Coraline Off Broadway
March 16, 2009
Via Monica Edinger's Twitter feed, I found out that Coraline has been made into a musical. It will premiere in New York in May, and tickets go on sale on March 23rd. Adapted from Neil Gaiman's spooky novel for kids and presented by the MCC Theatre, the show features music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt and a book (that's the spoken part) by David Greenspan. More details here. The movie version of Coraline came out last month, not long after Gaiman won the Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book. A picture book by the author, Blueberry Girl, recently hit the shelves, too. See this story at the Daily News.
Of particular interest to me is how 55 year-old Jayne Houdyshell will play the title character. Here's NYTimes feature on her: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/theater/08houd.html
Posted by: Monica Edinger | March 16, 2009 at 03:18 PM
Yeah, I noticed that they snagged a big name for this. That's cool. Monica, did you like the movie? I was entertained but found it somewhat heartless.
Posted by: Susan | March 16, 2009 at 07:11 PM
The movie was gorgeous, but I found Coraline rather petulant and really, really missed the book ending.
Posted by: Monica Edinger | March 16, 2009 at 09:59 PM
"Musical" and "Stephin Merritt" are words I never thought I'd hear together, but this is a good thing.
"Petulant" is a good descriptor for the cinema-Coraline.
Jules
Posted by: Jules | March 18, 2009 at 10:04 AM