THEATRE REVIEW: "Sweeney Todd" at Moonlight Stage Productions

God, it’s good!:
Moonlight takes a stab (and a few slashes) at Sondheim in its dark and demonically-delightful season-closer 

By Donnie Matsuda

Just take one look at the publicity pictures for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and you can tell that Moonlight’s production, which plays at the outdoor amphitheatre now through October 6, will be unlike any stage version of the 1979 musical masterwork you’ve ever seen before.

That’s because director Steve Glaudini’s vision is one of a younger, creepier, and more internally angst-ridden barber who, filled with equal parts rage and revenge, keeps a tight lid on his emotions because he’s been beaten down by the injustices of his past (with both his wife Lucy and daughter Johanna wrongly taken away from him).  It is no surprise then, that he is easily bullied and manipulated by the much more strong-willed, pie-curious proprietor, Mrs. Lovett.  As kooky as she is ruthless, the maternal mastermind of this revival is harsher and more brazen than traditional interpretations and she can easily be summed up in three words: Helena Bonham Carter.  Yes, for his Moonlight staging, Glaudini takes his inspiration directly from the 2007 Tim Burton film, with both impressive and intriguing results.  

Robert J. Townsend as Sweeney (foreground) and Bets Malone as Mrs. Lovett (background).  Photo by Ken Jacques.

Based on a melodramatic play by Christopher Bond, Sweeney Todd is a musical thriller created by musician and lyricist Stephen Sondheim.  Sondheim, along with librettist Hugh Wheeler, adapted Bond’s play to tell the story of Benjamin Barker who returns to 19th century London after being banished to a far-off prison colony for fifteen years on a trumped-up charge.  When Barker (returning under the alias of Sweeney Todd) finds out that his wife has poisoned herself and that the corrupt judge who exiled him now has his daughter, Johanna, he becomes obsessed with seeking revenge on a town and on a world that has done him wrong.  With the help of his right hand woman, Mrs. Lovett, and his left hand razor, Sweeney becomes the consummate “demon barber,” as he slits the throats of unknowing customers and sends their bodies down the hatch to be ground up and baked into savory and sweet “meat” pies.  

Sweeney Todd has been touted as Sondheim’s “masterpiece among masterpieces.”  It originally opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980, winning both the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Olivier Award for Best New Musical.  In the many years since, it has been revived and awarded countless times, with its most recent London revival opening in 2004 and its most recent Broadway revival opening in 2005.  Both revivals were directed by John Doyle and employed a 10-person cast that played the score themselves on musical instruments they carried around the stage.  There have also been numerous opera house productions (including three New York City Opera runs in 1984, 1986, and 2004) as well as several concert stagings (most notably the Kelsey Grammer-Christine Baranski “Reprise!” concert version in LA and the George Hearn-Patti LuPone semi-staged concert version in NY and SF, the latter of which was immortalized on DVD).  And, of course, the 2007 Johnny Depp-Helena Bonham Carter film version which brought a sexier, more sultry version of Sweeney to mainstream audiences all across America.    

Randall Dodge as Judge Turpin and Jason W. Webb as Beadle Bamford.  Photo by Ken Jacques.

Thus, reviving such a masterpiece of American musical theatre is certainly not an easy task to pull off, but thankfully, Moonlight’s Glaudini has a lot of source material at his (ahem) “disposal” and he also has an ace cast of stage veterans who thoughtfully (ahem) “flesh out” all their creepy characters with ease.  At the helm of it all is golden-voiced, bass-baritone Robert J. Townsend as the throat-slitting barber, who manages to ignore many of the famous Sweeneys who have come before him (Len Cariou, Bob Gunton, George Hearn, Michael Cerveris, and Johnny Depp just to name a few), and instead, makes the role his own.  Looking as pale as a ghost with dark Gothic highlights, Townsend shows a softer side of Sweeney as he slowly pulls away the layers of protective armor to reveal the terribly tortured soul underneath it all.  Every bit his equal is the devilishly droll Bets Malone as the half-crazed, half-crude Mrs. Lovett.  When Malone takes the stage, she owns it and steals every single scene she is in.  Her spot-on solo, “By the Sea” is easily the best number in the entire production, and her brilliantly realized, tongue-in-cheek duet with Townsend, “A Little Priest,” is a close second.

