Groundhog Day musical set to return to London for a limited run

Groundhog Day musical is set to return for a limited run in London in 2023.

Composer and lyricist Tim Minchin, the musical genius also behind Matilda The Musical, revealed that work was underway to reboot the stage adaption of the hit 1993 movie.

With a book by Danny Rubin, who co-wrote the original film’s screenplay, the musical first ran in London in 2016 before a short run on Broadway a year later.

It’s currently set to make a comeback in the capital sometime next year, according to Minchin.

Speaking to Claudia Winkleman on Radio 2 previously about plans for a revival, Minchin shared: “I loved Groundhog Day and I’m very proud of it. It’s a bit darker and more grown up and musically complex than Matilda. It went to Broadway and closed quite quickly for lots of reasons… some awful Broadway politics nonsense but also because it was a busy year and lots of stuff.”

He continued: “It was hard to bring back and then our beautiful producer André Ptaszynski died and everything’s been quite painful and a bit sad and held up.

“But I have fantastic news, although I’m not allowed to announce specifically, but Groundhog day is coming back for a limited run in London, probably in a year from now.”

Minchin added: “We’ll reboot it and see what happens but I really have a lot of unresolved ambition for Groundhog Day and I can’t wait for it to be back.”

In a separate interview with The Stage last year, Minchin added: “A return is in the works, but the idea is to reboot it a bit – the same production but give it another start, as it just got caught up in a lot of mess in America.

“So we will reboot it here with a limited run and see if it finds a different footing. Groundhog Day is really good and the people who saw it agreed, so we need to give it another chance.”

Based on the movie that starred Bill Murray, the Groundhog Day musical tells the story of a TV weatherman who finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again.

The London production was nominated for 8 Laurence Olivier Awards, winning two including Best Musical.

An original cast recording is available here.

About the author: Josh Darvill

Josh is Stageberry's editor with over five years of experience writing about theatre in the West End and across the UK. Prior to following his passion for musicals, he worked for more than a decade as a TV journalist.

 

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