Review: Päiväni murmelina
Groundhog Day is an apt story about the coronavirus era and the place of man
In recent months, I’ve heard many people laughingly describe their lives as marmots on the day. The saying comes from the American comedy film of the same name, Groundhog Day (1993), directed by Harold Ramis. Anyone who has seen it once – and quite a few have – will surely remember what they saw. The film is a secretively impressive and universal commentary on the course of life and the nature of the times.
My Day as a Groundhog tells the story of Phil Connors, a cynical TV meteorologist who reluctantly has to go on a chat in the small town of Punxsutawney. A playful, folksy leg ritual is celebrated there every year. The townspeople let the marmot (also called Phil) predict the length of winter and the arrival of spring. If the day is cloudy and the marmot does not see its shadow, it means that spring is beginning. If a shadow is visible, winter will continue for another six weeks.
Groundhog Day really exists. In its current form, it is an event conceived by a journalist from Punxsutawney as early as the late 1800s, which has also spread to other parts of the United States and Canada. Groundhog Day, celebrated on 2 February, has been seen to be associated with the Christian Candlemas Day. There has also been a kinship with the old Celtic spring festival on the same day.
In the film, Phil the weatherman finds himself in a time loop. When the Groundhog Day gig is over, he urgently wants to go home, but a snowstorm messes up the pattern and blocks the roads. Phil has to stay in Punxsutawney. The next morning is Groundhog Day again, and it repeats itself in the same way as the day before. And so the next day and the day after that. Endlessly.
Everything happens the same day after day, down to the smallest details. Only Phil realizes the situation and tries to influence the course of events with his own actions, but at first with little success.
Eventually, a change of mind, consideration for people and love for a fellow producer break the cycle and reality settles into its new channels. Time has a purpose again.
Essentially, My Day as a Groundhog is a depiction of human transformation. No one changes overnight, and it takes years for Phil the weatherman to change – 34 years, according to one calculation. That’s a long time to live the same day over and over again.
Understandably, groundhog has also been seen as a popular image of reincarnation.
The Helsinki City Theatre’s repertoire could not include a more topical play related to people’s feelings about life during the coronavirus pandemic than My Day as a Groundhog. It is a musical comedy written by Danny Rubin and composed by Tim Minch. Rubin was also the co-screenwriter of the film version. The musical premiered in London in 2016.
The musical machinery of the City Theatre is in supple condition. My Day as a Groundhog, directed by Samuel Harjanne, sparkles and bursts, some even say too much, but in the midst of the greyness of the coronavirus, it feels refreshing. Admittedly, the play’s finely tuned, serious message may be a little overshadowed by the pace, but the message is still there.
Weatherman Phil Connors, played by Lari Halme, is believably disgusted. Fellow producer Rita Hanson, played by Maria Lund, is positive and friendly. Both carry the musical well, Lund even particularly well with his singing.
Phil feels like a god who knows everything about the people around him, because he has lived the same day over and over again. So does the real God.