As the two young lovers, Anthony Carillo shines as Anthony Hope and Joanna Holliman sings exquisitely as Johanna.  Together, they share some playful onstage chemistry that is only topped by the impressive timbre of their pitch-perfect pipes, which are elegantly showcased in “Johanna,” “Kiss Me,” and “Quartet.”  Randall Dodge lends a certain suaveness, rather than slime, as the detestable Judge Turpin and Jason W. Webb is a portly Beadle Bamford who is as foppish as he is conniving.  And the eager and dim-witted Tobias is played to perfection by a smooth-voiced Jordan Aragon.  In smaller roles, Jason Maddy is both entertaining and intriguing as the flamboyant Italian barber, Adolfo Pirelli, and Jessica Bernard as the Beggar Woman is appropriately frazzled and mentally fractured, as we see in an oddly pantomimed segment before her throat is finally slit. 

Joanna Holliman as Johanna and Anthony Carillo as Anthony Hope.  Photo by Ken Jacques.

The rest of the large ensemble cast (19 members in all) provides outstanding vocal support, and, singing gloriously together, they do more than justice to the intricate and magnificent harmonies interwoven throughout the thundering Sondheim score.  One does wish their staging could have been as seamless as their singing, however.  Instead, they scurry onstage for each group number, sing their verses straight to the audience, and then disperse as inelegantly as possible.  Not to mention, the overlapping nature of Sondheim’s lyrics make it virtually impossible for their individual lyrics to be understood (which would be the case no matter how good the sound or how perfect the diction), so they do end up sounding like a muddled mess throughout most of their numbers…but what a gorgeously harmonized mess they create!

While Glaudini’s characters borrow quite a bit from the film version, his technical elements are more in line with Hal Prince’s massively-scaled 1979 Broadway production.  The set designed and built by Citrus College is evocative and sparse with a large central cube that rotates to reveal the rooms within Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop and houses Sweeney’s barber stuff (including a fascinating hair-cutting and hair-raising “ejection chair”) up top.  Behind and around it are large stairs and scaffolds that constantly get moved about and framing it all is a large stationary backdrop that evokes an old-fashioned etching of a London street scene.  These scenic elements are eerily lit by Jean-Yves Tessier, while Chris Luessmann provides plenty of spooky sounds and shrill whistles in his bloodcurdling sound design.  And while most of the tattered costumes are rented from the Theatre Company in Upland, costume designer Renetta Lloyd provides some special and spiffy designs just for Mr. Todd and Mrs. Lovett.

Bets Malone and Robert J. Townsend.  Photo by Ken Jacques.

Last but certainly not least, Musical Director and Conductor Elan McMahan deserves major kudos for handling the complex Sondheim score with such power and panache.  McMahan and her lush 24-piece orchestra blast through the rich, angular harmonies of this, one of the most challenging scores in the musical theatre cannon, without missing a beat – or a note- and their full, collective effect is truly “to die for.”    

    

While Moonlight’s production may not necessarily be true to the spirit of the original Sweeney Todd, it remains a remarkable revival and one that will impress with its sheer vocal prowess, its edgier and more thrilling conceit, and its incredibly rich orchestrations.  Much like the sought-after meat pies that emerge in Act Two, this Sweeney Todd is an acquired taste, filled with savory bits and satisfying songs that will no doubt leave you wanting more.  

Things to know before you go: Sweeney Todd plays at Moonlight Stage Production’s Amphitheatre through October 6, 2012.  Running time is 3 hours with a 15 minute intermission.  Performances are Wednesday through Sunday nights (no performances on October 3 and October 7).  Curtain is at 7:30pm.  Tickets are $15-$50.  For more information or to purchase tickets, call (760) 724-2110 or visit www.moonlightstage.com.

THEATRE NEWS: MOONLIGHT STAGE NAMES STEVEN GLAUDINI AS NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

VISTA, CA (September 2, 2012) – Moonlight Stage Productions announced today that Steven Glaudini has been named Artistic Director-Designate of the theatre effective October 1, 2012 and will assume the title of Artistic Director upon the retirement of Founder/Producing Artistic Director Kathy Brombacher on December 31, 2012.

