Grisham’s ‘A Time to Kill’ to get its time on Broadway

NEW YORK – John Grisham’s first novel, which was made into a star-filled film, is now heading to a Broadway stage.

Producers said Tuesday that an adaptation of “A Time to Kill” will begin performances at the John Golden Theatre this fall. An earlier version was staged at Washington’s Arena Stage in 2011.

“A Time to Kill” was Grisham’s first novel, and it was made into a 1996 movie starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s a courtroom thriller set in Mississippi that centers on a white lawyer defending a black father who has killed the man who raped his young daughter.

The task of boiling down the book’s 600-plus pages to two acts was handed to Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes, who wrote “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and “Curtains.”

No cast was announced. In Washington, Broadway actor Sebastian Arcelus, who has appeared mostly in musicals, played the defense attorney that McConaughey portrayed in the film. Ethan McSweeny, who directed “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man,” will once again direct, as he did at Arena Stage.

This is the first theatrical adaptation of a Grisham novel after a series of hit movies made from his legal thrillers, including “The Pelican Brief,” “The Firm” and others.

Grisham had long had a hunch that his novel might work as a play, and in 2009 producer Daryl Roth, who has produced seven Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, agreed, optioning the rights for the book.

Another little piece of a legend

The boozy, bluesy, hot-mama howl of Janis Joplin is heading to Broadway.

Producers said Wednesday that the musical “A Night With Janis Joplin” starring Mary Bridget Davies as the iconic singer will start previews at the Lyceum Theatre on Sept. 20.

The show, written and directed by Randy Johnson, has a live onstage band and features Joplin hits and classic songs such as “Piece of My Heart,” “Mercedes Benz,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Ball and Chain” and “Summertime.”

The show has already been staged at Portland Center Stage in Oregon; the Cleveland Play House; Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.; the Pasadena Playhouse in California; and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

Davies, who was raised in Cleveland, first won the role in 2005 after beating 150 actresses. She has appeared in the musical revue “It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues” and another Joplin musical, “Love, Janis.” She has toured with Joplin’s band, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and has released the album “Wanna Feel Somethin.’ ”

Joplin rose to fame during San Francisco’s 1967 “Summer of Love,” gaining acclaim when she performed her version of blues singer Big Mama Thornton’s “Ball and Chain” at the Monterey International Pop Festival. She died of a heroin overdose in Hollywood in 1970.