Broadway-Bound GROUNDHOG DAY Headlines The Old Vic's 2015-16 Season; Lineup Announced!

The Associated Press has confirmed earlier rumors that the Broadway-bound GROUNDHOG DAY musical will debut at the Old Vic Theatre as part of Matthew Warchus' first season at the helm.

As previously reported, GROUNDHOG DAY is slated for a 2017 bow on the Great White Way, with Warchus aiming for several more West End and Broadway transfers during his first couple of seasons with the Old Vic.

Warchus, with 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. 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.

Warchus described GROUNDHOG DAY as "a show full of intellect, integrity and wit, insight, humor -- and of course romance."

In addition to directing GROUNDHOG DAY, Warchus will helm three more shows in the Old Vic's 2015-16 season. Launching his tenure will be FUTURE CONDITIONAL by Tamsin Oglesby, starring Rob Brydon and a company of young performers and centering on Britain's education system.

Eugene O'Neill's THE HAIRY APE, directed by Richard Jones, will be followed by a holiday show based on Dr. Seuss' THE LORAX.

Stage and screen vet Ralph Fiennes, as previously announced, will star in Henrik Ibsen's THE MASTER BUILDER, while Timothy Spall (known for his work in the HARRY POTTER films, SWEENEY TODD and more) will lead Harold Pinter's THE CARETAKER.

A "dance thriller" version of JEKYLL AND HYDE from choreographer Drew McOnie is also on the lineup, with Sunday variety shows throughout the year.

The AP also writes that future seasons will feature Yasmina Reza's ART, a 50th-anniversary staging of Tom Stoppard's ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD and a musical adaptation of Warchus' film PRIDE, which debuted last year.

MATTHEW WARCHUS, who will take over from Kevin Spacey as 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.

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