Veteran director and actor Steve Glaudini, right, has been chosen as the new artistic director of Moonlight Stage Productions, replacing founding artistic director Kathy Brombacher, who will step down at the end of the year after leading the theater for more than 30 years.  Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle.

Commencing January 1, Glaudini assumes responsibility for the artistic direction of Moonlight Stage Productions’ 2013 summer season at the Moonlight Amphitheatre, and the 2014 winter season at the AVO Playhouse. Glaudini and Kathy Brombacher will collaborate on the programming of the upcoming 2013 AVO winter season. He will work in partnership with Daniel Kays, the theatre’s managing director, in the administration of the Moonlight’s productions and events which serve as the cultural arts program at the City of Vista. Glaudini and Kays will continue the collaboration between the theatre and its non-profit producing partner, the Moonlight Cultural Foundation. The Foundation raises funds through private donations, corporate sponsorships and special events. These funds greatly assist the City of Vista in its ability to provide a cultural arts program that serves nearly 60,000 audience members a year from throughout the region.

"I am humbled and honored to continue the legacy of Kathy Brombacher’s life work,” Steven Glaudini said. “Rest assured that the artistic traditions of the Moonlight will continue on and that I am excited to see where we can take this magnificent organization into the future and beyond. These are very exciting times as I think back to my long history with the Moonlight from actor to director and now Artistic Director Designate.  It is truly a full circle for me and I am deeply grateful."

“It has been the deepest privilege to have held the artistic leadership of the Moonlight Amphitheatre and Moonlight Stage Productions as it rose from community theatre status into the regional theatre institution which it has become,” remarked Producing Artistic Director Kathy Brombacher. “Moonlight  Stage Productions has in fact represented most of my life’s work; and with this passing of the artistic torch to Steven Glaudini,  I know without a doubt that the future of the theatre will be assured and the theatre’s legacy of achievements will be in the strong hands of a director and artistic leader who will nurture and grow all the aspects of the theatre.  I celebrate this new era of Moonlight Stage Productions!”

Pictured here are (left to right) Steven Glaudini, Kathy Brombacher and Managing Director Daniel Kays.  Photo by Ken Jacques.

The appointment of Steven Glaudini caps his nearly two-decade association with Moonlight Stage Productions when he first came to the theatre as an actor in 1996. Glaudini comes to Vista having served as Artistic Director/Producer of Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West, a producing company presenting five Broadway-style musicals a year. Prior to this, Glaudini worked as an Equity Agent for Kazarian, Spencer, Ruskin and Associates in Studio City where he represented a roster of more than 200 actors, submitting and booking performers in California, New York and the West End. From 1999-2005, Glaudini served as Executive Director/Producer of Performance Riverside in Riverside, CA where he produced a Broadway musical series and other attractions. Previously, he worked as Casting Director for the Walt Disney Company in Anaheim where he was responsible for casting more than 150 performers in addition to staging numerous special projects and Disney industrial shows.

As a stage director, he has directed many of Musical Theatre West’s critically-acclaimed productions including Monty Python’s Spamalot, Annie, Little Shop of Horrors, The Producers, All Shook Up, The Pajama Game, The Pirates of Penzance and others. As a freelance director, he has worked throughout Southern California staging The Producers for Cabrillo Music Theatre; and A Little Night Music, Company, Children of Eden, Sweet Charity, She Loves Me and Carousel for Performance Riverside.

Glaudini’s work as a stage director for Moonlight Stage Productions has been peppered with critical acclaim and awards. His musicals at the Moonlight Amphitheatre have included Hairspray (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Nomination for Best Director), Miss Saigon (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Nomination for Best Musical), Cats, Les Miserables (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for Best Director of a Musical), West Side Story (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for Outstanding Musical), Cabaret, and Children of Eden (2003 Robby Award for Best Director and Best Musical and Patté Award for Best Musical).

As an actor, Glaudini has performed a dozen roles at the Moonlight Amphitheatre and at the company’s winter season home the AVO Playhouse, including the productions of A Funny Thing…Forum, Ragtime, South Pacific, Carousel, Okahoma!, Peter Pan, and The Foreigner among others. His acting work elsewhere has drawn critical acclaim most notably for his portrayal of John Adams in two productions of 1776 winning an LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Backstage Garland Award.

