About Me

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A long-time Toronto-area Actor and Singer, Jeff Madden is now focusing on Teaching acting and singing in the GTA. Jeff starred as "Frankie Valli" in both the Toronto and Australian productions of JERSEY BOYS, winning the DORA award for outstanding performance in a musical by a male actor. Jeff is busy back at school, getting his MEd at U of T's OISE.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

G'Day Mate!


Hello from sunny Sydney Australia!

My epic 27-hour journey is over, I'm totally unpacked, and I'm reasonably over the jet-lag (he says optimisticly). In other words, I'm ready to rock and roll. Which is good timing, since my first rehearsal for JERSEY BOYS, SYDNEY starts tomorrow morning. Which for you back home is sometime yesterday afternoon ... -ish. I think. But don't quote me.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Dodger Theatricals in New York and at Newtheatricals in Sydney who had a hand in giving me this opportunity. I am very blessed. Thank you all, very much.

As you can probably already tell, I'm super excited to be here. The city is so vibrant, the weather is amazing (sorry to you folks back home buried in the snow), and the locals are very welcoming. In fact, last night I had the chance to meet many members of the JB company at a roof-top bar just a few minutes walk away from the Sydney Harbour. Everyone was incredibly warm and welcoming to myself and to another new cast member joining the company here, Graham Fenton. They treated us like gold, and showed us that Aussie spirit.

A lot of you have wished me good luck and safe travels on Facebook and through email and I can't thank you enough for your kind sentiments. I think many of you are sending these wishes in light of the disasterous floods which have claimed the lives of nearly 20 people with more people still missing. However, I do want to point out to folks back home that these floods are happening at least 1000km away from Sydney, some to the North near Brisbane, and some to the South-West in Victoria. The recovery is going well, and it seems the water levels have stopped going up, which is a very good sign. In any case, Sydney has been spared, it seems. Knock on wood.

As for work, I'm excited to get back into the rehearsal hall. It's been almost five months since I've worked on JERSEY BOYS, with the closing of the Toronto production August 22, 2010. Although I played 'Frankie Valli' nearly 500 times, I'm sure it'll take a few weeks to get back into my body, due to the lenghty layoff. But, you never know, it could be sooner. Things can change pretty quickly in Jersey!

I'll be trying to write more frequently now that I'm Down Under. I may start using Twitter a bit more often too, so if you're interested, check it out. And Facebook seems to be the preferred way for everyone to keep in the loop. And of course, my website is another option. It's fun to keep connected to everyone back home!

Alright - till next time.