Published in 1960, Harper Lee’s debut novel To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate and astonishing success. It won the Pulitzer Prize and quickly became a global phenomenon, with more than 50 million copies in print to date. Considered one of the great classics of modern American literature, the novel has never been out of print since its original publication 57 years ago.

Inspired by Lee’s own childhood in Alabama, To Kill a Mockingbird features one of literature’s towering symbols of integrity and righteousness in the character of Atticus Finch, based on Lee’s own father. The character of Scout, based on Lee herself, has come to define youthful innocence—and its inevitable loss—for generation after generation of readers around the world.

In a Library of Congress survey on books that have most affected people’s lives, To Kill a Mockingbird was second only to the Bible. In 1999, American librarians named it the “Best Novel of the Twentieth Century.” Now, for the first time ever, Harper Lee’s open-hearted dissection of justice and tolerance in the American South will be brought vividly to life on the Broadway stage.