Mark Jacoby

Max von Essen recently returned from Los Angeles, where he played the title role in the premiere of Dorian, a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Variety described Max as not only “physically ideal casting for Dorian,” but someone who “sings superbly, with an actor’s instinctive understanding of lyric interpretation.”

He began this past year with a sold-out extended run at New York’s Ars Nova Theater, marking his solo debut, and then starred in the hit Off-Broadway revival of Finian’s Rainbow, opposite Melissa Errico (the cast recording was recently released on the Ghost Light Record label).

On Broadway, Mr. von Essen is perhaps best known for his star turn as the young hero in the ill-fated Dance of the Vampires, starring Michael Crawford. He then joined the cast of Les Miserables, making him the last performer to learn the show in its near 17 year run. However, his first appearance on Broadway was as an apostle in the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, where as the Jesus understudy, Max had the thrill of performing the title role regularly.

After graduating from college, Max immediately joined the legendary Liza Minnelli on her international concert tour as one of three featured singers. He then toured all over Europe as Tony in West Side Story, and upon his return to the states, made his New York debut as Matt in The Fantasticks. But before hitting the Broadway stage, Max went on the road once more, this time as the gender-bending reporter, Mary Sunshine, in the Broadway tour of Chicago - a role which required him to sing as a soprano.

Regionally, Max has performed at the Sacramento Music Circus as Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, at Bay Street Theatre as Patrick in Auntie Mame and Claude in Hair, as Freddy in My Fair Lady at Paper Mill Playhouse and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and as Eddie in Blood Brothers at the Downtown Cabaret Theatre.

On television, Max has been seen on The Tony Awards, MTV’s The Grind, singing the National Anthem at many Yankee games, including the 2001 World Series, and three appearances on The Rosie O’Donnell Show.

Max is a native New Yorker, and graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he majored in Voice and Economics. He is the youngest of four children, and his father, Thomas, is the former Fire Commissioner of New York City, a post he held during 9/11. For more information, visit www.MaxvonEssen.com.