Coraline, the new musical featuring music by Stephin Merritt and based on the Neil Gaiman horror/children's book (which was recently made into an animated film unrelated to the theater piece), opens in previews tonight at the MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel in downtown New York City. The production, directed by Leigh Silverman, with the book by David Greenspan, begins its limited-engagement run June 1. Greenspan is also on board as an actor, playing the creepy Other Mother, and the 55-year-old, Tony-nominated actress Jayne Houdyshell, plays the 9-year-old titular heroine. For ticket information, visit mcctheater.org.

Merritt spoke with writer Alexis Soloski for an extensive article on the new work in the Village Voice. "It's odd that Merritt hasn't written a musical sooner," Soloski suggests. "He's adapted three Chinese operas in collaboration with director Chen Shi-zheng, yet Coraline represents his first more or less original musical. Since the earliest Magnetic Fields albums, critics have drawn comparisons between Merritt's songwriting and that of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin (after whom Merritt has named his Chihuahua). So it seemed only a matter of time before he would imitate those idols and write for the stage."

You can read all about the making of Coraline and why this material in particular proved to be just the right launching piece for Merritt's entrée into musical theatre, at villagevoice.com. Merritt also spoke with interviewer Aaron Grunfeld about the show in Metromix New York, which you can find on newyork.metromix.com.

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Merritt's participation in Coraline is also featured in a Wall Street Journal article about a larger spate of pop and rock musicians making forays into musical theatre, including Duncan Sheik, Green Day, U2, and, perhaps, even Bob Dylan, and how their involvement is influencing the genre itself. Read the article at online.wsj.com.