Andy Karl will play the starring role in Groundhog Day the Musical
The first tickets for the world premiere of the highly anticipated stage musical version of the Bill Murray classic movie Groundhog Day have gone on priority sale ahead of the general sale release which is scheduled to start on 12 April.
Written by Matilda the Musical’s Tim Minchin and directed by Matilda and Ghost director Matthew Warchus, Groundhog Day the Musical will feature a book by Danny Rubin, based on his original screenplay co-written by the late Harold Ramis, the film’s director.
The show, which will form part of Warchus’ inaugural season as the Old Vic’s new artistic director, is due to open at the London theatre on 11 July with performances until 17 September. The show is expected to follow its London run with a Broadway transfer early next year.
Two other members of the creative team behind the smash hit Matilda, choreographer Peter Darling and designer Rob Howell, have joined Warchus and Minchin to help transform the film into a stage musical.
Groundhog Day the Musical is based on the 1983 hit movie in which charismatic Murray played a cynical TV star who learns the true meaning of life and love while stuck in the recurring ‘day from hell’.
The production has officially confirmed the casting of American actor Andy Karl in the coveted starring role of weatherman Phil Connors.
Karl, who made his Broadway debut in 2000 in Saturday Night Fever, is currently enjoying small screen success after joining the cast of the multi-award winning and long-running US crime series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
A Tony Award nominee for both his performance in the title role in Rocky the Musical and in last year’s Broadway revival of On the Twentieth Century, Karl’s other Broadway credits include Jersey Boys, Wicked, Legally Blonde and The Wedding Singer.
Warchus is a director of theatre, opera and film who has directed award-winning productions for many of the major British theatre companies. He was an associate director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and was an artistic associate at The Old Vic before being appointed in 2014 to succeed Kevin Spacey as artistic director of the theatre.
Actor, comedian and writer Minchin first shot to fame as a solo stage performer and actor, before turning his attention to writing for musical theatre as composer/lyricist of Matilda the Musical.
Darling is an award-winning choreographer who has worked on many major productions, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Billy Elliot. Designer Howell is also an award winner who has designed sets and costumes for theatre and opera in the UK and overseas. His credits include Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, Inherit the Wind and Speed-the-Plow. He is an associate artist of The Old Vic.
The show’s writer Rubin is an award-winning screenwriter and lecturer whose film credits include the thriller Hear No Evil. Turning his biggest hit, Groundhog Day, into a musical will mark his first stage venture.
Angela Thomas
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