Simon Burke Will Play Sound of Music's Final Four Weeks in Toronto

By Kenneth Jones
November 19, 2009

West End star Simon Burke will replace Burke Moses as Capt. Von Trapp in the final weeks of the Toronto run of The Sound of Music, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian and David Mirvish.

Burke, a stage and screen actor originally from Australia but known for work in the U.K., will take over the role of Captain von Trapp on Dec. 8. He played the role in the West End London production of The Sound of Music, opposite the "Marias" of Connie Fisher and Summer Strallen.

Burke Moses (Broadway's Beauty and the Beast), who originated the role in the Toronto production, exits after 14 months with the show. He's leaving to have surgery, the producers said.

Simon Burke will play the production's final four weeks. The Sound of Music will end its hit run at the Princess of Wales Theatre on Jan. 3, 2010.

In London's West End, Burke recently completed a run as Georges in Terry Johnson's acclaimed La Cages Aux Folles, opposite John Barrowman.

His first solo album, "Something About Always," has just been released. Simon Burke's official website is www.simonburke.com.

The Toronto run of The Sound of Music began performances on Oct. 3, 2008.

By closing date, the production will have played 68 weeks, setting a record for the longest run of a revival in Toronto.

This production was unique for being the first in Canada to cast its leading role through a television series, the top-rated CBC TV program "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"

Elicia MacKenzie was chosen by the Canadian public to play Maria. (The runner-up in the television series, Janna Polzin, was cast as the alternate Maria and performed the role twice weekly.)

The Sound of Music has music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse (suggested by "The Trapp Family Singers" by Maria Augusta Trapp).

In 2006, producers Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Ian opened a new production of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium; it was the first major revival in London since the West End premiere in 1961.

The production at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre is the North American premiere of the London hit and is overseen by the same creative team: director Jeremy Sams, choreographer Arlene Philips and designer Robert Jones.

For tickets, visit www.mirvish.com.