Andy Karl in Groundhog Day at The Old Vic. Picture: Manuel Harlan
It will be Groundhog Day all over again on Broadway when the stage musical version of the Bill Murray classic movie Groundhog Day lands on the Great White Way in April next year.
Written by Matilda the Musical’s Tim Minchin and directed by Matilda and Ghost director Matthew Warchus, Groundhog Day the Musical features a book by Danny Rubin, based on his original screenplay co-written by the late Harold Ramis, the film’s director.
Based on the 1983 hit movie in which charismatic Murray played a cynical TV weatherman who learns the true meaning of life and love while stuck in the recurring ‘day from hell’, Groundhog Day the Musical ended its premiere run at London’s Old Vic on 19 September.
The show, which is part of Warchus’ inaugural season as the Old Vic’s artistic director, was always expected to follow its limited London run with a Broadway transfer in 2017. According to Variety, the April opening date at the August Wilson Theatre became available when the venue’s current show, the long-running Jersey Boys, announced it would close in January next year.
There are no details as yet of the casting for the show’s Broadway debut, but London leading man, American actor Andy Karl, is already an established Broadway star and is probably a safe bet for the show’s US debut.
A Tony Award nominee for both his performance in the title role in Rocky the Musical and in the recent Broadway revival of On the Twentieth Century, Karl enjoyed small screen success when he briefly took on a high profile role of a doomed detective in the long-running US crime series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
The creative team for the musical’s Old Vic production included choreographer Peter Darling and set and costume designer Rob Howell, who previously worked with Warchus and Minchin on Matilda. Orchestration and additional music was provided by Christopher Nightingale, lighting design was by Hugh Vanstone, sound designer was Simon Baker, illusions were by Paul Kieve and additional movement was by Finn Caldwell.
Angela Thomas
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