Musical Adaptation of Somewhere in Time in the Works

Producer Ken Davenport will join novelist/screenwriter Richard Matheson to write the book for a musical adaptation of Matheson’s time travel novel-turned-feature film Somewhere in Time. Canadian composer Leslie Arden (The House of Martin Guerre) will write the score, and Stafford Arima (Altar Boyz, Tin Pan Alley Rag) has signed on to direct. No timetable, casting or theater has been set.

Somewhere in Time is based on Matheson’s 1975 novel Bid Time Return, which he adapted for the screen as Somewhere in Time, a romance starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer. The story of a playwright who falls in love with the portrait of a young actress and hypnotizes himself to go back in time to meet her, the movie was dismissed by critics when it was released in 1980 but has since become a cult favorite.

According to Variety, Matheson had been working on a musical adaptation of Somewhere in Time when he was approached for the rights by Davenport, who will produce as well as collaborate on the book. Davenport told the paper that he envisions the show as a medium-sized Broadway musical.