Posted by Ted Rounsaville, General Manager--Though this picture does it ZERO justice, our first production meeting for Coraline was the perfect way to wrap up our weeklong workshop. During the workshop, everyone came together to tweak the music, script, and staging of the show, as we all head off toward our first performance on May 7. Listening to an artistic team describe their initial design is one of my favorite parts of the production process, but this Coraline meeting was even better than usual. Director Leigh Silverman, composer Stephin Merritt, playwright/performer David Greenspan, set designer Christine Jones, costume designer Anita Yavich, and lighting designer Ben Stanton have created such a unique artistic universe that it's startling at times. The concept of an altered, dangerous version of reality (jumping from Neil Gaiman’s brilliant book) is given truly expert treatment in the proposed designs. Don't want to spoil anything, but, highlights include pianos that have been chopped up, shrunken, or modified in the extreme; puppet versions of Scottish highland terriers made from Slinkys; and rats with shining, red LED eyes. This is going to be a fun musical to work on.
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