The Leadership
of Madison Lyric Stage
MARC DEATON
Artistic Director
Marc Deaton is the founder and Artistic Director of Madison Lyric Stage, serving as producer and director of many of the productions in its twelve-year history. Currently making his primary home in London, he continues to create and curate the many aspects of Madison Lyric Stage, bringing art to the Shoreline.
Mr. Deaton occupies a prominent place not only among today’s most distinctive dramatic tenors but also as a creative and successful stage director, teacher, playwright, producer and artistic director.
As a singer, he has appeared with leading opera companies and orchestras throughout the world, including: Vienna, Salzburg, Zurich, Berlin, Dresden, Paris, Barcelona, Augsburg, Munich, Mannheim, London, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, Sofia, New York, Bangkok, Hong Kong, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Santa Fe among others.
He has portrayed the leading tenor roles of Wagner and Strauss: Tristan, Siegfried, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Parsifal, Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Narraboth and Herodes in Salome and Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten.
He is also well-known for his portrayals of leading tenor roles in Samson et Dalila, Otello, Aïda, Turandot, Il Trovatore, Carmen and I Pagliacci; Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron, Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu, Reimann’s Die Gespenstersonate, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Peter Grimes, and The Rape of Lucretia, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and operettas such as Das Land des Lächelns and Eine Nacht in Venedig.
His concert repertoire is just as broad, ranging from classical to modern and comprising virtually all the great tenor parts in such works as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. He was the first man to perform the role at Vienna’s Schoenberg Center.
His recordings include the title role in Tristan und Isolde with the Bulgarian Festival Orchestra on Titanic Records; the October 2011 Centaur Records release of Marc Deaton WAGNER, a solo disc of Wagner excerpts recorded with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra; Calaf in Turandot with Bangkok Opera on DVD; and Stephen Suber’s Upon the Bank at Early Dawn on Centaur Records.
In addition to thirty years as an internationally renowned operatic tenor, Marc Deaton also brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as a stage director. Trained as an actor and director, Mr. Deaton appeared with the Utah Shakespeare Festival and performed key musical theatre roles including Che in Evita, Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Tony in West Side Story, and the title role in Candide, in European theatres such as Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Berlin, Bregenz, and Zurich.
Mr. Deaton is also a playwright, writing the libretto for Glen Cortese’s monodrama The Swan Knight; penning the one-man show We Lived only for the Music: Max Lorenz and the Third Reich; and his plays with music A Memory of Truth? in 2021 and Elegy of a Fallen Angel in 2023, both with music by Nathaniel Baker.
For more about Marc, go to his website marcdeaton.org
MARY MCCUE
Co-Executive Director
Soprano Mary McCue is an artist driven by bold repertoire and transformative storytelling. Equally committed to performance and leadership, she approaches the stage with a dramatic sensibility shaped by depth, discipline, and an unflinching connection to character.
Known for her fearless dramatic commitment and vocal power, most notably in her portrayal of the title role in Richard Strauss’s Elektra with Madison Lyric Stage. This landmark performance marked a culmination of years devoted to demanding dramatic repertoire and psychologically complex roles, establishing Ms. McCue as a compelling interpreter of high-stakes operatic storytelling.
Ms. McCue earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Connecticut in 2009, where she emerged early as a featured soloist in large-scale sacred works, including Requiem settings by Fauré, Mozart, Duruflé, and Brahms. Her international operatic work began in 2017 at Connecticut Lyric Opera’s Greve Opera Academy & Music Festival in Greve-in-Chianti, Italy, where she sang Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She went on to become a member of CLO’s Young Artist Program, performing roles such as First Lady in The Magic Flute, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, and appearing in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica.
While in Italy, Ms. McCue studied with legendary soprano Katia Ricciarelli and distinguished artists affiliated with the Opera di Firenze and the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, deepening her technical foundation and dramatic approach. Her operatic credits reflect stylistic breadth and dramatic range, including Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Tebaldo/Celestial Voice in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Eglé in Rameau’s Daphnis et Églé, and Bubikopf in Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis.
A core collaborator with Madison Lyric Stage, Ms. McCue has appeared in a wide range of productions, from Britten’s Curlew River to Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, where she portrayed Adolfo Pirelli. She was also featured in the company’s BroadwayWorld Connecticut Award–winning concert Climb Every Mountain: An Evening of Rodgers & Hammerstein. In addition to her operatic work, she has appeared as soprano soloist in Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G and Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Connecticut Virtuosi.
In September 2025, Ms. McCue was appointed Co-Executive Director of Madison Lyric Stage, continuing her artistic mission in a dual role that balances performance with leadership. Whether on stage or in administration, she is driven by a commitment to ambitious repertoire, emotional truth, and opera’s transformative power.
JOHN JOHMANN
Founding Executive Director
Director of Marketing & Development
John Johmann (Founding Executive Director; Director of Marketing & Development) is currently Head of Marketing & Communications with a major French bank and resides in London. He moved to the UK in 2025, following 10 successful years with the bank in New York. Prior to his current firm, John was with US investment bank J.P. Morgan for 14 years, where he held a variety of marketing and communications roles across several businesses in both New York and London.
He is a cum laude graduate of Columbia College in New York. He is the co-founder of Madison Lyric Stage. He is also on the Board of Brooklyn-based arts organization Theater 2020.
John has performed many roles with Madison Lyric Stage through the years, including Salieri in Amadeus, El Gallo in The Fantasticks, Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, Che in Evita, and the title role in Macbeth.