A stage adaptation of “A Time to Kill,†John Grisham’s legal thriller about a young white lawyer defending a black man for a revenge murder in Mississippi, will open on Broadway in the fall, the producers announced on Tuesday.
The play is the first adaptation of a novel by the best-selling Mr. Grisham for the theater; the writer is Rupert Holmes, a Tony Award winner for best book and best score for “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.†The novel was previously made into a 1996 film starring Matthew McConaughey and Samuel L. Jackson.
The play’s producers, Daryl Roth and Eva Price, have indicated in investment documents that the show will cost $3.6 million on Broadway. Casting will be announced soon; in the world premiere production of the play in 2011 at Arena Stage in Washington D.C, the theater actor Sebastian Arcelus (“Elfâ€) played the lawyer.
That production received mixed reviews. The play will begin preview performances on Sept. 28 at the Golden Theater and open on Oct. 20. The director will be Ethan McSweeny (the 2000 Broadway revival of “Gore Vidal’s The Best Manâ€), who staged the play at Arena.
