on London’s West End in summer 2016 and was nominated for eight Laurence Olivier Awards, winning for Best New Musical and Best Actor in a Leading Role. It opened on Broadway in 2017 and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.