London critics fall for ‘Groundhog Day’ musical

LONDON (AP) – “Groundhog Day” is back, this time on stage. Is it deja vu, or something new? A musical based on the 1993 movie about a jaded weatherman forced to live the same day over and over has opened at London’s Old Vic Theatre. Critics were largely enthusiastic Wednesday, praising the show’s zany fun and dynamic theatricality, and hailing star Andy Karl as a worthy successor to the movie’s leading man, Bill Murray. Ann Treneman in The Times of London said the show “manages to couple laugh-out-loud British humor with American razzmatazz.” The Guardian’s Michael Billington found it “fantastically smart, clever and witty,” though he said “it left my heart untouched.” Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph called the show “an instant classic … equal to, and perhaps better than, the movie.”