“I Refuse to Try and Reverse Engineer A Hit”: Tim Minchin on His Score for Groundhog Day | Playbill

If his melodic approach sounds complex, it’s only due to the fact that, for Minchin, sound is inextricably linked to lyrics—and Minchin is a wordsmith. “I’m incredibly didactic and lyric heavy,” he says. “It sounds so pretentious, but once you’ve really got into Shakespeare, you really don’t ever want to treat words like, ‘Oh that’ll do.’

“My job is to go, ‘No, no, you’ve 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.”