Simon writes...
When I first read Tim Conigrave's astonishing memoir HOLDING THE MAN when it was first published back in 1995 I was floored by its brutal honesty, its tenderness, its humour and most of all by the way it somehow managed to transport me back to some really key moments of my teenage years and early adulthood. I don't think I've ever felt so close to a book, laughed so much or cried so much in the course of a couple of hundred pages. When I went to the Stables Theatre in Sydney to see Tommy Murphy's adaption of the book early in previews back in 2006 I guess I was, like many thousands of fans of the book, a little wary of how it might turn out. What I witnessed that night was one of the most moving and perfect theatrical experiences of my life. Words cannot express how happy I was for Tommy, an incredibly gifted young playwright, for director David Bertholt's perfectly measured production and for the wonderful cast that he assembled for the original production.
I never in a million years imagined that 3 years later I would be part of the team bringing this incredible Australian work to the West End. As I write we have just done our last of 12 previews and the show officially opens its season at the Trafalgar Studios Tuesday May 4th. It is a total joy and a privilege to perform, and the audience reaction so far quite overwhelming. Myself and the wonderful Jane Turner, Anna Skillern and Oliver Farnworth play a mind-boggling array of about 60 characters between us - all framing the 15 year partnership of Tim and his partner John Caleo, from when they meet aged 15 at high school to their tragic and untimely deaths. As you will see from the pictures below there are definitely some looks that I will not be wearing off stage! I play amongst many other things both the boys' dads, a surfer grommet schoolmate called Derge, a leather daddy in a skanky gay bar, a theatre director and a gay hippy student activist. The greatest thrill for me is that London will get to see the brilliant performances of Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes who created the roles of Tim and John in the original Australian, both of whom are making their West End debuts. If you see this production, as I hope you will, I'm sure you'll agree with me that it would be impossible to imagine this show without them.
All best as ever
Simon
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Simon writes...
Well at the beginning of 2009 I guess the last place I expected to be writing my end of year blog was Toronto - but here I am rugged up and writing from my dressing room in the Princess of Wales Theatre where I'm donning the lederhosen once again and climbing back up the mountain in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. At the end of a deliriously happy 3-month season of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES I was asked to come and reprise my performance as Captain von Trapp for the last 5 weeks of the very successful Toronto run. It was a pretty big ask as I only had three days rehearsal to get it all back in my head and in my body (and it had 15 months since I finished my run of the show at the London Palladium) but I was helped immeasurably by the wonderful Canadian cast, crew and creative team all of whom have welcomed me to their country and their company with open arms. It's a great joy to be able to revisit Jeremy Sams' beautiful production and to be introduced to a whole other SOUND OF MUSIC family, in particular my two Marias - Elicia MacKenzie and Janna Polzin, who, like Connie and Aoife in London, were winner and runner-up in Canada's HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA. A cute piece of trivia is that I actually met both Elicia and Janna in my dressing room at the Palladium at the beginning of 2008 when they flew to London with the other 10 finalists to see our production. Another even weirder piece of trivia that we've gotten a kick out of is that the last person I kissed onstage before my Marias was the man who helped to choose them, none other than Mr Barrowman himself. I also get to add another 16 von Trapp children to my already very large brood of 57 - "a captain with 73 children - what's so fearsome about that?"
It was just as well I had a big challenging project to sink my teeth into as soon as I finished LA CAGE because I really needed something to take my mind off the great sadness I felt saying goodbye to that show, that role and that wonderful cast. I don't think I've ever felt as happy as I was night after night to packed houses playing opposite JB and alongside all those great performers and great people. A very special, crazy, all-consuming, completely joyful and special time. Thanks to all of you who wrote in my guestbook about the great time you had at the show too - we could certainly feel your love!
LA CAGE of course coincided with the release of my first album SOMETHING ABOUT ALWAYS, which I'm happy to say has sold really well so far and now has another outlet - the foyer of the Princess of Wales - who knew that putting "Edelweiss" on the CD would be a great future marketing ploy! Thanks to all of you also who have bought the album and taken the trouble to write to me about it.
