By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Friday 10 January, running through 22 March 2025 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

We’ve been regularly visiting Barcelona for the last 25 years and only ever seen the musicals we love in Spanish, English or a mixture and so this is our 1st in the native Catalan.

• Read on for reasons including how this joyous production stays true to the life-affirming charms of the London original

We’re only on a nodding acquaintance with Catalan, able to speak Spanish and be understood in Barcelona and so inevitably we lose a little of our enjoyment of this Tim Minchin musical which won our 2016 Best New Musical monsta.

We saw this musical on its final dress run at the Old Vic in August 2016 and have returned to it many times since because it’s occasionally funny despite the bleakness of much of the material but ultimately because it’s about realising what’s truly important about a life well lived.

Inevitably there have been changes since we last saw it at at London’s Old Vic in 2023 and there’s an emphasis on patience and happiness in the Catalan lyrics of original opening song There Will Be Sun which perhaps give a better introduction to the Barcelona take on a beloved musical we are seeing through Catalan eyes and hearing through its ears for the 1st time.

Groundhog Day: the musical is based on the 1993 film starring Bill Murray as TV weatherman Phil Connors who arrives at smalltown Punxsutawney in the US to report on the 2 February ceremony where villagers hope a groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil won’t see his shadow, signifying an end of winter and the start of spring.

For this show to work the casting of Phil Connors is essential. Here Roc Bernardi (La Jaula De Las Locas, Teatre Tivoli, Barcelona) convinces as initially arrogant, prepared only to make easy choices at 1st before learning that the way out of the repeating day he finds himself marooned in is to be kind and be loved by others.

We’re in a busy but not sold out matinee performance with an older audience than usual that takes a little while to warm to our protagonist and it’s essential therefore that producer Rita Hanson, Julia Bonjoch with a strong clear voice but also unafraid to back down to her annoying star, gives us someone to root for as we do wholeheartedly here.

Sondheim (Old Friends, Gielgud Theatre) was initially interested in adapting the musical as a film but said eventually: ‘It cannot be improved’.

Cue Minchin and director Matthew Warchus who worked on Matilda: The Musical (still running in London’s West End) and El Dia De La Marmota distinguishes itself with some intricate wordplay we appreciate (‘knights in shining armour’ becoming ‘nights in, shining armour’) which we can only fail to pick up on in its Catalan version.

However, the stirring and moving songs remain with our favourites being the Green Day-ish Rita anthem If I Had My Time Again and finale revelation of the moving Seeing You.

It’s a testament to the strength of this material that it can work so well in a language it wasn’t written in and also the partial standing ovation it provokes here in Barcelona after a frosty start shows how receptive this city is to its heartwarming charm.

It’s run has also been extended through 22 March 2025 and we can testify how this joyous production stays true to the original life-affirming charms of the London original.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Teatre Coliseum Tickets
• Have you seen Groundhog Day before and what did you think of this show? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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