Last night the New York production of Groundhog Day, for which Tim wrote the music and lyrics, opened at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway to joyful cheers and a full standing ovation.
The reviews are in, with praise flowing for all aspects of the production, but especially for leading man Andy Karl, who fought back from injury to play weatherman Phil Connors.
The New York Times (Critic’s Pick)
Ben Brantley hails that “A Star Is Born (and Born and Born)… Repetition is an art of infinite variety as it’s practiced by Andy Karl in ‘Groundhog Day’, the dizzyingly witty new musical from the creators of ‘Matilda’.”
“Mr. Karl is so outrageously inventive in ringing changes on the same old, same old, that you can’t wait for another (almost identical) day to dawn… Thanks to his character’s successive reincarnations, Mr. Karl is giving not one but many of the best performances of the season.”
“The insanely talented Mr. Minchin writes songs in many shades… undulating melodies and whip-smart lyrics tap into the brooding sides of the supporting characters, extending the reach of existential anxiety beyond Phil’s solipsism.”
Tim & fellow creatives Danny Rubin (Book) & Matthew Warchus (Director)
The Hollywood Reporter
David Rooney declares that “‘Groundhog Day’ is a delirious reinvention with its own defiantly unique personality, a relentless forward-backward spin that leaves you smiling, exhilarated and giddy.”
“Karl gives a musical-comedy performance of the highest caliber, sliding from self-centered insouciance into surprising open-heartedness, displaying a seemingly inexhaustible range of physical expressiveness along the way.”
“Madly entertaining… Worth repeating.”
New York Post
Johnny Oleksinski calls it “A miracle on Broadway… [Karl’s] performance — a suave, comic wonder… [in] songwriter Tim Minchin’s deliriously zany, yet touching show.” (more…)
The digital album can be pre-ordered from iTunes or Amazon internationally, for example, US Amazon and UK Amazon. Otherwise simply search your Amazon store.
If I Had My Time Again and Seeing You will download immediately on both iTunes and Amazon with Hope downloading immediately on Amazon only, at the moment.
The CD is available for pre-order from Broadway Records and Amazon (internationally).
Digital Release Date: April 21st
Physical Release Date: May 5th
Groundhog Day Broadway has its official Opening Night, on Monday, at the August Wilson Theatre in New York! Tickets and more information can be found on the Groundhog Day Broadway website.
Today, the Royal Shakespeare Company announced that Matilda The Musical will be touring the UK and Ireland in 2018-2019, opening first at Leicester Curve in March 2018. (It will continue to play, at the Cambridge Theatre, in London).
Tim said: “I – like millions of others – feel like Dahl is in my blood, because I grew up with his books. So to have contributed to a piece of work that brings one of his most famous stories to life is one of my life’s great joys. I’m utterly thrilled that audiences in cities all across the UK and Ireland will now share and be part of Matilda’s story.”
The dates announced, so far, for the RSC’s touring production of Matilda The Musical are:
Leicester Curve (5th March – 24th March, 2018) Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre (4th April – 28th April, 2018) Sunderland Empire (8th May – 2nd June, 2018) Milton Keynes Theatre (5th June – 30th June, 2018) Birmingham Hippodrome (3rd July – 8th September, 2018) Manchester Palace (18th September – 24th November, 2018) Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre (4th December – 12th January, 2019)
Matilda has a dedicated UK and Ireland tour page, including a tour map, to which further dates and venues will be added in due course.
Tickets for Leicester, Dublin, Sunderland, Milton Keynes, Manchester and Cardiff will go on sale on 26th April, following a priority booking period from 19th April. Tickets for Birmingham go on sale on 9th May, after a priority booking from 25th April. (more…)
Sporting a fetching Friar Tuck beard, Tim accepted the award on behalf of the UK company and the creative team. Most of the creatives – including director Matthew Warchus, book-writer Danny Rubin, and music supervisor Chris Nightingale – were unable to attend the ceremony, as they are in New York ahead of Groundhog Day’s Broadway opening next Monday!
The award will not be lonely on Tim’s mantelpiece; Matilda the Musical won Best New Musical in 2012.
Earlier in the evening, Andy Karl had won the Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Phil Connors. His award was accepted by Georgie Hagen (who played Nancy in the London production), as Andy is reprising his Phil in the Broadway version.
