Making Those Dreams Real

Hello Everyone. A fantastic Friday to you all.

So much news to tell... let's get to it! TAKING THE WHEEL is now in my hands, and it looks fantastic! I picked the CDs up the other day in Toronto, and it was very surreal loading box after box into the back of my car... It hasn't really sunk in yet that the whole thing is finished, but that will probably change once I release it into the world this Sunday.

So... This coming Sunday, three days from now, I'm having my CD Release Party. It'll be a Listening party and a Garden party all at the same time. You're all invited. Come. Have some food, something to drink, and buy a CD. You won't regret it. In the garden at 234 Johnson St. in Niagara-on-the-Lake. 2pm-7pm. Drop in anytime.

How to buy it... If you can't attend Sunday, and you want to buy a CD (and who doesn't) you have options!
Option 1: Give me $20, and I give you a CD. Either in person, or thru the mail, whatever you like.
Option 2: Go to www.jeffmadden.ca, click the BUY CD icon on the left, follow the steps and order it online. $20 + shipping.
Option 3: Go to The Shaw Festival Theatre Shop, pay them $20 + tax.
Option 4: Wait a few weeks, and buy it digitally from PureTracks or iTunes. Pay by the song, or the whole album.
Just don't burn a copy for your friends. Tell them get one themselves!

Big Day... Sunday will be a big day. Not only will I have my CD Release Party, but the new cast recording of 'TRISTAN - THE MUSICAL' is also having its CD Release Party! We recorded this album in April 2006, and it's only surfacing now, just in time for the World Premiere of TRISTAN next month here at the Shaw. It'll be released at a 'Coffee Concert' featuring the Shaw's Blue Spruce Spring Quartet, who were featured heavily on TAKING THE WHEEL. At this concert, I'll be singing "One Face" from Tristan, which appears on both CDs! Come check it out - 11am Sunday June 24th, Festival Theatre Lobby.

Beautiful Set... In other Tristan news, we rehearsed on the set in the Courthouse this week for the first time. It is going to look stunning! It is so beautiful, even without lights and costumes. You're in for a treat... especially in ACT 2 during the Chopin/Wagner section. Breathtaking... (Did you know that most of our rehearsals take place in rehearsal halls away from the stage? We tape out the outline of our set onto the floor, and use rehearsal pieces instead of the actual props. This way, other shows can take place on the actual stage, as we do our work in another location.)

The COC... Next week, we're doing a 1-hour concert of Tristan at the Canadian Opera Company! That's right, on Friday June 29th at 12 noon, in the lobby of the new 4 Seasons Centre, we'll sing through most of the music from Tristan, with narration by Jackie Maxwell, the Shaw's Artistic Director. And, it's totally FREE. So, come down if you can.

And Finally... (as I'm sure your eyes are burning) a little news from Mack and Mabel. Today, we had the pleasure of meeting the legendary Broadway composer JERRY HERMAN himself. Aside from Mack and Mabel, he wrote Hello Dolly, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles. We met with him onstage after our curtain call, and he was so generous with his compliments, and seemed quite moved after seeing our show. I had a chance to shake his hand and thank him for making the trip. He is in his 80's and was quite sick earlier this spring, so we didn't think he'd be make it all the way up to Canada... but, there he was. A very special moment indeed.

OK everyone, that's it for me. Now it's your turn. Leave a comment for me. I love to read them. Just click the little COMMENT icon below, write your comment to me, click OTHER or ANONYMOUS, and click PUBLISH POST and your done. Until next time.

CD NEWS!!!

Hello Everyone!

The BIG news is ... my CD "TAKING THE WHEEL" is finished!!! It's being manufactured as I write this, and should be ready in a couple of weeks.

I am so relieved to finally be at this stage of the process. I'm like a little kid at Christmas, counting down the days until I can rip open my presents. And with any luck, you can all celebrate with at my big fat CD RELEASE LISTENING PARTY. Details will be coming soon...

The last week has been a flurry of activity, building up to my signing off on the project yesterday. Firstly, I made the decision to go ahead with all 14 songs. I love them all so much, and after spending so much time making each one shine I couldn't let any go! And, since I received the copyright licenses for the final two songs that day, I figured that was a sign.

