There’s nothing like star power to rev up a box office — even during the dog days of summer.
Tuesday’s announcement that Kevin Bacon will star in the stage premiere of “Rear Window” at Hartford stage has ticket sales sizzling.
“It was our highest sales day in our 52-year history,” says marketing director David Henderson. “We expect to completely sell out the run in just a few days, and that will leave us holding nothing but seats for our education program with Capital Community College, seats for new subscribers, and contractual house seats.”
The play, based on Cornell Woolrich’s crime story that was the basis of the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, runs Oct. 22 to Nov. 15. Keith Reddin did the adaptation and the production, with commercial attachments, is staged by the theater’s artistic director Darko Tresnjak.
The story centers on a man confined to his apartment who thinks he might have witnessed a murder in a nearby building.
No other actors have been cast yet for the stage production, which is presented by special arrangement with producers Charlie Lyons, Jay Russell and Jeff Steen.
Bacon is a Golden Globe Award winner and Emmy Award nominee whose films include “A Few Good Men,” “Apollo 13,” “Footloose,” “Murder in the First,” “JFK,” “The Woodsman,” “X-Men: First Class,” “Sleepers” and “The River Wild.” This year’s films include “Cop Car” and the upcoming “Black Mass.”
His theater credits include “Forty Deuce (OBIE Award),” “Spike Heels” and the Broadway productions of “Slab Boys” and “An Almost Holy Picture.” Bacon lives in western Connecticut with his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick.
Information: 860-527-5151 and hartfordstage.org. Note: Due to renovations at the theater, sales are by phone and Internet only.