Finally can I wish you all a joyful and successful 2010 - thanks for all your support and I wish you and yours a very happy holidays
love
simon
Syrus Lowe as Jacob, JB as Albin, SB as Georges |
SB, JB and company opening night |
SB and JB opening night party |
SB, JB, Syrus and the Cagelles opening night party |
"Life is a celebration with you on my arm!" |
Simon writes...
It's been a pretty amazing couple of months...
Less than 8 weeks ago I was invited to star opposite the brilliant John Barrowman in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. With rehearsals beginning mid-August I thought I should plan a quick trip home to Sydney to see my family for 10 days. It was then that my musical director Daniel Edmonds decided that we should use this window to get into the studio and record the solo album that we'd been talking about for a couple of years. My first thought was how could we possibly get it all recorded, designed, produced and manufactured in time for my first performance of LA CAGE on September 14? Fortunately, Dan is a never-say-never kind of guy and within a week we were in James Morrison's incredible new recording studios in Warriewood, with a few brilliant guest musicians having a blast. The finished product (beautifully designed by Peter Citroni) is hot off the presses today (on schedule!) and I couldn't be happier - it's everything I always hoped my first album would be. And to have the beautiful Connie Fisher and the amazing Caroline O'Connor each join me for a duet – well I'm one very lucky guy.
I'm also pretty pleased with our title – SOMETHING ABOUT ALWAYS – it's actually a lyric from from the beautiful SONG ON THE SAND that I sing to John Barrowman every night in LA CAGE. It's such a buzz to have a song from the show on the album.
Meanwhile we've just finished rehearsals of LA CAGE and our first performance is this Monday September 14th. We are having the best time and I can't wait to get in front of an audience. John and I are working brilliantly together and I tell you he is going to be breathtaking as Albin. Also joining the cast are Gabriel Vick as our son Jean Michel, and Syrus Lowe as Jacob the maid (sorry, butler, sorry, maid!) and they are both spectacular as are all of the fantastic cast assembled for this great show. And of course there's the Cagelles - billed in the show as "the notorious and dangerous Cagelles" - though even adding the adjectives incredibly talented and gorgeous wouldn't begin to do them justice.
Come see us if you're in town!
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(click to enlarge)
SIMON PLAYS CARNEGIE HALL!!
Simon and Olivia Newton-John
On Jan 20th, the night of President Obama’s inauguration, I had the great honour to host AUSTRALIA PLAYS BROADWAY at Carnegie Hall in New York City. What a day to be in the USA and what a night to perform for Australia. We arrived a few days before and the Australian Consul-General put us up in the Waldorf. Our final day rehearsing on the top floor of the Alvin Ailey studios was amazing as we were singing with the Adelaide Symphony while the floor-to-ceiling windows showed us a snowstorm outside – some great shots for the Network TEN/Ovation camera crew following us for the documentary they were making THE ROAD TO CARNEGIE HALL.
On the day of the concert I walked from my hotel to via Times Square where I joined tens of thousands of New Yorkers at exactly midday as President Obama was being sworn in. After those incredible moments I joined my fellow Aussies at Carnegie Hall to dress rehearse this unique event in that extraordinary venue on that incredibly auspicious day. The lineup of Australian performers was pretty amazing and wonderfully diverse – I had the great pleasure of interviewing special guest star Olivia Newton-John onstage – and later she delighted the entire audience with a beautiful rendition of “I Honestly Love You” written by her dear friend the late great Peter Allen. Ursula Yovich lit up the stage with her rendition of “Over the Rainbow”. The Ng Brothers, identical twins Pei-Jee and Pei-Sian brought the house down with their cellos duetting “In the Depths of the Temple”, Simon Tedeschi was masterful as ever with Percy Grainger’s “In Dahomey”. There was young opera star Alex Lewis, the incredible Amanda Harrison, star of the Oz production of WICKED, Robyn Nevin’s brilliant rendering of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” – the evening’s tribute to the man of the moment, Barack Obama. The beautiful voices of Gurrumul and Lior. William Barton showed why he’s known as the best didgeridoo player in the world today. In an homage to my time as Captain von Trapp I got to sing “The Sound of Music” with the Qantas Children’s choir, playing 40 von Trapp kids! And a personal highlight for me was duetting Cy Coleman’s “You’re Nothing Without Me” with my great mate David Campbell – who later sang “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feelin” with his dad, the legendary Jimmy Barnes The stars of the night were the incredible 75-piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra making their North American debut under the baton of Maestro Arvo Volmer.
