Album Notes

There's no other way to put it. Dorian ROCKS. It's a rock musical based on Oscar Wilde's classic story, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Instead of following Wilde's story, however, which is set in Victorian England in the late 1800s, Canadian actor/musician, Ted Dykstra, and lyricist, Steve Mayoff, have created a modern version set in the late 1900s in the U.S. Dorian is an aspiring model with enormous talent and potential. Through a cruel twist of fate, his youthfully-exuberant wish for immortality is granted by changing places with a mesmerizing photo taken from one of his modeling sessions. While he stays the same, the picture changes with time. And he ends up paying the price.

If the world were a perfect place, there would be no need for this CD. As a brilliant piece of music and lyrics, Dorian would have long ago been produced to major acclaim and rave reviews. The world, however, isn't perfect. There are numerous pieces of work that for a variety of reasons never end up being promoted the way they should. In the pre-Internet days, these works would languish until some stroke of luck brought them to public attention. Today, these works can live on their own via the Net and be available to the people who not only find them, but also appreciate the major leap forward that this means to art and artists worldwide. For more details, go to www.dorianrocks.com. You'll discover that several of Canada's well-known musicians played key roles in Dorian, including Terry Hatty from The Guess Who, Damhnait Doyle, Melanie Doane, and Paul Hoffert, who was a founding member of Lighthouse.

Who's Behind Dorian

Dorian is the brainchild of two highly-talented Canadians: actor/musician Ted Dykstra and lyricist Steve Mayoff. Ted has had an eclectic career in Canadian theater as both an actor and director. His career has seen him play leading roles in every major theater in Canada and in dozens of movies and TV shows. He has won Dora Mavor Moore Awards for acting and producing as well as a Chalmers Award for writing. He is best-known for co-writing 2 Pianos, 4 Hands - one of the most successful Canadian plays ever produced - and performing it several hundred times across Canada, in New York, Washington's Kennedy Center and London's West End. Ted is a founding member of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company, and the proud father of two wonderful children, Theo and Rosie.

Steve Mayoff has written the lyrics for dozens of songs as a writing team with Ted Dykstra. In addition, Steve has collaborated with several other Canadian artists on stage and radio plays, and is the author of an award-winning book of short stories -- Fatted Calf Blues. The best way to understand Steve's talent is to download the lyrics for Dorian. They speak volumes for his abilities as a writer. You can also follow his work via his website: http://www.stevenmayoff.ca/. He presently lives in Prince Edward Island in the Canadian Maritimes with his wife, Thelma.