Glaudini's appointment was announced from the Moonlight stage on 9/1. Pictured here are (left to right) Vista City Manager Patrick Johnson, President-Elect of the Moonlight Cultural Foundation Jane Mitchell, Vista Mayor Pro Tem Steve Gronke, Steven Glaudini, Kathy Brombacher, Daniel Kays, and Moonlight Cultural Foundation Executive Director Karen Gee.  Photo by Ken Jacques.

Glaudini is currently in rehearsal as director for Moonlight’s final show of the 2012 summer season, Sweeney Todd, opening on September 19.  

AN INTERVIEW WITH "THE SEANS" OF CYGNET THEATRE: SEAN MURRAY AND SEAN FANNING

A Tale of Two Seans

Cygnet Artistic Director Sean Murray and Scenic Designer Sean Fanning talk shop about their unique working relationship and their upcoming three show collaboration

By Donnie Matsuda

For the first time in Cygnet Theatre’s history, Artistic Director (and frequent director) Sean Murray and Scenic Designer Sean Fanning will be working together on three consecutive shows. Starting with Parade (which opens this weekend and is the largest show ever staged at Cygnet’s Old Town Theatre) and continuing with Dirty Blonde this Spring and Man of La Mancha this Summer, this dynamic duo will be incredibly busy melding their creative talents to bring each production’s distinct artistic vision to scenic life.

While Murray is in charge of his actors and Fanning is in charge of setting the scene for those actors, it is perhaps no surprise that these two work so seamlessly together, as their years of collaborating have resulted in a perfectly balanced relationship with Murray being the more free-spirited dreamer and Fanning being the more detail-oriented doer. Always pushing each other out of their “comfort zones,” this talented twosome has collaborated on some stunningly evocative designs and has mastered the art of telling edgy, highly stylized stories incredibly well.

Amid the buzz of Parade rehearsals, these two dedicated and down-to-earth theatre artists found time to sit down and answer my questions about their long-standing working relationship, their favorite artistic collaborations, and the stylistic challenges of designing Cygnet’s next three shows.

How did the two of you first meet? Can you remember the very first show you worked together on?

Fanning: I was in my second year as a design MFA at San Diego State University and I had not yet had a chance to really get involved in the San Diego theatre scene, other than university productions. Sean [Murray] had reached out to the SDSU Design Department to try and find a designer who could help him deliver the vision he had for Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker. At this time, the company was still operating at the Rolando Theatre, and on a vastly smaller scale than today.

Our first meetings were unlike any other meetings I’d had to date. I realized I was dealing with someone who was a set designer in his own right (at first, intimidating) but who still invited me to truly collaborate and explore without rigid boundaries. The set we created for The Matchmaker was really fun and simple. It was a series of Victorian picture frame portals and cupid adorned curtains, with 4 olio (roll) drops at back. Each drop was a colorful perspective image of a Victorian room from the play. We didn’t really have time to do much painting for the show, so we opted to have all the scenery printed and wallpapered to flats. I think it was the first time I had ever done printed scenery. I can remember now, how Sean [Murray] kept pushing for that richness of color and saturation - taking me out of the “safe” realm and into stylization.

Scenes from "The Matchmaker" directed by Sean Murray with set design by Sean Fanning. Photo courtesy of Sean Fanning Scenic Designs.

Murray: I was planning a production of The Matchmaker in our small space in Rolando and knew that to make the script fit into that theatre it would have to be staged in a non-traditional, theatrical way. I was looking at staging the show as old-fashioned olio acts with drop curtains and a toy-theatre feel and knew that this kind of look was something that I thought might be designed by someone with great paint and illustration skills. I approached Ralph Funicello at SDSU and he recommended Sean Fanning for the project. We met and I shared my thoughts and ideas about the show with Sean [Fanning] and let him run with them. He returned with some very fun overly large cherubs fawning over the proscenium arch and four Victorian roll drops in an illustrated gold frame. It was simple, playful and I loved the look it gave the show. The design then gave me new insights and ideas about how to fit the play into that space. So, it was reciprocal, my ideas inspiring his ideas which inspire new ideas etc.

Any sense of how many shows you have done together?

Fanning: Parade would mark our 12^th collaboration together over a 6 year span.

Thinking back to the shows you two have collaborated on, which one are you most proud of and why?

