The production, which made its world premiere at Hartford Stage in October 2015, was helmed by the theatre's Tony Award-winning artistic director, Darko Tresnjak.
The play is based on the same short story—Rear Window by Cornell Woolrich—that inspired the Alfred Hitchcock film, a 1954 Academy Award nominee. According to Hartford press notes, the play “is the classic story of a man confined to his apartment who thinks he may have witnessed a murder in a nearby building.”
Tresnjak told the Times, “I grew up reading Cornell Woolrich…. We went back to the story.” When asked about the differences between the film and stage versions, the director explained, “There is no Grace Kelly character, and the character in the wheelchair is a completely different creation. There’s an implication of mental illness, and he’s not completely sure what he saw. Also, he has an object of desire, but it’s another man.”
Broadway producers Charlie Lyons, Jay Russell, and Jeff Steen are attached to the production, which they presented in a special arrangement with Hartford Stage. The producers had no additional comment for Playbill.com. (Hartford Stage is also where the Tony-winning musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder had its debut.)
The cast of Rear Window was headed by stage and screen star Kevin Bacon, who played Hal Jeffries, with McKinley Belcher III as Sam, Melinda Page Hamilton as Mrs. Thorwald and Gloria, John Bedford Lloyd as Boyne, Robert Stanton as Thorwald and nine ensemble members: Dan Bender, Erik Bloomquist, Ashley Croce, Roy Donnelly, Barbara Gallow, Jon Garrity, Caitlin Harrity, William Squier, and Quinn Warren.
Actor-writer Reddin has been seen on Broadway in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Play's the Thing, and A Taste of Honey. Tresnjak won his Tony for his direction of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
