It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ again as ‘existential’ musical comedy returns to the London stage

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — “Groundhog Day” is back. Again. The story of a jaded weatherman fated to live the same day over and over began as a beloved movie, then became an award-winning stage musical. On Thursday it opens at London’s Old Vic Theatre, where it first ran seven years ago. For writer Danny Rubin, it’s the latest chapter in the three-decade journey of an idea that changed his life and added a new term to the dictionary. Olivier Award winner Andy Karl returns as weatherman Phil Connors, who wakes every morning to discover he’s still covering a weather-forecasting rodent in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Rubin says the story’s appeal lies in the fact that “it’s about a human being going through life’s journey.”