Fanning: That’s a hard one for me, we have done so many shows together that I’ve been proud of for different reasons. I was really proud of the way we used the space during Sweeney Todd & Cabaret - it totally reinvented our approach to designing in the Old Town Theatre. Little Shop of Horrors was a big undertaking because we were dealing with quite a few moving targets. I think a personal favorite has been The Norman Conquests, simply because we moved towards a more contemporary, abstract approach rather than anything representational. It felt very right for that play.

A scene from "The Norman Conquests" directed by Sean Murray and Francis Gercke with set design by Sean Fanning. Photo courtesy of Sean Fanning Scenic Designs.

Murray: Cabaret was a set that created an environment that both told the audience immediately upon entering the theatre what this show was going to be, without telling them more than we wanted to them to know about where it was going. This is important to me, that the setting or environment not be so detailed and nuanced that it tells the story on its own. For me, it is best that a setting creates the environment and the world of the play, but that there is something incomplete about it, something asking for more. That “more” is the actors. The set shouldn't tell the story - it should help the actors tell the story.

Cygnet Theatre's production of "Cabaret." Photo courtesy of Sean Fanning Scenic Designs.

So, some of my favorite sets with Sean [Fanning] have been those that are evocative, such as Sweeney Todd and Cabaret. My impulse is to go too simple and Sean [Fanning’s] might be to go with more detail and stuff and we find a way to pull each other out of our comfort zones to the place where it really ought to be - in the middle. An empty space with just the perfect amount of atmosphere and detail!

Deborah Gilmour Smyth and Sean Murray in Cygnet Theatre's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Photo courtesy of Daren Scott.

About your current collaboration on Parade: The musical is based on an incredibly complex and nuanced piece of history (the trial and lynching of Jewish factory owner Leo Frank who was accused of raping and murdering a thirteen-year-old employee) and touches on so many larger-than-life social issues including racism, classism, and religion.

Sean Murray, how did you go about doing your research for this show?

Murray: I read numerous books on the actual history of Leo Frank. I went to see productions of Parade in LA and London to experience how the show plays live for an audience. I do a lot of dreaming on how the show should move, how a particular show tells its story, and then I try to get out of the way and let it!

And Sean Fanning, Parade is rather cinematic in how it moves from scene to scene and involves a number of different locales. How do you translate that to the intimate confines of the Old Town Theatre?

Fanning: I should mention that the original design for the show had a gigantic back wall made of planks, with doors and windows in it. Upstage of that wall was a very impressionistic painting. During our process, we realized that the confinement of the wall was actually getting in the way of the filmic sort of storytelling - it was a true hindrance to the openness and movement that Sean [Murray] wanted.

The solution became “designing with an eraser.” We cut the gigantic wall, and left the painted background behind it. The stage felt doubly large and the staircases and landings seemed to take on a life of their own. The cinematic transitions became the duty of the lighting, of the placement of simple furniture pieces, and of Sean [Murray’s] ingenuity. The approach is one that I’d be happy to return to again and again. The impressionistic image on the back plaster wall of the set was inspired by the first ten minutes of the show, and the final ten minutes of the show, and intended to work for all the locations. I wanted its gesture to capture, in one stark image, romanticism, idealism, faded age, and ultimately, the darkness seething underneath the story.

Brandon Joel Maier (center) heads the cast of Cygnet Theatre's "Parade." Photo courtesy of Daren Scott.

What are you most excited about with regards to Dirty Blonde – from a director and a design perspective?

Fanning: I think Dirty Blonde is exciting because it presents a stylistic challenge we haven’t dealt with together yet. Rather than make the set large and expansive, Sean [Murray] and I are working together to reclaim the intimacy of the space. Additionally, we’re trying to find ways to capture the personalities of both Jo (the protagonist) and Mae West, the icon she so idolizes. So the set can’t really be a period piece about Mae West, it has to be a neutral sort of thing that encompasses both of them. The transitions are also extremely quick and filmic, so we’re looking for a powerful graphic way to indicate the change of locale without too much stuff.

Murray: Dirty Blonde is a tricky one because the set has to be many things, many locations, move like a film and accommodate two stories, not just one. The challenge we're finding is creating a cohesive look for the show that can do all of those things. It can't be a set that tells only Mae West's story or Jo's story - it has to be a specific but neutral enough environment to tell them both. Our impulses have been towards a look that screams Mae West, but I'm feeling that less is best. We want to let the actors do the work.

