Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Rear Window is being adapted for the stage, with Kevin Bacon in the lead role.
The textbook example (literally, it’s in all the textbooks) of Hollywood’s “male gaze” phenomenon is making a resurgence, with Tony winner Darko Tresnjak (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder) directing from a script by Keith Reddin.
Rear Window, released in 1954, was in turn based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich. It follows the wheelchair-bound photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies (James Stewart) as he sits in his apartment, looking at his neighbors through a pair of binoculars, and witnesses what he believes is a murder.
As Jeff himself can’t investigate the crime, he enlists the help of his high society fashion-consultant girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) and his visiting nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter). Jeff thus exists as an observer of the action, and in a groundbreaking move on Hitchcock’s part, the actual plot of the film takes place across the street, and we — like Jeff — only get to witness it through the binoculars.
That is certainly a great opportunity for the stage!
Related: Frozen Broadway musical has “about a dozen” new songs
Rear Window is generally considered one of Hitchcock’s highest-rated and/or best-known films, only superseded by Vertigo, The Birds and Psycho. The stage adaptation, which The Hollywood Reporter speculates is Broadway-bound, is sure to be a hit with classic film lovers.
Especially because it has attracted seasoned actor Kevin Bacon to step into Stewart’s shoes; Bacon most recently starred in The Following, but is probably best known for six degrees his earlier work, which includes Footloose, Apollo 13 and A Few Good Men.
The play will initially run at the Hartford Stage in Connecticut, from October 22 to November 15.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.