All in all, a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
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Rehearsing in Sydney with musical supervisor Max Lambert
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Look Mum Carnegie Hall!
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Look Mum Carnegie Hall!
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My dressing room, Carnegie Hall |
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Kellie Dickerson (Wicked MD), SB, DC and Amanda Harrison
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SB, Ursula Yovich and Cicc
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Central Park in the snow
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Red Carpet AUSTRALIA PLAYS BROADWAY
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Adam-Jon Fiorentino, Deeonne Zanotto and SB
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Me and some of the Qantas Choir kids
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Producer Ross Mollison, the Ng Brothers
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Also: Check out this article in the Sydney Morning Herald about Simon and the concert – Taking a leaf from his Play School book
Simon writes...
I’ve had a busy few weeks. A quick and much too short trip back home to Australia to catch up with friends and family. Back to London in late October, then straight to Marrakech where it was my privilege in my capacity as Federal President of Actors Equity Australia to attend the XIXth World Congress of FIA. FIA is the International Federation of Actors, the body that represents performers’ trade unions, guilds and associations around the world. It was great to engage once more with the international colleagues that we’d had the pleasure of hosting in Sydney when it was Australia’s turn in 2005. Our Moroccan hosts certainly returned the favour and Marrakech is certainly an incredible city that I look forward returning to.
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Simon in Marrakech at the FIA XIXth World Congress
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Simon with NZ Equity President Jennifer Ward-Leland
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A Day off to explore Marrakech
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A Day off to explore Marrakech
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A Day off to explore Marrakech
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Simon with AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ) President Roberta Reardon |
Whilst in Marrakech I was asked by FIA if I would travel to Geneva the following week to be the sole performer in its delegation to the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights at World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), part of the United Nations.
WIPO was meeting to consider the status of negotiations for an international treaty for copyright for performers. Such a treaty would mean that at long last performers would get rights enjoyed by other creators such as writers and composers. Being the only performer in a room full of several hundred heavy-hitting international lawyers is a pretty daunting experience but on the final day my delegation asked me to speak to the conference on behalf of several hundreds of professional performers from all over the world. Change of underwear please!!! But I did it and it seemed to go down pretty well.
I suppose people all over the world will always remember exactly where they were the incredible day that Barack Obama was elected president and changed America forever. I was in Geneva and found myself at an all night party at the Richemond Hotel which was a fund-raiser for Democrats Abroad. About 500 expectant Obama supporters, 4 wall-size screens beaming CNN live and lots of food and drink to keep us sustained til 6.40am Geneva time when he claimed victory. An amazing night
Mid-December I’m back to Australia to prepare for another season of Christmas at the House – a fantastic series of special Christmas concerts that I’m hosting and performing in for Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House from 19th-23rd December. Once again I’ll be joined by David Hobson and Yvonne Kenny as well as some of Australia’s rising opera stars and the Opera Australia Christmas Orchestra and Choir. If you’re in Sydney don’t miss it!
> Find out more about Christmas At The House
Simon writes...
I finished my year-long run as Captain von Trapp on August 23rd. What a fantastic year it was, one of the most memorable I’ve ever had. I’ll miss the show, the role, the von Trapp kids of course – in fact everyone at the London Palladium, especially Derek Johnson my dresser who looked after me so well and with such great humour – I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much on a job. I thought I was going to have a well-earned break – but a week after I finished I found myself on the set of the brilliant BBC series HUSTLE, filming a guest role for the last episode of the latest series. I’m filming til the end of September when I’m going home to Sydney for a few weeks to see family and friends.
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
Well it’s hard to believe that my days in the hills (not to mention
the Judy Garland Room) are coming to an end – but indeed they are.
As I write I have just 2 weeks (16 perfs) left as Captain von Trapp – I’ll
be hanging up the lederhosen on August 23rd – but what a great
year it’s been.
We had a very special visitor in a couple of weeks back – who knew
that Rocky Balboa was a Sound of Music fan – but clearly he is!
