A stage musical adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is coming to the U.K. next year, the Guardian reports.
Gaiman’s children’s novella, published in 2002 by HarperCollins, follows an 11-year-old girl who moves into a new home with her family and discovers a bizarre and unsettling parallel universe behind a mysterious door. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on.”
The novella quickly became a hit with young readers and formed the basis for a 2009 stop-motion animation film, directed by Henry Selick, that was nominated for an Academy Award. It was previously adapted into a musical by playwright David Greenspan and Magnetic Fields singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt.
The new musical features a book by Zinnie Harris (How To Hold Your Breath) and music and lyrics by Louis Barabbas of the rock-swing band the Bedlam Six. James Brining will direct the musical, which will play in the cities of Leeds, Edinburgh, Birmingham, and Manchester starting on April 11, 2025.
“At its core, the story is about working out how to be brave,” Harris told the Guardian. “It is a powerful message. We see this little girl having to take on an extraordinary adversary, who is psychologically as well as physically intimidating, and she has to dig deep into her core to find a way through.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
