Official: GROUNDHOG DAY Musical to Cast Broadway Shadow in 2017!

Director Matthew Warchus, composer and lyricist Tim Minchin, choreographer Peter Darling, and designer Rob Howell, four of the creators of the international musical sensation Matilda, The Musical, have joined forces with writer Danny Rubin to collaborate on a new musical based on the 1993 hit film GROUNDHOG DAY, scheduled to begin previews Monday, January 23, 2017 and open on Broadway on Thursday, March 9, 2017.

GROUNDHOG DAY is the story of Phil Connors, an arrogant Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, when sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, finds himself caught in a time loop where he is forced to repeat the same day again and again . . . and again.

The 1993 film, with a screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, based on a story by Rubin, and directed by Ramis, starred Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott. The Columbia Pictures release, now widely regarded as a contemporary classic, was one of the top grossing films of 1993 and cited by the Writers Guild of America as one of the 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written, was included on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies," and in 2000 was voted by readers of Total Film as one of the ten best comedies of all time. In 2006, Groundhog Day was added to the United States Film Registry and selected by the National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress.

Casting and additional design team for GROUNDHOG DAY will be announced at a later date.

GROUNDHOG DAY will be produced on Broadway by Whistle Pig Productions, Scott Rudin, and Columbia Live Stage.

Speaking about the musical, Matthew Warchus told the New York Post: "I loved the film when it came out. And we realized that, in a musical, you can be more explicit about the metaphor of time running out, of feeling trapped, of not having enough time to become the best version of yourself. Sometimes we went a little too far in that direction and had to keep reminding ourselves to keep it light."

The first song Minchin wrote for the musical is called "Hope" and is sung as the weatherman tries to commit suicide at the start of the second act. Talking to the Post, Minchin explained: "I wrote that song to establish the parameters of just how dark we can go...The music in a musical reflects the emotional state of the characters. The Phil Connors who wakes up on day two is not the same Phil Connors who woke up on day one. Once I realized that, it set me free to write a variety of songs."

DANNY RUBIN received the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation for Groundhog Day. His other screenplays include Hear No Evil and S.F.W. Rubin has taught screenwriting in Chicago at the University of Illinois, Columbia College, and the National High School Institute; at the Sundance Institute in Utah; at the PAL Screenwriting Lab in England; at the Chautauqua Institution in New York; at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico; and at Harvard University as the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer on Screenwriting from 2008-2013.

TIM MINCHIN is a musician, comedian, actor, and writer. He is the composer and lyricist of Matilda, The Musical, which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and London's Olivier Award for Best Musical. He wrote his first theatrical score at 17, and spent the next decade composing, acting, making theater, and playing piano. In 2005, his comic cabaret, Dark Side, launched him onto the international stage. In 2010, Tim Minchin vs. the Orchestra sold out some of the world's most prestigious venues, including the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. Acting highlights include Judas in an arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, Atticus Fetch on Showtime's "Californication," and a title role in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Sydney Theatre Company.

MATTHEW WARCHUS, who will become Artistic Director of London's The Old Vic this summer, won a Tony Award for his direction of God of Carnage. In addition to Matilda, his other Broadway productions include La Bête, The Norman Conquests, Boeing-Boeing, Life x 3, Follies, True West, The Unexpected Man, and Art. His additional London credits include the West End productions of Deathtrap, Endgame, Much Ado About Nothing, the musicals Our House, Lord of the Rings (which he also co-wrote), and Tell Me on a Sunday; the National Theatre productions of Buried Child and Volpone; the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Hamlet (starring Alex Jennings), Henry V, and The Winter's Tale; and The Old Vic production of Speed-the-Plow. His opera productions include Troilus and Cressida, The Rake's Progress, Falstaff, and Così fan tutte. He was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for his direction of the recent BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated film Pride, and also directed the film version of Sam Shepard's Simpatico.

PETER DARLING won the Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Astaire Awards for his choreography for Billy Elliot. In addition to Matilda, he choreographed the West End productions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lord of the Rings, and Our House; the National Theatre's Candide, Oh What a Lovely War, and Power; the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Tempest; and the Donmar Warehouse production of Merrily We Roll Along. In the U.K. he also choreographed regional productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Bristol Old Vic; Edward II, The Country Wife, As You Like It, andTwelfth Night for the Sheffield Crucible; and a U.K. national tour of Sunset Boulevard for the Really Useful Group.

ROB HOWELL won a Tony Award for his set design for Matilda, The Musical. A three-time Olivier Award winner, he has designed sets and costumes extensively in the theatre and opera in the U.K. and abroad, including at the Royal Court, the Donmar Warehouse, the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera. On Broadway, in addition to Matilda, The Musical, he designed True West, Betrayal,Boeing-Boeing, The Norman Conquests, Private Lives, and Ghost.

ANDRÉ PTASZYNSKI, for Whistle Pig Productions, has been a producer of musicals and plays and a promoter of comedians in the U.K. since the dawn of punk. He has produced more than fifty shows and, as lead or joint producer, has won Best Musical Olivier or Evening Standard Awards for no less than six different productions in 20 years. He was on the board of Britain's National Theatre for nine years and was worldwide CEO of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group from 2005 to 2011 and is still president of RUG Theatres, the largest group of musical theatres in London. He is worldwide Executive Producer of Matilda, The Musical.

SCOTT RUDIN Films include: Ex Machina; Top Five; While We're Young; Inherent Vice; The Grand Budapest Hotel; Captain Phillips; Inside Llewyn Davis; Frances Ha; Moonrise Kingdom; The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Moneyball; Margaret; The Social Network; True Grit; Greenberg; It's Complicated;Fantastic Mr. Fox; Julie & Julia; Doubt; No Country for Old Men; There Will Be Blood; The Queen; Notes on a Scandal; Closer; Team America: World Police;School of Rock; The Hours; The Royal Tenenbaums; Zoolander; Sleepy Hollow; Wonder Boys; South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut; The Truman Show; In & Out;Ransom; The First Wives Club; Clueless; Nobody's Fool; The Firm; Searching for Bobby Fischer; Sister Act; The Addams Family. Theatre includes Hamlet; SevenGuitars; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; The Chairs; The Blue Room; Closer; Amy's View; Copenhagen; The Designated Mourner; The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?; Caroline, or Change; The Normal Heart; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Doubt; Faith Healer; The History Boys; Shining City; Stuff Happens; The Vertical Hour; The Year of Magical Thinking; Gypsy; God of Carnage; Fences; Jerusalem; The Motherf**ker With the Hat; The Book of Mormon; One Man, Two Guvnors; Death of a Salesman; The Testament of Mary; Betrayal; A Raisin in the Sun; This Is Our Youth; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; A Delicate Balance; Fish in the Dark; The Audience; The Iceman Cometh; Skylight.

COLUMBIA LIVE STAGE/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services, and technologies.

Prep for GROUNDHOG DAY's Broadway debut by watching Minchin perform one of the tunes from the show -- "Seeing You" -- in Sydney, plus the trailer for the 1993 film!