Broadway Shockers 2017: Bill Murray Sees Groundhog Day…Twice

As 2017 draws to a close, TheaterMania looks back on some of the most jaw-dropping stories of the year.

Though Groundhog Day, Tim Minchin and Danny Rubin's musical adaptation of Harold Ramis's popular 1993 comedy, officially opened in April, it wasn't until August 8 — during what turned out to be the show's penultimate month on Broadway — that Bill Murray, the star of the original film, finally saw the show for himself. Murray was reportedly left awed to tears by the experience, and he expressed his gratified feelings to the cast and crew members backstage after the performance . The real surprise, though, came the next evening, when he returned to the August Wilson Theatre for a second go-round with the musical. Once again, he met with the cast and crew, an event that was commemorated here. Alas, he didn't end up going a third straight evening in a row, which would arguably have made all the "life imitating art" jokes with which many greeted the news of Murray's second trip to Groundhog Day really stick.

— Groundhog Day (@Groundhogdaybwy) August 9, 2017