Tim performed ‘Hope’, a song from the show, backed by some of the cast of the Old Vic production and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
The ceremony will be broadcast on ITV on Tuesday 11th April from 8pm to 10pm BST and then available to view on the ITV Hub for 30 days. It will also be broadcast worldwide (ex-UK) at 8pm BST on Facebook Live. More details here.
Shortly after accepting the Best New Musical Olivier for Groundhog Day Photo by Darren Bell
Both songs are available on Spotify and to download now from iTunes.
The digital album can be pre-ordered from iTunes or Amazon internationally. Release dates and details here.
The CD is available for pre-order from Broadway Records and Amazon (internationally).
Groundhog Day is heading into its final week of previews at the August Wilson Theatre in New York. Opening Night is on April 17th. Tickets and more information can be found on the Groundhog Day Broadway website.
Today, Scholastic announced a global deal for a new magical picture book inspired by When I Grow Up, Tim’s hit song from the acclaimed and multi-award-winning Matilda the Musical.
The book will be illustrated by Steve Antony, an internationally published award-winning author and illustrator. It will imagine life from a child’s viewpoint, with all the humour and poignancy of the song.
Tim says: “I feel incredibly lucky to be able to lend my lyrics to a children’s book. I adore Steve’s work, and it’s been a thrill to watch him develop his gorgeous illustrations. I can’t wait to hold a copy in my hands.”
Steve says: “I feel so lucky and honoured to be working on such an exciting and unique picture book project with Tim and the team at Scholastic. Adapting Tim’s beautiful and emotive song into a visual narrative really is a dream job and has allowed me and my inner child to indulge in a world of imagination, fun, hope and possibility.”
‘When I Grow Up’ by Tim Minchin and Steve Antony will publish in the UK in October 2017.
The Olivier Awards are happening on Sunday April 9th at the Royal Albert Hall. It’ll be hosted by the wonderful Jason Manford, and will be broadcast on ITV and live-streamed on Facebook at 8pm on Tuesday 11th April.
The Old Vic production of our new musical, Groundhog Day, is nominated for 8 awards. Also, I am going to be performing a song from the show, backed by the awesome BBC Concert Orchestra and some of the cast of the Old Vic production. Can’t. Bloody. Wait.
There are lots of other performances. Details here.
In other Groundhoggy news… we are 2 weeks into previews at the August Wilson Theatre in New York and audiences are already growing. Here is the Groundhog Day Broadway site if you want tickets. We have our “Opening Night” on April 17th. Scary shit.
What’s more, the Broadway cast has just spent much of last week in the studio recording the show. You can preorder it here. It is – if nothing else – like nothing else you’ve heard.
Having been nominated in all twelve Music Theatre categories, last night Matilda The Musical in Australia won EIGHT Green Room Awards including Outstanding Music Theatre Production!
The Green Room Awards are Melbourne’s premier peer-presented, performing arts industry awards, recognising excellence across the Melbourne theatre industry.
The rest of the wins, across many other categories, are as follows:
Lighting Design – Hugh Vanstone Set Design – Rob Howell Costume Design – Rob Howell Sound Design – Simon Baker Music Direction/Supervision – Stephen Amos The Betty Pounder Award for Excellence in Choreography – Peter Darling Direction – Matthew Warchus
He will be joining Abigail Spencer and Ben Platt. Plus, there will be music from Take That.
US: CBS 12:37am/11:37pm C
If you miss it or prefer to watch it later, the full episode will appear online here and here.
UK:
It can be viewed in the UK a day later, on demand, on Sky (S2, ep 85) and therefore also on NOW TV.
Australia:
The programme airs at 11:35pm on Tuesday 21st March, on Channel ELEVEN and catchup should appear on Tenplay.
UPDATE: Video clips! Unfortunately they’re currently geo-blocked in Australia but they will be cleared now that the show has aired on your shores. So, it’s worth checking back later if you are unable to view them right now. UPDATE TWO: The first one is now available for Australians via Sunrise here.
The CD is available for pre-order from Broadway Records. Currently on sale at $12.99. They ship internationally for $10. (* Now available to pre-order from Amazon internationally too).
Or you can pre-order a digital copy from the various international iTunes stores.
It’s also available digitally from Amazon internationally, for example US Amazon and UK Amazon. Otherwise simply search your Amazon store.
