Theater News

Rupert Holmes’ Stage Adaptation of John Grisham’s A Time To Kill Will Play Broadway

The courtroom drama will begin performances September 28 at the John Golden Theatre.

Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes
(© David Gordon)

A Time to Kill, a Rupert Holmes new stage adaptation of John Grisham’s bestselling novel, will hit Broadway this fall, playing the John Golden Theatre beginning September 28. Ethan McSweeny directs the drama, which will officially open October 20. Daryl Roth and Eva Price produce the show’s Broadway production. Cast and creative team members will be announced in the near future.

The courtroom drama tells the emotionally charged story of a young idealistic lawyer defending a black man who took the law into his own hands following a crime committed against his young daughter. The trial, opposite the formidable district attorney, throws their small, racially divided Mississippi town into chaos. Grisham’s novel was first published in 1988 and was subsequently adapted for the screen, in a version that starred Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, and Kevin Spacey. Grisham is also the author of the novels The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, and The Client, among many others.

Holmes won 1986 Tony Awards for his musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He is also the author of the stage productions Say Goodnight, Gracie, Curtains, The Nutty Professor, and Robin and the 7 Hoods. As a songwriter, he is best known for his hit single “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” In New york, McSweeny has directed John Logan’s Never the Sinner, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Kate Fodor’s Rx and 100 Saints You Should Know.

A 2011 production of A Time to Kill at Arena Stage in Washington D.C., also directed by McSweeny, starred Sebastian Arcelus, Dion Graham, Rosie Benton, Erin Davie, and Brennan Brown.

Tickets for the Broadway outing will go on sale in early July.