Producing team wins rights to stage 'Rear Window'

New York - A production team has won the rights to turn Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 thriller "Rear Window" into a play. The film was adapted from Cornell Goodrich's 1942 short story "It Had To Be Murder."

On Wednesday morning, producer Charlie Lyons, director Jay Russell, and actor Tim Guinee, announced that after two years, the rights to turn Rear Window, which starred Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, into an on-stage play are finally theirs, The AP reports. They are hoping for a successful run of the production on Broadway. No dates, theaters, or cast have been set yet, but according to a recent poll on Broadway.com, Rear Window is one of the top three Hitchcock films fans would like to see adapted for the stage. Psycho topped the list with 27% of the vote. Rear Window came in second with 25%, and The Birds came in third with 10%. Sheldon Abend, Cornell Woolrich's literary agent purchased a copyright to It Had To Be Murder in 1971, The AP reports. According to Reuters, Abend also represented Woolrich's estate. Producers had sought the Broadway rights to the story for years, but this is the first stage option ever granted by Abend's trust. "This is a tremendously exciting project, "producer Charlie Lyon said according to Zap2It. "We are assembling a world class team of artists to bring to bring this timeless thriller to the stage." Woolrich's story is deliciously dark and edgy, and our plan is to bring it to the stage all over again,"director Jay Russell added according to Reuters.