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
It’s summertime here in London and so it’s been fantastic seeing so many friends from Australia passing through London and making a special stopover to the Palladium. There was a stretch a couple of weeks back where for 16 shows in a row I had friends watching every single performance – no pressure. The past 4 weeks have been extra special as my mum came to stay with us. It was wonderful to see her after 9 months away and great that she got to see me in The Sound of Music. The highlight of her trip I suppose was her last Sunday here when I took her to Paris on the Eurostar for dinner. During that time I also took 3 days off from the show to go to Berlin for the opening night of my dear friend Barrie Kosky’s absolutely brilliant production of Kiss Me Kate at the Komische Oper.
It’s hard to believe it but it’s time once again to say “so long farewell” to 18 more von Trapp children. Last night was the final performance for the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs have theirs in the coming week – I’ll miss their last nights as I’m off on holiday today for ten days to Mallorca (Captain von Sun Trapp!) so to Davo, Amber, Richy Rich, Hannah, Abigail, Millsie, Shea, Kiera, James, CeCe, LuLu, Eliza, Jarod, Sezzy, Benjy, Ellie, Lozza and Elissa (Granny Gretl) see you later guys – I had a really great time working with you all and we’ll miss you lots!
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
Summer has opened triumphantly as Maria and it's great to be playing opposite such a brilliantly gifted performer. We have made it through a very exhausting time rehearsing during the days as well as performing the scheduled 8 shows a week (and with the old kids leaving and the new ones coming in I think I calculated that I worked with 38 von Trapp kids in three weeks!). Press night was last Monday 3rd March when most West End critics revisited the show after 15 months - a big night for not only for Summer but for those of us who had joined the show back in September but had not yet been reviewed - it was like having 5 months of previews!. The reviews have been great and we look forward to continuing the phenomenal success of this fantastic production MORE NEWS...
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
Well last night was the end of an era at the Palladium as we said our final farewell to the wonderful Connie Fisher. Last nights are always such bittersweet occasions and this one was a particularly hard one. Between the matinee and the evening show we all crammed onto the Palladium stage to present Connie with her leaving gift – a very cool Conran Shop silver cuckoo clock – with “there’s a sad sort of clanging in the from the clock in the hall” engraved on the front. I think it meant a lot to her that the gift was from everyone in the building – cast, crew, orchestra, front-of-house and box office staff – a testament to how much she is loved and how much she will be missed. At the end of the final show our producer Andrew Lloyd Webber surprised her on stage during the curtain call and made a very heartfelt speech before presenting her with a score of Sound of Music that he had kept since he was 12 years old. To wipe away the tears we kicked on into the wee small hours at a party thrown for us by Connie in a Soho Club. We also made sure we gave the Nolans a great sendoff – the third group of kids to leave us in the past two weeks – so – Nobbly Nolans – Gastropob, Sophie, JJ, Melissa, Sneezy and Pokerface Mia – goodbye and good luck – you guys were great! Another big week of rehearsals ahead, Miss Summer Strallen starts as Maria this Tuesday 26th February and then officially opens the following Monday 3rd March. MORE NEWS...
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
More goodbyes this week – tonight it’s so long farewell to another von Trapp group – the Osmonds – another fantastic bunch of von Trapps who have just done their last cuckoo clock – so all best wishes and love to James, Libby (Lizzy), Harry the Hamster, Victoria, Pia and Annabel. And they just presented me with an Aussie Rules football signed by each of them – which is even more appropriate as James is half-Aussie - so thanks Ozmonds so much. And thanks also to my Korean fan Sujin who flew over to London last Wednesday morning and saw FIVE shows in a row before getting the plane home Saturday night! I hope you enjoyed all the shows! MORE NEWS...
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
Today’s a very sad day at the London Palladium because this evening we say “so long farewell” to the Jacksons – who have played Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta and Gretl since before I joined the show. It’s the first of a series of goodbyes culiminating in the big goodbye to Connie on February 23rd.
So this week I’d like to dedicate my blog to Edward, Megan, Ryan, Ashley, Rosie and Jessica who have been an absolute delight to work with the past five months – we’re gonna miss you guys heaps! MORE NEWS...
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
Well actually the dressing room is a bit of a disaster area at the moment
as the Palladium management has very kindly agreed to have it decorated.
The pink (yes pink) walls (so painted at the bidding of the last but
one occupant Ms Lesley Garrett) are giving way to much more Captain-appropriate
nautical pmshades of grey - "Dusted Moss 1 & 2" to be precise
- and I couldn't be happier. It's a great privilege to be able to put
your own stamp on a room so full of history.
