Moonlight Stage to Open Summer Season with SPAMALOT, 6/11-28

Moonlight Stage Productions and Artistic Director Steven Glaudini launch the 34th summer season with the hilarious Broadway musical Monty Python's SPAMALOT, presented for the first time at Moonlight, with performances from June 11 to 28. Single tickets are priced $15 to $52 and include price levels for student rush, military, senior, and family discounts. To purchase tickets or for more information, call (760) 724-2110or visit moonlightstage.com.

SPAMALOT is an outrageously goofy musical with an upbeat score by John Du Prez and Eric Idle and clever lyrics by Eric Idle, lovingly ripped off from the classic cult comedy film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Audiences everywhere are eating up SPAMALOT (rated PG), which pokes gentle fun at the legendary story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table on their quest for the Holy Grail, in the irreverent signature style of Monty Python. Flying cows, killer rabbits, taunting Frenchmen, and show-stopping musical numbers add up to one of the funniest Broadway musicals of the modern age. The 2005 Broadway production won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and received 14 Tony Award nominations. This Moonlight premiere will feature the original Broadway sets and costumes.

Kicking off a summer of stellar guest stars, Moonlight welcomes a San Diego theatre luminary, Sean Murray, in the lead role of King Arthur. The award-winning co-founder and artistic director of Cygnet Theatre in Old Town, Sean frequently directs and stars in plays and musicals. His performing credits include Man of La Mancha, My Fair Lady, and Sweeney Todd, among others. For his own company he has directed Spring Awakening, Company, Assassins, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, Parade (SD Critics' Award, Best Musical), A Little Night Music (SD Critics' Award, Best Director), Bed and Sofa (2004 SD Critics' Award, Best Director, Best Musical Revival), Pageant, Fully Committed, Arcadia, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In 2000, Sean was named one of San Diego Magazine's 50 People to Watch; in 2005, he was named Producer of the Year by the San Diego Critics' Circle.

Christine Hewitt returns to Moonlight as the Lady of the Lake. Audiences will remember her as Kim MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie in 1988. Her favorite roles include Lucy Mercer in Eleanor: An American Love Story at Ford's Theatre (D.C.), Sister Amnesia in Nunsense at Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain at North Carolina Theatre, Jan in Grease at Sacramento Music Circus, Young Sally in Follies at San Diego's Starlight Theatre, and Sunset Boulevard's first national tour.

In the role of Sir Lancelot, Michael Cusimano has acted in productions across SoCal, including playing Danny Zuko in Grease at the Cabrillo Music Theatre, some 20 roles at once in The 39 Steps at Glendale Center Theatre, Don't Dress for Dinner at International City Theatre, and, most recently, Metamorphoses at the Santa Barbara Ensemble Theatre. He will soon make his television debut on the show, Devil In The Details, on ID.

Moonlight regular Jamie Torcellini (Patsy) most recently delighted Moonlight audiences as Igor in Young Frankenstein. He has also been seen at Moonlight as Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl. His directing credits include Life Could Be a Dream at AVO Playhouse. On Broadway he has been seen in CATS (Mr. Mistoffelees), Little Johnny Jones, Me and My Girl, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Man of La Mancha, Beauty and the Beast, and in the original company of Billy Elliot. Jamie has performed regionally and on tour in George M!, Little Shop of Horrors, La Cage Aux Folles, Fiddler on the Roof, Crazy For You, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Where's Charley?, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and more than 15 productions of Me and My Girl. He has been seen on television and in film in Law and Order, ER, Mrs. Santa Claus, The Jamie Foxx Show, and Disney's Tarzan, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Aladdin. He also served as assistant choreographer on both Stuart Little films. He currently teaches Tap at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles.

Larry Raben returns to the Moonlight stage as Sir Robin, after appearing last summer as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Larry's first Mel Brooks musical was playing Leo Bloom in The Producers on Broadway and for the entire Las Vegas run. His recent roles include Man In Chair, The Drowsy Chaperone (Norris Theatre), Johnny Angel, SUDS (Coyote StageWorks), Patrick, The Andrews Brothers (MTW-Ovation Award), and Gilbert in the American premiere of Betty Blue Eyes (MTWichita). His favorite roles include Ensign Pulver in 'Mr. Roberts (The Old Globe Theatre), Robert in Boeing-Boeing (CSW), Ross in Bright Ideas (Laguna Playhouse), Forbidden Broadway (MTW), I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Off-Broadway & LA), Felix in The Odd Couple (Norris), Sparky in Forever Plaid (Off-Broadway original-LA Drama Critics Award), and as Sparky in Forever Plaid-The Movie on DVD. He is also the author of a recently published children's book, Ibby Makes A Wish, available at Amazon.com.

Danny Gurwin (Sir Galahad) has appeared at Moonlight as Cable in South Pacific and Jean Valjean in LES MISERABLES. His Broadway credits include Little Women, Urinetown, The Full Monty (also national tour), The Scarlet Pimpernel, Kismet (Encores!), A Little Night Music (New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Kennedy Center), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Off-Broadway he's been featured in Shakespeare's R & J, Forbidden Broadway, A New Brain, The Thing About Men, and many others. Los Angeles audiences have seen him in Little Shop of Horrors, I Left My Heart, and Once Upon A Mattress (2012 BroadwayWorld.com Award for Best Featured Actor in Los Angeles). On television he has been seen in Desperate Housewives, Law & Order, and The Young & The Restless. Danny won the Eddon Award for Best Male Cabaret Performer of 2013 for his concert evening Sail Me Away for Upright Cabaret. He is currently assistant professor of musical theatre at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

The cast also includes Bryan Banville as the Historian, making his Moonlight debut this season in Spamalot, Mary Poppins, and Catch Me If You Can. His other San Diego credits include Side by Side by Sondheim, Assassins, and Man of La Mancha at Cygnet Theatre; Anna Christie at The Old Globe; Mixtape at Lamb's Players Theatre; Plaid Tidings at New Village Arts; Passion at ion Theatre; and 42nd Street at the Coronado Playhouse. He competed as a Top 16 finalist on NBC's The Sing-Off with his a cappella group Extreme Measures. Bryan also performs at SeaWorld with the original cast of Madagascar LIVE!: Operation Vacation.

Also debuting is Andy Collins as Sir Bedevere. His San Diego credits include Company, Assassins, Cabaret, The Matchmaker, My Fair Lady, and Pageant at Cygnet Theatre); She-Rantulas From Outer Space in 3-D, Pippin, Twist, The Break Up Notebook, The Daddy Machine, Valhalla, Falsettos, Jeffrey, and The Rocky Horror Show at Diversionary Theatre; The Full Monty and Bye Bye Birdie at San Diego Musical Theatre; Parasite Drag, Gypsy, and Passion at ion Theatre; Guys & Dolls at Lamb's Players. Andy is a graduate of the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts and San Diego Junior Theatre.

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