Coraline: Jayne Houdyshell to play title role in new musical

MCC Theater in association with True Love Productions has announced that Jayne Houdyshell will play the title role in the world premiere of Coraline, joining the previously announced David Greenspan (Other Mother)

Coraline opens at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on 1 Jun 2009, following previews from 7 May and running through to 20 Jun 2009.

Houdyshell can currently be seen on Broadway playing 'Madam Morrile' in the Broadway productioin of 'Wicked.' She last appeared off-Broadway in Lincoln Center's Off-Broadway production of Paul Rudnick's comedy 'The New Century.' The actress made her Broadway debut when she played 'Ann' in Lisa Kron's comedy 'Well' (2006) for which she was nominated for the 2006 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Adapted from the terrifying children's book by Neil Gaiman (author of 'Sandman' and a 2009 winner of the s Newberry Award, the top award for children's literature), this tale of menace and mayhem is set to music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, with : libretto by downtown actor/playwright, David Greenspan, who serves double-duty as the villainous 'Other Mother.' The musical is to be directed by Leigh Silverman.

Poor bored Coraline. She's left to rattle 'round her perpetually distracted, workaholic parents' house all by her lonesome. But late one night, her dreams of a better reality come true as she opens a big, carved, wooden door at the far end of the drawing room and passes into a perfect replica of her own world. When she's greeted there by a vastly loving 'Other Mother' and a kindly 'Other Father,' she's thrilled! But as the rats start to creep from the floorboards, and the way home becomes increasingly unclear, Coraline begins to suspect that, perhaps, all is not as perfect as it seems�

"Coraline is a wildly unconventional musical and having the exquisite Jayne Houdyshell play the precocious nine-year old, gleefully defines the surprising and extraordinary spirit of the piece,"� says director Leigh Silverman.