Mark Delavan

In the mid 1990s, his father died,[4] he lost his marriage and wound up taking a janitorial job and sleeping in the back room of the Opera Music Theater International in Newark, New Jersey, where Jerome Hines had invited him to enroll in a young artists' program.

Delavan was then invited to sing at the New York City Opera where he stayed for the next nine years playing most of the major baritone roles from Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Richard Strauss.

In 2004, the NYCO asked him what he wanted to do and he suggested an Operatic production of Sweeney Todd opposite Elaine Paige for which he received mostly positive reviews for his "hulking presence" and "striking physicality.

In TheaterMania, Michael Portantiere declared: "If Delavan does not quite possess the top-notch musical theater acting skills of such Sweeneys as Len Cariou and George Hearn, he's still a force to be reckoned with."

[9] In 2001 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Amonasro in Verdi's Aida with Deborah Voigt in the title role, Luciano Pavarotti as Radamès, Olga Borodina as Amneris, and James Levine conducting.