Groundhog Day is a very near perfect comedy — if you haven’t seen it (!) Bill Murray plays a curmudgeonly weatherman who is forced to relive the same day again, and again, and again, and again — all in the town of Punxsutawney, Philadelphia, on their annual Groundhog Day event, a highly dubious and paradoxical method of anticipating the weather: if it’s cloudy when the Groundhog emerges from his burrow, Spring will come early. If it’s sunny, winter will hang around like your mum trying to eavesdrop on your 15 year old self’s cell calls.
The iconic film has just been made into a Broadway musical, one that Our Royal Highness Bill Murray himself trotted off to see the other day, because obviously he didn’t relive that day enough in the film.
The New York Times kindly blessed us with an extensive report on all the fun that went down at Bill’s viewing session. And tbh, watching Bill Murray watch the play sounds more entertaining than watching the play itself. Below, the highlights reel:
- Bill tipped the bartender $50 for a glass of water, before coming to the realisation that “$50 is too much for a glass of water.” He tipped them anyway.
- “Mr. Murray pumped his fist.”
- Showing both his aptitude for modern technology and monumental generosity, at intermission Bill took selfies with fans. Then he gave two lucky fans a mint each from his very own pack of Junior Mints. As we said — monumentally generous.
- When approached by an 11 year old on crutches, he offered some profound wisdom: “Don’t sell short on the rehab. Otherwise, you’ll limp and gimp for a long time.”
- And to the cast, he gave some advice, advice that we could probably all adopt to transform the world into some sort of life affirming musical: “When you ever feel you don’t know what to do, sing to the person next to you. And that person will sing to the person next to that person, and then you will have this force that’s even stronger.”
- And finally, in the final crescendo, the penultimate climax, he wept. He was “visibly sobbing.” When asked why, he said it was the story’s ultimate message: “The idea that we just have to try again. We just have to try again. It’s such a beautiful, powerful idea.”
- Bill Murray, ladies and gents — Mint Giver, Lol Bringer, Guiding Light of All Things Good and Groundhog.