On Australia Day, 26th January, myself and my two fellow Aussie cast-members
Helen Walsh and Gavin Mitford decided to celebrate by draping the Aussie
flag backstage and torturing the rest of the building with our rousing
rendition of Waltzing Matilda. Talk about putting the AUSTRALIA
into AUSTRIA!
Two days before I performed our National Anthem Advance Australia
Fair at the Australia Day reception in the Exhibition Hall at Australia
House. This was at the invitation of the Australian High Commissioner
His Excellency The Honourable Richard Alston and I was extremely honoured
to oblige. The occasion was made even more exciting a) by the fact that
Exhibition Hall starred as Gringotts Wizarding Bank in the first Harry
Potter movie and b) that in order to get me back to the London Palladium
just in time for the curtain to go up I was whisked away at 7.15pm on
a motorbike taxi (see pic). MORE NEWS...
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
Happy New Year to everyone! We’re just embarking on EIGHT shows in FOUR days to see in the first week of January which certainly gets the year off with a bang! Christmas around the Palladium was very jolly and there were lots of very excited little von Trapps running around. Just before Christmas I was really happy to be part of a group of us from the cast who spent a day singing Carols and Sound of Music songs firstly for the kids at Great Ormond St and then over at the Richard Children’s Hospice in the Docklands. Organised by cast member Rachel Bingham, this really was a special day. MORE NEWS...
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
It's been a busy week - last Tuesday I was inivted to perform here in London at the celebrations for Qantas's 60th Anniversary of the Kangaroo Route from The brief was to take the audience back to 1947, the year in which Qantas first flew from Sydney to London. I sang "Night and Day", "Oh What A Beautiful Morning", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and then as a tribute to Georg von Trapp who died in 1947, "Edelweiss". Also of course worked in Peter Allen's "I Still Call Australia Home" - well it wouldnt' be a Qantas function without it! Last Friday Connie, Aoife, Luke Fredericks, Amy Lennox and I represented the "Sound of Music" cast at the launch of the eighth annual Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards, the only major theatre awards voted for by the paying public. And then this Monday, after the show, we had our "Sound of Music" cast and crew Xmas party around the corner from the Palladium at Amuse Bouche, an event that saw Nazis boogying with Nuns well into the early hours of Tuesday and making that evening's show for some quite a mountain to climb! MORE NEWS...
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
This week I turned into a total political nerd and downloaded every bit of audio and video that I could about the Australian Federal Election. I was very honoured to be invited to the Australian High Commission this morning for a breakfast function to watch the live feed of ABCTV's election broadcast. I watched the amazing events unfold and toasted our new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with the likes of ex-Democrats leader and Labor defectee Cheryl Kernot before rushing to the Palladium for the last two shows of the week. And I have to say that when I came to sing "Edelweiss" today the phrase "Bless my homeland forever" had extra special meaning for me.
From my dressing room at the London Palladium...
Hi and welcome to my website. It’s up and running now and I’d like to thank my good mate (and Aussie Musical Director) Daniel Edmonds for all the amazing hard work he’s done on it to date…
Well I’ve just finished my 8th week in Sound of Music and I’m still having the time of my life. What a show, what a production and what a gift of a role.
Connie’s having a well-earned 2-week break and while she’s away the lovely Aoife Mulholland steps up to do six shows out of the eight. This week Gemma Baird had her first two shows as Maria – and did an absolutely fantastic job. So the Aussie Captain von Trapp has played opposite a Welsh, an Irish and now a Scottish Maria! The hills are alive backstage with the sound of accents…One of the highlights of my week was when one of our Martas sneezed very loudly and right next to me in the middle of my rendition of Edelweiss! Everyone’s a critic…the other was being one of the first Aussies to vote in the Federal Election when Australia’s biggest polling booth (at Australia House in the Strand) opened at 10am last Tuesday 13th November. GO KEVIN 07!
"Burke's foray to West End a huge hit"
Simon is profiled on Aussietheatre where he talks about his role in The Sound of Music, as well as how he came to get the part and some of his recent work in the field. Check it out on Aussietheatre.com
© 2009 Simon Burke