Tim Minchin Discusses Why GROUNDHOG DAY Failed to Find an Audience on Broadway

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Tim Minchin discussed the experience of bringing Groundhog Day to Broadway, and why he thinks the show, which was a hit in London, didn't succeed in New York.

“Broadway has a zero-sum. It can sustain at maximum two new hits, and if you come late in the season where Dear Evan Hanson and Come From Away have surprised everyone, partly because of some really good producing, throwing money [around]," said Minchin.

“And then you’ve got Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet [of 1812] in the same year trying to find its audience with Josh Groban at the centre. And you come in, you’re just f---ed. We come in with a slightly overly thoughtful, quite dark, dense, complex, untraditional musical, you can get all the five-star reviews and Tony nominations you like, you’re just f---ed. We just got unlucky.”

Groundhog Day began its journey at the Old Vic in London, where it was a hit, and returned for a second sold-out run last year. The show will be making its way to Melbourne beginning later this month with original star Andy Karl.

Minchin hopes Australian audiences have the same response as British audiences. “Australians got Matilda like the Brits did,” he says. “The dark and the light. And I feel the same way about Groundhog Day’s humour. Danny’s, which is this really hilarious Jewish American [sense of humour], he’s so funny. And then my slightly harder edge, slightly obsessed with death and sex. We worked very hard to make sure that felt seen.”

The Melbourne exclusive season of Groundhog Day The Musical, starring Andy Karl, will play at the Princess Theatre for a strictly limited season from January 24, 2024.

About Groundhog Day:

Based on the 1993 hit film and from the creatives behind Matilda The Musical (on stage and film), this Tony-nominated and Olivier Award-winning (Best New Musical, Best Actor) musical sensation took the US and UK by storm in an enchanting comedy-musical of a man trapped inside one day on repeat.

Phil Connors, a cynical Pittsburgh TV weatherman is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Caught in a time loop, he's forced to relive the same day again and again… and again, sending him on a often hilarious and sometimes moving path to enlightenment and redemption.

Australia's Tim Minchin AM reunited with Matilda The Musical's director Matthew Warchus who, together with the film's original writer, Danny Rubin, have created this gloriously joyful and heart-warming musical.

The production features Set and Costume by Rob Howell (Matilda The Musical, A Christmas Carol), Choreography by Lizzi Gee (Little Shop of Horrors, A Christmas Carol), Orchestration, Additional Music and Musical Supervision by Christopher Nightingale (A Christmas Carol, Matilda The Musical), Lighting by Hugh Vanstone (A Christmas Carol, Back to the Future), Sound by Simon Baker (A Christmas Carol, Girl from the North Country), Illusions by Paul Kieve (Matilda The Musical, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Video and Animation by Andrzej Goulding (Sylvia, Eureka Day), and additional Movement by Finn Caldwell (Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, Life of Pi).