Smash-hit musical Groundhog Day The Musical will make its Australian premiere at Melbourne’s iconic Princess Theatre for an exclusive season in January 2024, thanks to support from the Allan Labor Government.
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos today joined the musical’s composer and lyricist Tim Minchin AM to announce the award-winning show in Melbourne for its first and only production outside London and New York.
Melbourne will be the first Australian city to stage the production following a record-breaking season earlier this year at London’s Old Vic Theatre, drawing visitors from near and far to the heart of Melbourne to enjoy this unmissable show.
Based on the popular 1993 comedy film, Groundhog Day The Musical has been artfully reinterpreted by the creative team behind Matilda The Musical, led by the popular Australian singer-songwriter Tim Minchin. It tells the story of a TV weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in a US town who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive the day over and over again.
The critically acclaimed production has been nominated for eight Olivier Awards, winning Best New Musical and Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Groundhog Day The Musical joins Melbourne’s enviable calendar of Australian premieres and exclusives secured by the Labor Government in recent years such as Beetlejuice, & Juliet, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – bringing more visitors, creating jobs and boosting hospitality, hotels and retail across Melbourne.
Total tourism expenditure in Victoria reached a record breaking high of $36.1 billion in the year ending June 2023, exceeding the Government’s 2024 tourism target more than a year ahead of schedule.
As stated by Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos
“Melbourne will be the only place people will be able to see Groundhog Day The Musical, and only the third city in the world to stage the production – a genuine coup for Australia’s theatre capital.”
“This Melbourne-exclusive experience will attract visitors from around the country and overseas, creating jobs and delivering significant economic benefits to the state.”
As stated by Tim Minchin AM, Composer and Lyricist Groundhog Day The Musical
“I have waited seven years for this moment! Groundhog Day The Musical, like Matilda The Musical, has a unique mixture of darkness and light, of head and heart, and of complexity and joy, and I’ve been convinced since its first iteration that Australians will love it!”
“I’m so excited that the run is going to be in Melbourne, the city I lived in when I wrote my break-out comedy shows, and the place where – when things weren’t going so well – I learned how important it is to find the beauty and hope in the day to day.”
