'Somewhere in Time' Headed to the Stage

Variety reports that Ken Davenport, producer of Altar Boyz and Awesome 80s Prom has aquired the stage rights to 'Somewhere in Time.' The novel, by Richard Matheson was originally released in 1975 as 'Bid Time Return' and was filmed in 1980 as 'Somewhere in Time' starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. The novel was then re-released under the new name.

Matheson will be involved with the stage production as well, writing the show's book. At this time, a composer and a lyricist have not been announced.

An Amazon.com plot description describes the film's story as "Young writer Richard Collier is met on the opening night of his first play by an old lady who begs him to "Come back to me". Mystified, he tries to find out about her, and learns that she is a famous stage actress from the early 1900s, Elise McKenna. Becoming more and more obsessed with her, he manages, by self hypnosis, to travel back in time where he meets her. They fall in love, a matching that is not appreciated by her manager. Can their love outlast the immense problems caused by their "time" difference? And can Richard remain in a time that is not his?"

Matheson's novels include Someone is Bleeding (1953), Fury on Sunday (1953), I Am Legend (1954), The Shrinking Man (1956), A Stir of Echoes (1958), Ride the Nightmare (1959), The Beardless Warriors (1960), Hell House (1971), Bid Time Return (1975), What Dreams May Come (1978), Earthbound (1982), Journal of the Gun Years (1991), The Gunfight (1993), 7 Steps to Midnight (1993), Shadow on the Sun (1994), Now You See It... (1995), The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickock (1996), Hunted Past Reason (2002).

As a writer, Matheson also contributed numerous episodes for the TV Series The Twilight Zone, and wrote the script for Steven Spielberg's TV movie Duel. He's had multiple novels turned into films including What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Somewhere in Time, and Hell House.