Digital Release Date: April 21st, 2017
Physical Release Date: May 5th, 2017
UPDATE: Two songs are already available to listen to on Spotify and downloadable on iTunes: If I Had My Time Again and Seeing You. You can listen to both on Vevo here.
* The CD is now available for pre-order from Amazon internationally – release date 12th May, 2017.
The full album may not be up on Spotify and the like for some time and we’re still waiting to hear more about the availability of the CD internationally but we’ll further update this blog and/or announce as and when more information comes in.
They’ve been rehearsing over and over to prepare. Tonight, Groundhog Day Broadway performs for their New York audience for the first time!
To celebrate, they’ve announced that the Groundhog Day Musicalcast album will be available to pre-order from this Friday, March 17th, 2017, on iTunes and Amazon.
The album will be released digitally on April 14th and in stores May 5th. The recording is produced by Tim, Chris Nightingale and Michael Croiter.
Details about the general rush ticket policy and digital lottery are also available here in Playbill.
Tickets are available from www.groundhogdaymusical.com where you’ll also find more information about the show and full cast details etc, or you can take a look at an earlier blog here.
Come Home (Cardinal Pell) has been nominated for the 2017 APRA Song of the Year! This is the largest peer-voted music award in Australia.
Now in their 35th year, the APRA Music Awards acknowledge and celebrate artistic excellence in contemporary music, honouring songwriters and publishers that have achieved outstanding success in their fields.
Along with Tim and Come Home (Cardinal Pell) in the celebrated Song of the Year category, APRA members have voted for Amy Shark and M-Phazes for Adore, Julia Jacklin for Pool Party, D.D Dumbo for Satan and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for Skeleton Key.
Here’s Tim talking about the song upon hearing about the nomination:
The full list of awards and nominees can be found here and all of the Song of the Year nominee videos are here.
The 2017 APRA Music Awards will be held at the new International Convention Centre Grand Ballroom in Sydney, on Monday, 3rd April. (more…)
Groundhog Day received EIGHT Olivier Award nominations today, including Best New Musical!
The rest of the nominations were in the following categories:
Best Actor in a Musical – Andy Karl Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical – Andrew Langtree Best Theatre Choreographer – Peter Darling and Ellen Kane Best Lighting Design – Hugh Vanstone Best Costume Design – Rob Howell Best Set Design – Rob Howell Best Director – Matthew Warchus
The full list of awards and nominees can be found on the Olivier Awards website here.
The Olivier Awards are now in their 41st year and are the UK’s most prestigious theatre awards, recognising excellence in professional theatre in London.
The winners will be announced at a star-studded ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 9th April.
Congratulations to all the cast, crew and creatives!
Groundhog Day enjoyed a critically acclaimed limited run at The Old Vic and begins Broadway performances at the August Wilson Theatre, NYC, on March 16th, with opening night set for Monday, April 17th.
Composer and lyricist of musicals Groundhog Day and Matilda, Tim is also a pianist, singer, comedian, actor, and – until 2 days ago – a director.
Here’s a message from him:
Hi everyone.
I’ve recently been working in 3 different continents, missing my kids a lot, sleeping too little and not playing piano enough.
And then a couple of days ago, the animated film to which I’ve dedicated the last 4 years of my life was shut down by the new studio execs.
The only way I know how to deal with my impotent fury and sadness is to subject members of the public to the spectacle of me getting drunk and playing ballads.
I suspect I won’t be very funny, I won’t be doing any stand-up, and I might act a bit bitter and spoilt. On the upside, the tickets are as cheap as I could make them, and I might be tempted to buy a round.
Come and drink with me, my friends, and we’ll see what happens.
Love, Tim
Tim Minchin – Getting Drunk and Playing Ballads Feinstein’s/54 Below – 254 W 54TH ST. CELLAR, NYC 10019 Monday 6th March, 2017, at 9:30pm
The Broadway company is spending this weekend in the studio to start recording the new Groundhog Day album for release this spring. Whoop!
The album will be produced by Tim, Chris Nightingale and Michael Croiter.
Groundhog Day begins performances at the August Wilson Theatre, NYC, on March 16th, with opening night set for Monday, April 17th.
Tickets are available from www.groundhogdaymusical.com where you’ll also find more information about the show and full cast details etc, or you can take a look at an earlier blog here.
Masterworks Broadway and Broadway Records are partnering to release the Original Broadway Cast Album.
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