It's Been A While

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

So much has happened lately that I haven’t written a word since our official “Media Opening”. At first, I was kind of avoiding acknowledging the whole thing. I will say this: It was a great night, in that the audience was very involved in the show, the cast was on top of our game, and we had a good party after. That's what every opening night should feel like.

As many of you know, I generally don’t read the reviews of shows I’m in. While I’m interested to learn the critical response in a general way, I find that the devil is in the details. I’ve learned the hard way. I’ve had the experience before when the tiniest little words or phrases from some review get stuck in my brain while I’m performing, making the scenes excruciating and ultimately less honest. Acting is hard enough with your own thoughts judging yourself as you go along, it's virtually impossible if you add other people's opinions on top.

So, suffice to say that I have not read them. I do however know that Jersey Boys was received very well, as this AD will attest. I’m very pleased, and I hope it makes lots of curious people out there buy tickets to come see us.
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LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE

In the time since, I’ve had the pleasure of watching my younger daughter Emily start walking. This must be one of the absolute highlights of parenthood – watching your little baby take their first steps. And I was home to see it!

The first day, she took two steps to me before realizing she was on her own, and didn’t like it. She sat down immediately, then spent the rest of the day crawling. The next day, she took two more steps, almost to see whether she still felt the same way about it. Turns out she did feel the same. Spend the rest of the day crawling.

Then, something clicked. Within a few days, she was walking about 15 steps across the room, unassisted. Amazing. Even Sydney got caught up in our joy, cheering her on. It was a special moment. And the other day, Sydney actually starting mimicking Emily’s awkward walking style, pretending to be just walking for the first time herself. Could this be yet another sign that Sydney is a budding performer?

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PROUD MARY'S

Well, there’s another cast change coming your way for Jersey Boys Toronto. For the rest of this week and most of next, our female swing Victoria Lamond will be playing Mary Delgado, Frankie Valli’s first wife. Jenny Lee Stern, who had been playing this role – brilliantly, I might add – is leaving the company. Her eventual replacement Jennifer Copping is rehearsing with us right now and will go on the first time Feb 13th. Should be exciting.

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AIR PLAY

This is pretty cool - Two different radio stations recently featured songs from my CD, “Taking The Wheel”. I’m always honoured when someone takes the time to play something from my CD. A few of you emailed saying you heard it live. Thanks for listening!

Last Saturday on AM 740, Michael Engelbert featured my recording of “What Is It About Her” from Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party, and David Yazbek’s “Man” from The Full Monty.

And the week before that on 103.9 Proud FM, Mark Andrew Lawrence featured the haunting “One Face” from Tristan, written by Paul Sportelli and Jay Turvey. Congrats, boys, on writing such an incredible song.