Mark Janicello (born November 3, 1962) is an American singer, actor, writer, producer and author. He is known for playing Elvis Presley in two musicals that toured Europe, after gaining attention by winning a musical competition sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken.[2] He also created, wrote, and acted in The Finellis Movie[3] which he then adapted into a musical.[4]
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.[7] 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)[8][citation needed] of La Vie parisienne directed by Christopher Alden.[9][10] 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.[11]
In 1992, Janicello was approached by the Music Under New York program to enter the KFC Musical Feast competition[7] representing New York City. The competition was a nationwide search sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken.[26][27] 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.[2][27] Janicello appeared with Bo Diddley on NBC's Today show.[26] Janicello was invited to join the International Opera Studio (IOS) of the Zurich Opera in 1994.[28] 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.[29][30] After performing with him in Gstaad, Weisman gave Janicello the unreleased Elvis song "Will You Still Be There."[31] Janicello, together with Weisman recorded, released, and promoted the song in 1996 and 1997.[32]
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.[33][34] The musical moved from Klagenfurt to Wiener Metropol[de].[35] 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[36] which celebrated its world premiere at Theater Akzent in Vienna[37] and an extended run of performances at the Deutsches Theater in Munich.[38] The musical featured both "Will You Still Be There" and "Great Big Mama."[38]
The Finellis Movie and musical
In 2016, Janicello began work as author, executive producer, co-director, lyricist and leading actor on the award-winning[39][40] 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.[41][42] In January 2019, The Finellis went into production in Berlin with some new cast members, rewritten scripts.[43]The Finellis Movie, was released internationally on January 18, 2022.[44][3] 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.[45]
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.[46] In 1999, Janicello wrote the script for Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Musical[47] which celebrated its world premiere in Theater AKzent on October 7, 1999 the 40th anniversary of Lanza's death.[citation needed]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.[48] In 2001, Janicello authored the book and worked as co-lyricist with Rolf Rettburg on his first completely original musical, Charlie: A New Musical.[49]Charlie's music was composed by Béla Fischer[de]. Charlie had its world premiere in a German-language version in Vienna's Cabaret Stadnikow in March 2001.[50] In 2004, an English-language version of Charlie was produced in Amsterdam, with additional songs by Kai Peterson.[51]
In 2012, Janicello was engaged to write 6 articles about the marketing of art and artists for Hoop Doop Magazine.[52][53] Since 2018, Janicello has worked as critic-at-large for BroadwayWorld.com reviewing stage productions in Berlin, northern Germany and London.[54]
In Spring 2022, Janicello was commissioned to write a new play Take the Bins Out, a 75-minute monologue for a visually-impaired actor.[55] 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.[56]Take the Bins Out celebrated its world premiere on August 4, 2023 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.[57] The Edinburgh production stars Milo Mooney, a visually-impaired actor/comedian as Finley and was directed by Janicello.[58][59]The Finellis Musical with music by Ulf Weidmann and book and yrics by Janicello premiered at Wonderville in London in June 2024.[60]
Personal life
Janicello has been vegan since 2004 and advocates publicly for a plant-based lifestyle.[61] He joined Scientology in 1994 before leaving in 2003.[62] 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[63] and in English in 2016[64]
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.[citation needed]
1992 – Janicello won the $15,000 Grand Prize in the KFC Musical Feast Competition and was named "The Best Street Performer" in America.[2]
2016 – Janicello was awarded the Fips Fleischer Music Prize[87][88] by the City of Leipzig, Germany for his many years of performances in that city[citation needed] He was awarded the prize by the Mayor of Leipzig Heiko Rosenthal.[citation needed]
2022 – Janicello was awarded the Honorary Title, "Best Gospel Elvis"[citation needed] at the Porthcawl Elvis Festival in Porthcawl, Wales, which is said to be the "largest Elvis Festival in the world".[89][90]
Bibliography
Janicello's autobiography Naked in the Spotlight: My Life with Sex, Singing and Scientology[91][92] was published in a German translation (Nackt im Rampenlicht) in April 2011 by Ibera Publishers[63] of Vienna. The English version of Naked in the Spotlight was published in 2016.[93]
↑ Liebler, Naomi Conn (1987). "Review of As You Like It Manhattan Stage and Kindred Productions at the Judith Anderson Theatre". Shakespeare Bulletin. 5/6 (6/1): 10–11. ISSN0748-2558. JSTOR26352357.
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