And last but not least, your third collaboration this year, Man of La Mancha.

Sean Murray, this is a work you are very familiar with having played the title role opposite Sandy Campbell in 2001 and again during Cygnet’s staged reading this past fall. How do you plan to make this staging new, fresh, and exciting?

Murray: This musical is all about storytelling and letting the audience create the locations and use their imaginations. It's one of the themes of the play. I want to, again, get out of the way of the audience and not provide them with a super realistic detail driven Spanish prison with drawbridge etc. We've seen that. I am wanting to work with a bare bones prison, almost like it's set in the bottom of a giant well. Smooth walls and a large bare floor. I would like to help the audience transport themselves from the prison environment into the world of Don Quixote and the Inn without that realistic prison in their way, so I’m looking at a Spanish prison environment that is both neutral and specific. Is there a theme emerging here?

Sean Murray and Sandy Campbell in North Coast Rep's 2001 production of "Man of La Mancha." Courtesy photo.

Sean Fanning, you have never designed Man of La Mancha before, is that correct? What are you most looking forward to in your design of the show?

Fanning: You are correct, I have never designed this production before. It excites me because I can come to it with sort of a “clean slate.” I am very familiar with the history of the piece, especially with the sort of set design that seems to be constantly used, re-used, and hinted at in many productions. Sean [Murray] and I have only had some early discussions about it, but what I’m looking forward to most is his unique take on the environment - that it should not be the same, romanticized Spanish Inquisition dungeon that we’ve seen over and over again. We’re looking to do something that has a somewhat stylistic, contemporary edge to it, a dimensional environment that only enhances the storytelling without whacking the audience over the head.

How would you two describe your working relationship?

Fanning: We’re friends who keep chatting on Facebook about new ideas. I think we feed off of each other’s enthusiasm and inspiration about a project so working together never seems to get old. I can’t remember the last time we actually sat down in a conference room and met - we just don’t work like that. Usually, we go out to a restaurant and talk excitedly with our mouths full about the next show. There is a very strong unspoken bond between us.

Sean [Murray] puts a lot of trust in me to follow through on our discussions in my own way. And I usually provide him with models of all the sets very much in advance of the rehearsal period because I know he loves to play with the models and get ideas about how he’s going to stage the show. We both operate very independently, but it’s surprising when we both reach the same conclusion about something, at the same time, before we’ve even spoken about it.

Murray: I love throwing abstracts and lots of imagery at Sean [Fanning] and delight in seeing what he brings back. He's very fast and clever, and sometimes, for both of us, we need to pay attention to our first impulses because we will explore and try variations, but we come back to our first impulse a lot. I enjoy pushing him out of his comfort zone to see what he comes up with. Sean [Fanning] is a dear friend as well as a collaborator, and I just enjoy being around him. And when we get together to shoot the stuff about the sets, it's great fun. I feed his enthusiasm and it feeds mine.

Sean Murray (above) and Sean Fanning (below). Courtesy photos.

Sean Murray, what do you like most about Sean Fanning’s work?

Murray: He is passionate about the entire project and that passion is contagious. He is very detail driven, but so open to re-thinking and adapting. His research is so exhaustive and the imagery he comes up with always seems to be exactly what I was seeing in my mind.

Sean Fanning, what do you like most about Sean Murray’s work?

Fanning: He’s an incredibly perceptive director, and very visual. I think he’s got great taste, and knowing this gives me a lot of security when we’ve agreed to a certain visual approach.

On some shows, he gives me a very rich visual concept that excites me as a designer, and on other shows, he wants to simplify, simplify, simplify. Sean [Murray] can reach in and find the heart of the story, without relying on anything but the actors and the words. To work with him as a set designer involves finding ways to help his innovativeness, and sometimes, to get out of the way!

Thanks Sean (and Sean!) for taking time to do this interview - we're all looking forward to your upcoming collaborations. For more information about Sean Murray and Cygnet Theatre, visit: http://www.cygnettheatre.com/. And for more information about Sean Fanning and his scenic designs, visit: http://seanfanningdesigns.com/.