Tim Minchin doesn鈥檛 follow the rules. The comedic songwriter first shook things up on Broadway with his score for Matilda The Musical, a darker take on the Roald Dahl children鈥檚 book than many had expected. His daring paid off with a 2013 Tony Award nomination.
He returns to Broadway this spring with Groundhog Day, currently onstage at the August Wilson Theatre. It was that same potential for darkness that tempted him to musicalize the movie about TV weatherman Phil Connors (Andy Karl) stuck reliving the title holiday in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, over and over again. Fans of the film, which stars Bill Murray as Connors, needn鈥檛 worry. 鈥淭he movie is so successful because of the balance between romantic comedy and existential crisis,鈥� says Minchin, 鈥渁nd we didn鈥檛 want to f鈥攌 that up.鈥� Before he could preserve that balance, though, he needed to find his way in musically; it was through his Act 2 opener that Minchin found it.
鈥淧laying Nancy鈥� is a mournful ballad sung by a secondary character as she contemplates her lot in life as 鈥渁 brief diversion, just the detour on the journey of some man.鈥� In that lyric, Minchin subtly declares his concept for the show.
鈥淸笔丑颈濒闭 goes through these musical phases as if he鈥檚 going through maturation as a human being,鈥� Minchin says. 鈥淭he styles of music are meant to parallel his stages [of life] from solipsism through hedonism into self-loathing, and he learns all these lessons and eventually finds what we now call 鈥榤indfulness.鈥欌�
In fact, Minchin鈥檚 score is a jigsaw puzzle of musical genres. In addition to the phases and changing sounds of Phil, the ensemble sings in styles of polka, samba, jazz鈥攖here鈥檚 even a brassy tap number and a funk mix. Despite the different styles, Minchin unifies the score on a sonic level, restricting himself to specific chords and harmonic structures.
If his melodic approach sounds complex, it鈥檚 only due to the fact that, for Minchin, sound is inextricably linked to lyrics鈥攁nd Minchin is a wordsmith. 鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly didactic and lyric heavy,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t sounds so pretentious, but once you鈥檝e really got into Shakespeare, you really don鈥檛 ever want to treat words like, 鈥極h that鈥檒l do.鈥�
鈥淢y job is to go, 鈥楴o, no, you鈥檝e got to listen to every word, and once you make that contract with [the audience], you better uphold your end of the bargain. You better always be doing something.鈥�
