This fall, John Grisham's debut novel A TIME TO KILL, one of the most celebrated courtroom dramas of the last several decades, becomes the first in his iconic collection of legal dramas to be adapted for the Broadway stage.
A TIME TO KILL is the incendiary story of a Southern community torn in half by an unspeakable crime. As the shocking news hits the public, small town America becomes the center of a media storm, where innocence is the victim, race is on trial and lives hang in the balance.
Part courtroom drama, part suspense thriller, pure theatrical dynamite, A TIME TO KILL begins performances September 28 at the Golden Theatre.
'It was my first book and the first that I have allowed to be adapted for the theatre. Rupert Holmes did an excellent job of translating it from the page to the stage, and I am happy that not only my loyal readers, but a whole new audience, will be able to experience this story in live theatre.'
- John Grisham
as anyone who has stayed up late watching a Law & Order repeat knows, familiarity can be enormously reassuring. And Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) does an admirable job of condensing Grisham's 600-plus-page book, jettisoning entire subplots and characters (the wife of Jake, our defense lawyer hero, for instance) while emphasizing the story's dramatic highlights. Unfortunately, this also means that character development often gets short shrift. Ashley Williams' Boston-bred law student, who joins the defense team and has a brief flirtation with Jake, seems particularly sketchy... There isn't much subtlety in A Time To Kill - Lindsay Jones' overly intrusive underscore cues up at every dramatic moment - but it manages to convey a mostly satisfying sense of justice being served.
Playwright Rupert Holmes and director Ethan McSweeny have faithfully adapted the text for the stage. While McSweeney's use of a revolving stage, which allows the audience to view the courtroom setting from multiple perspectives, is quite effective, the overreliance on ominous sound effects is embarrassingly ridiculous...Sebastian Arcelus' performance as Brigance is less than interesting, but at least he pushes the plot forward and allows us to focus on the rest of the impressive ensemble cast, which includes John Douglas Thompson as Hailey, Tonya Pinkins as Hailey's wife, Ashley Williams as a smart law student with sex appeal, Tom Skerritt as an inebriated, older attorney, Patrick Page as the district attorney, and Fred Dalton Thompson as the judge.
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