Mike Fleming

Rear Window BroadwayEXCLUSIVE: Producer Charlie Lyons and director Jay Russell, who’ve teamed on The Water Horse and Ladder 49, have partnered with Homeland actor Tim Guinee to bring the famed noir short story Rear Window (It Had To Be Murder) to the Broadway stage. The trio worked for two years to land theatrical stage rights to the 1942 story by Cornell Woolrich, which most famously was turned into the classic 1954 Alfred Hitchcock thriller. James Stewart played the wheelchair-bound photographer who spies on his neighbors and believes he has witnessed a murder from his window. Although Broadway rights in this story have been repeatedly sought over the years from the Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust and its predecessors, this is the first option ever granted. The deal was negotiated on behalf of the producers by APA and their attorneys Jackoway Tyreman.

Lyons and Russell have collaborated for over a decade on a variety of projects including the motion picture Ladder 49 with John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix. Guinee appeared in Ladder 49, where he met Lyons and Russell. Guinee currently is a regular on the new NBC series Revolution.

“This is a tremendously exciting project,” said Lyons. “We are assembling a world-class team of artists to bring this timeless thriller to the stage.” Russell adds, “Woolrich’s story is deliciously dark and edgy and our plan is to make it brand new all over again.”

Lyons’ current Broadway show Bring It On: The Musical has extended its run at the St. James Theatre through December 30.