Q&A: Simon Burke
SIMON BURKE, one of our best and fairest, has just released his first CD, Something About Always. Two of his best girls, Caroline O’Connor (the wondrous one and only) and Connie Fisher (Maria to his Captain in The Sound of Music) are guest artistes on it, and it’s on sale right now in Australia. It’s also available in the foyer of the Playhouse Theatre, in London, should you be visiting to see Simon in La Cage aux Folles. Simon has supplied the Answers to StageNoise’s Questions. Read on and be amused, enlightened and a little bit amazed.
Stagenoise: How did you decide what to include on Something About Always?
Simon: My musical director Daniel Edmonds and I had talked about doing an album for a couple of years but hadn't actually gotten as far as a song list, arrangements or even a concept. Then this window to finally do one came completely out of the blue and we had to move pretty fast – to have it in the Playhouse Theatre in the West End for my first performance of La Cage.
From the decision to do it we had literally a week to book a studio, some musos and for me to fly home and get in there. So when it came to song choice we basically had to start with what we'd done before together. As I say on the cover notes, recording your first album is pretty much like writing your first novel – you do what you know.
All I knew is that I wanted to do “Song on the Sand” from La Cage, do a duet with Connie [Fisher] and one with Caroline [O’Connor], and finish with “Cuddle Song” from Play School!
Fortunately the 13 songs that came to mind instantly are the ones that ended up on the album. I guess it's a sort of walk-through of the different parts of me and parts I've played.
Q: Do you have a list of “songs I really want to record” in your pocket?
No. For my next recording I want to have the musical equivalent of a personal shopper – someone just finds the songs that are perfect for me to look great in!
Q: What was it like collaborating with those gorgeous girls? Did you do it in the studio with them or was it one of those long-distance hi-tech events?
A: The lovely Miss O'Connor was up close and personal. She and Barrie [Shaw her husband] came out to James Morrison's dazzling new recording studios in Warriewood, Barrie played clarinet for me on three tracks (beautifully as ever) and then Caz and I just got in there and did our schtick with “You’re The Top”. She is the most wondrous person to work with (although we've never done a show together, sadly) but you are immediately uplifted by her incredible energy, sense of humour and amazing voice. I think we did that one in one take! It was kind of weird recording that song as I had recorded it exactly 20 years earlier when Geraldine Turner and I did the Australian cast recording of Anything Goes.
Connie's contribution was slightly more difficult, I was in Sydney and she was in Cardiff opening the UK tour of Sound of Music. So we laid down some guides and my stuff in Sydney, then when I got back to London the following week Connie nipped into the BBC studios in Cardiff to duet with me.
I was over the moon that she was able to be on the album – our time together playing opposite each other as the Captain and Maria at the Palladium was one of the most special times of my life. I think she is a truly wondrous performer and I'm quite chuffed that I thought of “True Love” for us to do.
Q: How’s London?
A: It's so great being back in London. I lived here for five years in the early '90s, so when I came back for Sound of Music I felt like I just slotted back in. I feel at home here whilst still being constantly amazed and excited by everything it has to offer. We've just bought a little flat in Bloomsbury, which is great as I can walk home at night from the theatre, and even though I mostly stay at home and watch DVDs it's nice to know that the British Museum is two blocks away from my front door!
Q: What was it like having swine flu?
A: Never felt sicker in my life. I worked through it for five days as I just assumed I had a bit of flu, but by the Sunday I pretty well collapsed. I never take shows off but there was no getting out of that one.
Q: Was La Cage aux Folles on your radar or unexpected?
A: Both – it was on my radar as I'd seen it about a year ago and was completely blown away both by Terry Johnson's production and Douglas Hodge's extraordinary performance as Albin. But as all the pairings of Georges and Albins were with slightly older performers it wasn't on my radar at all as a potential engagement. Then John Barrowman signed and they asked me to come and play opposite him and how could I resist?
Q: How come you can work in London? Is it simply your charm and genius or do you also have a useful passport?
A: Well put it this way, I have two British grandfathers which gives me an Ancestry Visa and the right to live and work here, but I'm hoping a bit of charm and genius might get me the actual gig!
Q: How do you cope with a demanding West End show and also have a life?
A: I've never really worked out how to do that properly – you just live day to day I guess and keep putting life things off (bills, emails, washing, tax, Diana's questions) til the next day. A big leading role in a musical really makes your days pretty hard – to function brilliantly. Gym is the answer but I don't ask the question as much as I should.
Q: What’s your idea of total bliss?
A: Just being at home with Peter and his incredible cooking and good wine and 15 things that we've got to watch on telly. And laughing at Donald, our kitten.
Q: When you’re in London what do you miss about Australia? And vice versa.
A: When in London I miss my mum, my friends, my house and the beach. And Tony Jones on Lateline. And Insiders. And Spice I Am. And David and Lisa Campbell.
When in Sydney I miss opening up Time Out and realising that if you were a man of leisure and had three extra days in the week, you couldn't begin to scratch the surface of all the things London has to offer.
Q: I hope you get to fly Business class when you’re zooming back and forth?
A: Depends on who's paying. I've been lucky enough to go 1st a few times now, and Business a lot. And Economy more than I'd like. But funnily enough the only time I've ever slept all the way is in a stinking overcrowded row near the dunnies in Economy.
Q: What do you like/hate most about the flight?
A: One of my favourite Peter Allen songs, “Planes”, has a great lyric that sums it up for me:
"And I drink too much on planes / And I think too much on planes / And the music in the headphones always sounds divine / And I cry / When I fly."
Q: Do you get to the movies? Do you adore Meryl Streep? If not, why not?
A: NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. I hate how I don't go nearly enough to the movies. The last thing we saw was Monsters Vs Aliens in 3D at IMAX in Greenwich. Which was beyond brilliant. Meryl Streep is my all-time favourite, bar none. I had dinner with her once at Morton’s restaurant in Beverly Hills just before she played Lindy Chamberlain in Evil Angels and she tried her accent out on me. (It was perfection even then, a year before she shot the film.) V jealous that Julie and Julia hasn’t opened in London yet.
Q: Do you cook? If so, what? If not, how do you eat?
A: I'm a pretty good cook but I have to work up to it. I love Marcella Hazan's books and we packed Neil Perry and Stephanie Alexander to bring with us. But as mentioned before, my partner Peter is the best cook I've ever met, so I'm spoiled.
Q: How do you keep the vocal cords in good order and maintain the bod?
A: I always warm up and try to warm down and I've got a couple of brilliant vocal coaches here that I like to go to for kind of grease and oil change sessions during a long run – they're the sort that you get a shorthand with so you just walk in with exactly the little problem you might have in the show and just work on that.
Q: What’s your philosophy of life?
A: Well at the moment it's Jerry Herman's lyrics in our show:
”So hold this moment fast / And live and love as hard as you know how / and make this moment last / Because the best of times is now.”
What's not to love about that?
Q: Any advice for anyone who might ask “do you have any advice?”?
A: Keep your friends close and your understudies closer.
Get the album from Simon's website www.simonburke.com, in store at Middle Eight Music, South Yarra, on iTunes and at amazon.com. (CD designed by Peter Citroni, photographer James Mountford.) Go to London to see La Cage aux Folles
