Nyack, NY, will see the premiere of a new thriller by The Mystery of Edwin Drood author Rupert Holmes. The play, called Thumbs, will run at Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center in Nyack, NY, March 9-24.

Simon Jones has been cast in the production, according to a source. Also in talks is former daytime TV queen Kathie Lee Gifford. A call to the center was not immediately returned.

Holmes is best known in theatre circles as the composer and librettist of the Dickens adaptation, Edwin Drood, which ran for 608 performance on Broadway in the mid-80s. He followed that up with the thriller Accomplice, which had a brief run on Broadway, but has enjoyed a healthy life in summer stock and community theatres. Holmes is also, of course, the man who gave the world the number-one pop hit, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)."

The play concerns two women from different walks of life who come face to face with a (naturally) "devilishly clever" murderer.

Jones is a theatre veteran, with New York credits like Private Lives, Passion Play and Waiting in the Wings behind him. Gifford, meanwhile, is known to millions as the erstwhile daytime talk show partner of Regis Philbin. The Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center is located at 117 Main Street in Nyack. For reservations, call (845) 358-6333.

—By Robert Simonson