Coraline.
Fantasy Opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Swiss first release.
Zurich Opera 2019/2020
Musical director Ann-Katrin Stöcker
Stage director Nina Russi
Set and costume design Stefan Rieckhoff
Video design Tieni Burkhalter
Light design Franck Evin
Dramaturgy Fabio Dietsche
Coraline Deanna Breiwick / Sandra Hamaoui
Mutter / Andermutter Irène Friedli
Vater / Andervater Robin Adams / Grant Doyle
Mister Bobo / Ander-Bobo Iain Milne / Spencer Lang
Miss Spink / Andere Miss Spink Sen Guo / Yuliia Zasimova
Miss Forcible / Andere Miss Forcible Liliana Nikiteanu / Katia Ledoux
Geisterkinder Céline Akçag, Emanuel Heitz, Yury Hadzetskyy
Philharmonia Zürich
Kinderstatisterie am Opernhaus Zürich
Photos © Herwig Prammer
Video recording available on request
What child doesn't sometimes dream of discovering a hidden door behind which a magical, completely different world opens up? Coraline Jones has just moved with her parents to an old, mysterious house. Mother and father Jones are very busy and hardly have time for their child. Coraline is therefore bored and begins to explore her new home. First she meets her neighbors, who are quite quirky: Mr. Bobo runs a chaotic mouse orchestra that he makes Coraline play. Two aging divas read the girl's future in tea leaves - and warn of great danger! Then Coraline discovers a mysterious door, gathers all her courage and crawls through. The Otherworld in which she lands seems very familiar to her at first glance: Actually, everything is just like at home. But Coraline's parents are suddenly terribly nice, cook delicious meals and are ready to fulfill her every wish. There is one condition, however: To stay here forever, Coraline would have to trade her eyes for two buttons....
This family opera by British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage is based on the story of the same name by Neil Gaiman, which has already been very successfully filmed. It tells the story of a brave girl whose unusual name shows that not everything is always as it seems. Coraline's fantastic and eerie experiences are reminiscent of literary classics such as Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland or E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Sandman and yet tell a very modern coming-of-age story: faced with her seductive "other" parents, Coraline must realize that in a world where all wishes are granted, she would lose not only her eyes but also her ego.
Press reviews
"Nina Russi's direction is clever (...). Russi wisely keeps the difference between "normal" and "otherworld" small. The uncanny thus seems rather subterranean. (...) The stage holds a few surprising transformations and is cleverly enlivened by the use of videos. This supports the clear and exact direction."
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Tobias Gerosa
"The performance is different from Henry Selick's cult film - and thrills the audience."
Tages-Anzeiger, Susanne Kübler
"CORALINE at Zurich Opera is a veritable fantasy opera with high notes and an equally high creepy factor."
St. Galler Tagblatt / Bündner Tagblatt, Anna Kardos
"The greatest achievement of this (...) opera house production is then this: That it does not imitate Selick's film, but has found its own images for the story. The young Swiss director Nina Russi has staged it and uses (...) even before the spectacular appearance of the running hand all the means that the theater offers. (...) And the audience, which has not made a sound for two hours, cheers."
Tages-Anzeiger, Susanne Kübler
