Broadway-Bound Groundhog Day, Ralph Fiennes & More Set for Matthew Warchus' First Old Vic Season

The rumors were true and the Broadway-bound Groundhog Day will receive its world premiere at London’s Old Vic Theatre. The production will be part of incoming artistic director Matthew Warchus' first season and will open in 2016. Ralph Fiennes will also headline Ibsen’s The Master Builder, as previously speculated. Dates have not yet been set for either production.

The season will kick off on September 1 with Tamsin Oglesby’s Future Conditional, starring comedian Rob Brydon and 23 young performers. Opening night will be on September 10. This will be followed by a revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape. Directed by Richard Jones, performances will begin on October 17 and officially open on October 29. There will be a Christmas show based on Dr. Seuss' The Lorax; previews will start on December 2 with opening night scheduled for December 15.

Along with Groundhog Day and The Master Builder, other productions without announced timings include Timothy Spall leading Harold Pinter's The Caretaker, a dance thriller version of Jekyll and Hyde by choreographer Drew McOnie and Rise, directed by Alexander Ferris. Old Vic "Variety Nights" will also take place on Sundays.

Subsequent seasons are set to include a revival of Yasmina Reza's 1990s hit Art, a 50th-anniversary production of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and the musical adaptation of Pride, the Warchus-directed film about an alliance between gay activists and striking Welsh coal miners in the 1980s.

Warchus plans for some productions to transfer to West End theaters and Broadway in partnership with commercial producers Scott Rudin and Sonia Friedman.