American dramatist
Mark Janicello (born November 3, 1962, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American singer, actor, writer, producer and author. He is known for his work as an Elvis Presley impersonator after entering a Kentucky Fried Chicken competition. He has also created, wrote, and acted in "The Finellis Movie" which he then adapted into a musical.
Early life.
Mark Janicello was born on November 3, 1962, in New York. He attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, earning a Bachelor's degree in 1984.
Career.
Janicello began his career by singing in the subways of New York City in the mid-1980s as part of the MTA's Music Under New York program. In 1988, Janicello made his west coast debut playing Raoul de Gardefeu in the Opera at the Academy's co-production (with Long Beach Opera) of "La Vie parisienne" directed by Christopher Alden. In the late 1980s, Janicello began performing with the charitable foundation Music for All Seasons, singing in children's hospitals, prisons and old age homes.
In 1990, conductor Eve Queler heard Janicello and She subsequently engaged him to perform in Donizetti's "Roberto Devereux", with which he made his Carnegie Hall debut. Janicello also performed for two seasons with the comedic opera troupe La Gran Scena Opera. In 1996 Janicello sang the world-premiere of the opera "Nuit des Hommes" by Per Nørgård.
Janicello's first performance in an operetta was as Camille, Count de Rossillon in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Lehár's "Die lustige Witwe". He returned to "Die lustige Witwe" two more times, most notably in 2010 in Vienna, this time playing Count Danilo Danilovitsch with the Wiener Operettensommer. Other operetta roles have included among others, Orpheus in Orpheus in der Unterwelt and Alfred in "Die Fledermaus." In October 2012, he co-starred in the musical "Loving the Silent Tears", directed by Vincent Paterson, alongside Jody Watley, Jon Secada, Liz Callaway, Debbie Gravitte, Kiril Kulish, Flo Ankah and Patti Cohenour. He also appears on the musical's cast album. The Musical is based on the poetry of Supreme Master Ching Hai. In 2021, Janicello provided the German narration for the documentary film "Eating Our Way to Extinction", replacing Kate Winslet's English narration for German-speaking Europe.
The Elvis Presley decade.
In 1992, Janicello was approached by the Music Under New York program to enter the KFC Musical Feast competition representing New York City. The competition was a nationwide search sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken. Janicello created a performance where he first sang "Recondita armonia" from "Tosca", dressed as a rock singer, and then aided by a quick costume change would switch back and forth between the songs "It's Now or Never" and "O Sole Mio" (which share the same melody) while switching vocal and performance styles between "Elvis and Luciano Pavarotti". He won the competition and was awarded the $15,000.00 first prize by head judge Bo Diddley. Janicello appeared with Bo Diddley on NBC's "Today" show. Janicello was invited to join the International Opera Studio (IOS) of the Zurich Opera in 1994. Peter Reichenbach, Artistic Director of Cinemusic Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland asked him to perform as Elvis Presley with composer Ben Weisman at the first annual Cinemusic Festival in 1995. After performing with him in Gstaad, Weisman gave Janicello the unreleased Elvis song "Will You Still Be There." Janicello, together with Weisman recorded, released, and promoted the song in 1996 and 1997.
On the back of the release of "Will You Still Be There", Stadttheater Klagenfurt hired Janicello to play Elvis Presley in their 1997 production, "Elvis: A Musical Biography". The musical moved from Klagenfurt to In 2002, Janicello wrote a new musical about Presley's life, "ELVIS: Die Show, sein Leben" which combined newly-composed songs with songs from Elvis' catalogue of hits which celebrated its world premiere at Theater AKzent in Vienna and an extended run of performances at the Deutsches Theater in Munich. The musical featured both "Will You Still Be There" and "Great Big Mama."
"The Finellis Movie" and musical.
In 2016, Janicello began work as author, executive producer, co-director, lyricist and leading actor on the award-winning comedy "The Finellis". Originally planned to be a television series, a proof-of-concept episode of "The Finellis" was a featured presentation at the 2016 Berlin Serienale. In January 2019, "The Finellis" went into production in Berlin with some new cast members, rewritten scripts. "The Finellis Movie", was released internationally on January 18, 2022. In late 2022, Janicello and composer Ulf Weidmann began turning "The Finellis Movie" into a stage musical which had its world-premiere production at Wonderville in London from June 3 through June 16, 2024.
Writings.
Janicello's first work as Musical Author was "The Chamelon Concert" which celebrated its world premiere in September 1998 in Vienna's Theater AKzent. In 1999, Janicello wrote the script for "Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Musical" which celebrated its world premiere in Theater AKzent on October 7, 1999 the 40th anniversary of Lanza's death. "Be My Love" was a jukebox musical whose score contained popular Italian Folk Songs, well-known operatic arias and a number of Lanza's hit songs. In 2001, Janicello authored the book and worked as co-lyricist with Rolf Rettburg on his first completely original musical, "Charlie: A New Musical". Charlie's music was composed by . Charlie celebrated its world premiere in a German-language version in Vienna's Cabaret Stadnikow in March 2001. In 2004, an English-language version of Charlie was produced in Amsterdam, with additional songs by Kai Peterson.
"Cloud Nine" is an original children's musical written in 2010 by Janicello (book and lyrics) and the Swedish actor/musician Josef Törner. In 2012, Janicello was engaged to write 6 articles about the marketing of art and artists for Hoop Doop Magazine. Since 2018, Janicello has worked as critic-at-large for BroadwayWorld.com reviewing stage productions in Berlin, northern Germany and London.
In Spring 2022, Janicello was commissioned to write a new play "Take the Bins Out", a 75-minute monologue for a visually-impaired actor. The play tells the story of Finley Whitmore, whose diagnosis of Retinitis pigmentosa, a congenital eye disorder, is wreaking havoc on his professional and personal life. "Take the Bins Out" celebrated its world premiere on August 4, 2023 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Edinburgh production stars Milo Mooney, a visually-impaired actor/comedian as Finley and was directed by Janicello. "The Finellis Musical" with music by Ulf Weidmann and lyrics by Janicello premiered at Wonderville in London in June 2024.
Personal life.
Janicello has been vegan since 2004 and advocates publicly for a plant-based lifestyle. He joined Scientology in 1994 before leaving in 2003. He published a book about his experiences in Scientology, "Naked in the Spotlight: My Life with Sex, Singing and Scientology" which was published in German in 2011 and in English in 2016
Awards and nominations.
In the 2019–2020 Awards Season, "The Finellis" in its sitcom iteration and Janicello's work on the project were nominated for, and won numerous prizes at international film and TV festivals.
Bibliography.
Janicello's autobiography "Naked in the Spotlight: My Life with Sex, Singing and Scientology" was published in a German translation ("Nackt im Rampenlicht") in April 2011 by Ibera Publishers of Vienna. The English version of "Naked in the Spotlight" was published in 2016.
References.
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