Next, my producer Freddy Gabrsek and I made our final tweaks to the mixes of the songs. We've been working on these mixes part time for months! Once we were absolutely satisfied, we sent it off to be 'mastered' by my long-time friend and technical wizard Andrew Seok. He would work on the songs, and send the mastered tracks back to Freddy and I. We would listen together, make notes on Andrew's work, and send it back for some tweaks. This process continued until Tuesday morning when I was satisfied that the songs could not possibly sound any better.

In the mean time I had been in contact with my Graphic Designer Heidi at Indie Pool, the company responsible for manufacturing the CD. Over the last two weeks, I had sent her the documents that I wanted to include in the CD liner booklet, along with photos of me from a recent session I did with David Cooper, the Shaw's main photographer. I would stay up working into the wee hours of the morning, trying to get my ideas down, so that Heidi could do the work the next day. There I was, after a show of Mack and Mabel or rehearsal of Tristan (or both), at the computer while Christine and Sydney slept soundly. Heidi and I bantered back and forth about possible layouts and ideas, and between the two of us, we finally settled on a layout.

By Tuesday, her work was finished, and it is spectacular. And it's not just me saying that. Trevor, my agent at Indie Pool said he thinks the booklet design is the best he's ever seen Indie Pool do. And the boss himself stopped to stare at the printouts, raving about the quality of the photography and the overall design. I just hope the beauty of the music can match it!

As I walked out of Indie Pool after signing off on the work, I had a tremendously euphoric feeling, like I was floating down the driveway to my car. This project has been in gestation for 9 months, and at that moment, I felt like I was giving birth... spiritually... (I know, all the mothers out there are gonna let me have it)... but seriously, in two short weeks, I'm going to set my baby free into this world, and see what happens. Will it be a success? Or will it be flipping burgers for a living? Time will tell, but I think I know how it will turn out.

That's all the news that is fit to print at the moment. Check back really soon for information about the impending CD RELEASE LISTENING PARTY!!!

Until then, keep Taking the Wheel everybody.

Time Flies

I can't believe that it's been a few weeks since my last post. Time sure flew by while I was having fun.

The biggest news of the past few weeks is, of course, the official Opening of Mack and Mabel at the Shaw Festival Theatre. It truly was one of the most exciting nights in the theatre I've ever been involved with. Before the Overture had even finished, the sold-out house of 850+ burst into applause. Let me just say that this is not usual. From the very first scene, with Ben Campbell out there all by himself, you could feel the electricity in the air. Songs were cheered for. Every laugh landed. And the cast was calmly going through the paces, clipping along in a very controlled, but energetic manner. We were on. Act 1 was cheered to a close, only to be topped by the reactions for Act 2. It was with tremendous pride and joyful exuberance that we came out for our curtain calls - yes there were THREE bows that night. It's hard to describe just how good that made me feel.

In the next few days, virtually all the papers declared us a HIT, which made us feel even better, but only for knowing that even tired old grumpy theatre critics can enjoy a show every once in a while too. That week, 4 other shows opened as well, and each of them received excellent reviews. This the first time in my seven years here that all of the opening shows received such critical praise.

So, book your tickets soon, and don't miss out on a great season of theatre. (No, I don't get a cut of the action.)

What else... TRISTAN rehearsals began! Even doing 'table work' for Tristan is such a joy. Forget about the eventual production, we get paid to sit around a table and talk about Music and Art??? How great is that!!! The show is in great hands, has a great director and designers, will look and sound beautiful, and will likely break your heart. Bring tissues. Who could ask for anything more? Now that we're running Mack and Mabel about 4 times a week, we will have about 5 Tristan rehearsals each week, until about the end of June. Then we move into the theatre for "Tech rehearsals" prior to our first preview on July 12, the day before my birthday. (Get those cards in the mail now...) I'll fill you in on more Tristan dish as we go along.

What else... The CD!!! Is not done. (what else is new?) No, but seriously, it is sounding amazing. Final tweaks are being made (mostly to make me sound like Avril Lavigne), the design is well underway, and within a few days, the final step of mastering will begin. I guess we're looking at 4 weeks till it drops. That's music industry lingo for 'we ran out of money so it's as good as it's gonna get'. More news to come soon, I promise.

What else... SYDNEY is now 8 months old, and is now reading Rousseau. Never before has such a brilliant child lived. And, she's just signed a 7-figure deal with Gerber. Finally, Christine and I can buy that house we've always wanted. And in this town, you need 7-figures...

Enjoy the beautiful spring weather, and check back soon for another update.

Tiny Little Triumphs

Sometimes, you just need to step back, and celebrate the small accomplishments that occur along the way to bigger things.

