Mark van Beelen

Cats History
Dutch Tour - 10/2006 - Mungojerrie (cover Munkustrap)

Biography (2015, edited 2020)
Mark van Beelen was born on the 4th of June 1982 in Steenwijk, the Netherlands. His passion for theatre developed quite early. He was often taken to the theatre, either by his family or by his primary school. Mark decided he wanted to be an actor when he grew up, but after his mother had taken him to see the musical Cats his vision changed, and he decided to broaden his horizons. He wanted to act, sing and dance plus everything that was expected from an all-round performer. So he started off by attending different amateur schools and performing in numerous amateur plays and musicals.

In 1999, at the age of 17, Mark auditioned for the “MusicALLfactory”, a foundation musical-theatre course in Tilburg (the Netherlands). In this school he was educated by professional teachers from the Dutch musical business, and it offered him new possibilities for further education.

A year later,  he was selected amongst thousands of candidates to study Performing Arts at the international "Fontys Dance-Academy" in Tilburg (the Netherlands) where he graduated successfully in 2004 at the age of 22.

During his time at the Academy he toured through the Netherlands as Doody in Grease, Eric ‘rubber legs’ de Vene in A Slice of Saturdaynight and as Chuck Cranston in Footloose.

In 2003/2004, a year before he graduated, he was part of the original Dutch premiere cast of Mamma Mia! and covered the role of Eddie at the Beatrix Theatre in Utrecht (the Netherlands).

In 2004/2005 he travelled with the Dutch National Tour production of Gershwin’s Crazy for You, in which he got the chance to dance the original choreography by Susan Stroman as a Swing, but also as the leading role Bobby Child which he covered.

In 2005/2006 he toured through the Netherlands with director Paul Eenens’s version of Jesus Christ Superstar. The director treated his Ensemble as a group of singing actors, therefore there was hardly any dancing on stage. Mark was part of this Ensemble and he frequently played the role of Anas.

In 2006/2007 his childhood dream came true when he played the role of Mungojerrie in the Dutch National Tour production of Cats. Apart from his own role he also covered the role of Munkustrap.

During this time Mark was recruited by the ROC Artist’s Educational Programme in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), to be a multi-discipline dance teacher to young, up and coming performers.

In 2007/2008 he was part of the Ensemble, a cover for the role of Prince Christian and once a week he played the role of Lionel, the steward in Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. The fairytale show was performed in Theatre de Efteling in Kaatsheuvel (the Netherlands).

Mark became recognised on national television by competing for the role of Tarzan in the casting shows '''Wie Wordt Tarzan? in the Netherlands and Ich Tarzan, du Jane''' in Germany.

In 2008 Mark moved to Hamburg (Germany) to cover the title role of Tarzan, perform in the original ensemble and later as a Singer Swing, in Disney’s musical Tarzan at the Neue Flora Theatre.

In between jobs Mark explored his talents as a director and choreographer for smaller productions where he created new musicals and directed already existing material including Into the Woods, Fame and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

From 2010 until 2014 Mark was a Lead Soloist in the show-ensemble of the AIDA Cruises Company, with which he traveled around the world while performing on board. The repertoire varied from ABBA, Beatles, Queen, Bon Jovi, german schlager, modern pop, rock, reggae, jazz, dance, etc. to cabaret, operetta, musical and "Cirque du Soleil"-like music.

In 2015 Mark shortly moved to Antwerp (Belgium) to create and perform a family musical called '''Vicky the Viking - the musical. ' As a cover he partially created the role of Sven the Terrible,  while simultaneously performing in the ensemble and further cover the roles of Tjurre  and Faxe. '' The show toured though Belgium and the Netherlands.

In the summer of that same year Mark was one of the 6 actors in a little "Forbidden Broadway"-like musical called Musicals Gone Mad  in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), for which he worked as a musical supervisor.

Since the end of 2015 Mark is back in Hamburg (Germany) and can be seen in the ensemble, as well as a cover for the role of Babkak in Disney’s musical  Aladdin  at the Neue Flora Theatre. From 2017 he also covered the role of Genie and in 2018 he took over the role of Razoul. When the production moved to the Apollo Theater in Stuttgart (Germany) early 2019, he stayed with the show as Razoul, cover Genie and cover Babkak.

Mark opened Ghost at the Palladium Theater Stuttgart (Germany) as Ensemble and cover Willie Lopez. The production closed early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quote
"Seeing Cats in Amsterdam back in 1992, when I was only 10 years old, ignited my fascination with Cats and my general passion for the theatre. I will always be grateful for the opportunity that was given to me to be a part of Cats and therefore be a Jellicle forever."