(Photo by Peter Simpkin)

 

A beautiful sunny, August lunchtime and a London restaurant not far from Broadcasting House (since 1932 the BBC’s corporate headquarters and the home of BBC Radio).

 

The DMA meets Mark during his promotional day for 'That’s Amore: A Celebration of Dean Martin and Friends', and Mark has been talking to national radio stations since 9am about the show.

 

Hesitantly, we ask him if he’s ok to chat a bit more about Dean during what is, effectively, his lunch-break.

 

In an easy-going manner that’s almost an echo of a   certain Mr Martin, Mark happily obliges, and so we settle down to some Tapas (Dean would have approved - being the lover of Spanish food that he was).

 

To cut to the chase, That’s Amore: A Celebration of Dean Martin and Friends is a live stage production, starring Mark (in the title role) in a live take on Dean’s television shows blended in with a bit of Dean’s cabaret sets. There are ‘guests’ (Nat King Cole, Petula Clark, Shirley Maclaine), sketches, songs and parodies - in essence, everything you’d expect the inimitable original to present to his  willing  audience.

 

It’s important to mention that this show was conceived by Mark himself, borne out of his runs as Dean in The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas and Christmas With the Rat Pack.

 

What made him decide to venture out to headline as Dean, without the cosy net of the Frank/Dean/Sammy trio?

 

“I’ve become a great fan of Dino since I first started  playing him (nearly 6 years ago now), and I saw the opportunity to take this character further than what I had done as part of the Rat Pack.

 

When I first landed the role, I read books on Dino, watched his television shows, listened to his live cabaret acts and could now probably go on Mastermind with him as my chosen subject.”

 

We play devil’s advocate for a moment and pose the question: What makes your show different to the dozens of ‘tribute’ acts that are out there?

 

Mark looks thoughtful for a moment, seeing the angle we are coming from.

 

“I guess the main factor is that I interact with the audience. The audience is different every night. With tribute acts such as Abba or Elvis, they just stand up there and sing. With Dean, he can feed off the audience.”

 

When Mark talks about Dean in the third person, it’s as if he talking about a character he’s playing - which he, of course, is. It takes some effort to portray someone who actually existed. There are certain nuances to achieve, a walk or a distinct mannerism. When Mark adopts his Dean persona, he becomes that man.

 

We were lucky enough to see Dean himself live on stage towards the end of his career, and we proudly state to Mark that he has captured the quintessential ‘Dean-ness’ in his own show.

 

Mark takes that, quite understandably, as a compliment. As an organisation that proudly promotes Dean and his career, we’re potentially Mark’s greatest critics. Mark laughs softly.

 

“Dean had a great sense of humour. I myself love to make people as relaxed as they can and playing Dean comes naturally to me.”

 

Amazingly affable, Mark is very much the professional and it’s lovely to see such respect he has for Dean. It would be all too easy to make a caricature out of the man, but that’s not what Mark wants.

 

“Admittedly, some of the jokes I put into That’s Amore can go over peoples’ heads. But that’s because they’re not used to seeing Dean in that context. He’s primarily viewed as a singer. But Dean was an entertainer.”

 

One of the greatest, we might add.

 

Does Mark feel that he has to wrestle with what the audience expects to see along with what Mark himself would like to include?

 

“I always look to include different songs or change the set here and there. But some of Dean’s material isn’t  considered as popular or as well known - ‘Mambo Italiano’, for example, is probably more associated with Rosemary Clooney than with Dean.”

That means, then, that sometimes Mark can’t always include songs that he’d like. Nevertheless, Mark’s clearly very proud of what he does and ensures that every performance does Dean justice. He’s also careful to be as accurate as he can with regard to the era he has set his show in - primarily late 60s and early 70s - so don’t expect to hear live versions of songs from ‘The Nashville Sessions’ album anytime soon.

 

In fact, the version of ‘Everybody Loves Somebody’ would be the one you’d expect. Mark is also keen to point out that he does the song ‘straight’ - as in no parodies - and is the final highlight to his show.

 

The accuracy even goes so far as ensuring Mark’s own Golddiggers have their own melody, straight out of the original TV episodes. The DMA silently wonders if Mark would ever have ‘Jack Benny’ guest starring with his blue-rinsed Ding-a-lings?!

 

Certainly no stranger to live stage performances, Mark has appeared in such diverse productions as Nymph Errant, South Pacific, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Passage To India, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Tales My Lover Told Me.

 

His CV is indeed packed with work, some of which features mainstream UK television such as Eastenders, Holby City and Doctors.

 

But it seems that playing Dean does indeed come  natural to him, especially when he says himself that he would never have expected to still be in the same role all these years later.

 

From that viewpoint, then, arguably Mark is the best Dean impersonator so far. No - that’s wrong and belittles Mark’s undeniable talent. He’s not impersonating Dean, no more than Kevin Spacey impersonated Bobby Darin or Kevin Kline Cole Porter.

 

What Mark does is beyond a simple impersonation. He becomes Dean Martin up there on that stage. Just as Dino Crocetti became Dean Martin many many times before.

 

But how long does Mark think he’ll carry on being Dean?

 

“I genuinely would like to pass the baton on at some stage, and hope I inspire younger guys to want to  explore the brilliance of Dean and to pick up where from where I leave off. I ain't ready to leave just yet!”

 

Mark Adams - thank you very much.