For example, little Sydney now has 2 teeth poking through her gums, both on the bottom. This milestone was marked by some minor whining accompanied by biting of anything she could get her little hands on... including her Daddy's fingers. "YOWSA! What the hell - is that a tooth mark? ... Hey, way to go!" She's still number one in my books, even if there's lots of number 2's to clean up... ugh.

Mack and Mabel is still going strong. This is great, considering we're still 10 days from Opening Night. However, a weird thing is happening to me now... There is a tap number in the show -- I know, I know, I won't ruin it for you -- and by the time it's over, the stage is littered with tiny little beads from the tiny little beaded dresses worn by the tiny little dancers. When I come on for the next scene, somehow these beads end up embedding in the rubber soles of my shoes, so that by the end of the scene, I'm skating on glass. Well, for the second show in a row, I have slipped and nearly fallen on my ass, which as funny as it sounds, is tweaking my lower back a bit. Anyhoo, the costume folks are looking at changing my shoes, or at least the rubber soles, or as per my suggestion, removing the tiny little dresses from the dancers. We'll see what happens...

On the CD front, there's some good news. I had a photo session with David Cooper (Shaw photographer extraordinaire) the other day. The shots look great, and I think we've settled on a cover photo! (The photo above is NOT the cover photo - although this one is nice, it was taken at a recording session with my camera.) David took sooooo many good ones, and it's really difficult to settle on just one. But, there will be other photos included too, so we've got lots to play with.

Also, I got to hear 7 more tracks mixed by Freddy Gabrsek (Shaw sound-technician extraordinaire) bringing the total up to 10 of the 14 songs. They're all sounding REALLY good, and I am so pleased. We're almost there now, and after a couple more sessions to tweak things, we can move on to the mastering stage. I have lined up potential Mastering Technicians, but as it's not a done deal yet, I won't mention their names (but trust me, they're extraordinaire too...)

And, to top it all off, "Tristan" rehearsals start next week. I am SOOOOOOO looking forward to that show. Can't wait.

So, it's definitely exciting times right now. We're inching closer to the light at the end of this extremely long tunnel. And celebrating those tiny little triumphs along the way.

Have a good one, everybody.

Jeff
:)

Right from the start, you could tell today was going to be a great day. The brilliant morning sun shining through the cottage windows, the sweet smell of daffodils carried in the warm air... ah, it finally feels like Spring.

After breakfast and my morning coffee, I had a great talk with the folks at Indiepool about the manufacturing of my upcoming CD, "Taking The Wheel". We talked about the number of CDs to produce, the design of the CD liner, the mastering, the timeline ... all the details that still need to be done.

Then, I had a great meeting with photographer David Cooper. He and I knocked around details for shooting the photos for my CD liner and website, jeffmadden.ca. I am quite lucky to have David onboard. He is an incredible photographer, and has shot the program photos for Shaw Festival productions for years, as well as many other arts institutions across North America.

Then Christine and Sydney arrived from Oakville, and we all had a great lunch together before I ran to my preview of "Mack and Mabel". Yesterday, we played to an audience of about 80%, and it was great to have such a full house. Today, however, we had more like a 20% house, and at first it seemed like the show was going to be tough. But, to our surprise, this was one of our best audiences, always attentive, listening, laughing, and eventually giving us a standing ovation. It goes to show you, never judge a book by its cover.

Then, a fellow cast member and I were asked to take part in a post-show chat with a group of High School students from Barrie. They were a nice group of teenage girls, who asked some pretty interesting questions about the show, the rehearsal process, the audition process, etc. But, I have to hand it to their teachers, who no doubt had to convince their principal to give these girls the day off, drive them 230 kms to the Shaw to expose them to some world-class theatre, and hopefully have them learn something along the way. And, it felt great, knowing that I might have had a positive influence on a budding performer in this group. (Way to go, Madden, just what the world needs -- another actor!)

Then, after feeding and playing with Syndey for a bit, Christine and I enjoyed a lovely dinner of rainbow trout, wild rice and broccoli, with some 70% cocoa chocolate for dessert. And just as Sydney was getting tired and ready for bed, a beautiful pink sunset hung over the tree line to the west. A lovely end to a great day.

How was your day today? Do you find that you feel better when it's sunny and warm? Do you sometimes wish you could just pick up and move to Miami or LA or Hawaii? I'd love to hear...

Jeff
:)