MAD ABOUT THE BOY Cast Album is Out Now!

The cast album for Chip Deffaa's hit gay musical, "Mad About the Boy," which broke box-office records at New York's historic 13th Street Repertory Theater, is out now.

The CD can be purchased from CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes, Footlight Records, etc. (For more info, or to buy a copy, click here: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/madabouttheboyii.)

A second "Mad About the Boy" cast album, featuring members of a festival production cast, will be released a month later.

Hailed as the quintessential gay musical, "Mad About the Boy" includes vintage gay numbers--written long before the modern gay-liberation movement--from the U.S.A., Germany, and England, plus high-spirited originals (like "I'm Crazy for my Baby in a Uniform") by ASCAP award-winner Deffaa, who conceived, wrote, and directed the show.

The album features 14 members of the original Off-Broadway company: Joris de Graaf, John Brady, Benjamin Grier, Cody Jordan, Katherine Paulsen, Luka Fric, Toby Russell Medlyn, Maite Uzal, Amanda Andrews, Shinice Hemmings, Michael Knowles, Al Roths, and Michael J. C. Anderson, plus choreographer/tap dancer Rayna Hirt Richard Danley is musical director.

Broadway veterans Terri White and Jon Peterson--who helped provide inspiration for the show--are featured on bonus tracks.

"Most people don't realize that there were songs dealing with same-sex love, 80 and 90 years ago," notes Deffaa. "It's great to hear these long-forgotten songs again, like 'B. D. Women's Blues,' and 'Sissyman Blues,' and 'When the Special Girlfriend.' And we've also got some wonderful works from modern times, such as Anthony Rapp's 'Just Some Guy,' which audiences always relished hearing Benjamin Grier sing, and Rick Crom's ebullient 'Lesbian Madness,' which our whole cast loves performing."

The cast includes members of Deffaa's theatrical family who have worked with him before in shows and/or on albums. Joris de Graaf, for example, was a star of Deffaa's musical comedy "Theater Boys," and is featured on the two-CD album "The Chip Deffaa Songbook." John Brady, Cody Jordan, Katherine Paulsen, and Amanda Andrews may be heard on such albums as "Irving Berlin Revisited," "Irving Berlin & Co.," "The Irving Berlin Songbook," "The Chip Deffaa Songbook," and the forthcoming "Irving Berlin Revisited." John Brady and Cody Jordan jointly won the Ray DeMattis Award for promising newcomers, for their work in the show. Rayna Hirt has a decade-long association with Deffaa as a performer, recording artist and choreographer. Deffaa comments: "I love this cast. There isn't a weak link. And I'm glad to have their work preserved."

Producer Edith O'Hara, the 100-year-old founder/artistic director of the 13th Street Repertory Theater, has given Deffaa carte blanche to develop his shows at her theater. Deffaa. who has mounted many productions at the 13th Street Rep--including "One Night with Fanny Brice," "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue," "Theater Boys," "Irving Berlin's America," and "Mad About the Boy"--is widely credited with sparking a Renaissance at the theater.

O'Hara commented, when Deffaa workshopped and mounted "Mad About the Boy" at her theater, that he couldn't have picked a more appropriate venue for the development of a gay musical, since she had produced the first hit gay musical in New York, Bill Solly's "Boy Meets Boy" (which helped launch the career of Richard-Jay Alexander, among others) at that very theater, some four decades earlier. The album includes a photo of the cast with O'Hara, who hopes the show will have a long, healthy future life.

Dennis Gleason and Peter Charney were assistant directors of the 13th Street Theater production; Tyler DuBoys and Matthew Nardozzi were assistants/consultants. Slau Halatyn served as recording engineer for the album. Frank Avellino handled overall graphic design. The cover artwork is by Howard Cruse, the internationally known creator of the comic strip "Wendel" and the graphic novel "Stuck Rubber Baby." The album is dedicated to the multi-talented Alex and Alec Deland ("Even I have trouble telling them apart," Deffaa says), for inspirational help.

Deffaa presented the first tryout production of "Mad About the Boy" at his Chip Deffaa Invitational Theater Festival on 42nd Street. Encouragement from theater pro's like Tommy Tune, and boosting from radio's Joey Reynolds convinced Deffaa to do more with the show, and he workshopped it at Roy Arias Studios and then at the 13th Street Rep. "I'm looking forward to doing more with the show. And we've got some wonderful young performers, just beginning to make names for themselves. The album should help get their names out there." Deffaa will follow the release of this 13th Street Theater cast album with--a month later--a second cast album of the show, featuring stars from his original festival production

For more information, or to pre-order a copy of the CD, please visit: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/madabouttheboyii

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