Simon Burke Joins Cast of Black Swan's CLINTON: THE MUSICAL

Black Swan has announced that leading actor, singer and producer Simon Burke AO will make his debut performance with the company and join the cast of Clinton: The Musical, from Queensland brothers Paul Hodge and Michael Hodge.

Black Swan has gained the Australian rights to stage this musical and has reunited the creative team from last year's sell out musical Next to Normal, director Adam Mitchell (Death of a Salesman, When the Rain Stops Falling), Musical Director David Young (Wicked), Set & Costume Designer Bruce McKinven, and Choreographer Claudia Alessi. Joining them will be Mark Howett (Lighting Designer) and Ben Collins (Sound Designer).

"Clinton: The Musical is shameless bawdy fun. Not that I am against fun, but this is outrageous," said Black Swan Artistic Director, Kate Cherry. "It is also fabulous because it was written by two boys from Brisbane who took their production over to the Edinburgh Fringe to great acclaim and sold out houses. Then it was taken to off Broadway in New York, where it sold out to great acclaim and now to Perth where it will make its Australian debut."

Clinton: The Musical, features two versions of the former President: WJ Clinton the wholesome, intelligent statesman played by Simon Burke; and the other a randy, charming troublemaker, Billy, played by Mix 94.5 Breakfast presenter/comedian/actor Matt Dyktynski (Extinction, Boundary Street).

Clinton: The Musical will also see the Black Swan debut performances of 2015 music theatre graduate Megan Kozak as Monica Lewinsky, local cabaret performer Clare Moore (Covergirls) as Eleanor Roosevelt and music theatre star Lisa Adam (Jersey Boys, The Rocky Horror Show) as Hilary Clinton, who also trained at WAAPA with fellow cast member and regular Black Swan performer Brendan Hanson (Next to Normal, As You Like It) as Kenneth Starr, and Luke Hewitt (A Perfect Specimen, Glengarry Glen Ross) as Newt Gingrich.

Following Bill Clinton throughout his turbulent presidential career, Clinton: The Musical, presents a no-holds-barred approach to political satire, dragging every scandalous skeleton out of the Clintons' closet for the world to see!

Things are going well early in the presidency. With WJ firmly in charge, approval ratings are high and the country is running smoothly. All that changes, however, when Billy lays eyes on history's most infamous intern: Monica Lewinsky. From that moment on, Billy wants to run the White House and that sets the stage for an outrageous power struggle between the two, contradicting and combating each other with a series of cabaret-style songs. While all this is going on, Hillary Clinton quietly plots to turn this to her eventual advantage...

This hilarious musical is just the antidote we need in the lead up to yet another US Presidential election drama.

Clinton: The Musical is presented in association with the Perth Theatre Trust and plays at Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA from 27 August to 11 September 2016.

Bookings with ticketek.com.au or Ph 1300 795 012 or Ticketek outlets, Groups 8+ 1300 364 001.

Simon Burke AO Biography:

At age 13, Simon Burke made his acting debut in the 1976 classic feature film The Devil's Playground, winning the Australian Film Institute Best Actor award. He remains the youngest-ever recipient of this honour. Simon recently starred in Foxtel's six-part mini-series Devil's Playground, in which he reprised the role of 'Tom Allen', the character he played 40 years ago in the original film. Simon was also Executive Producer of the project, which in 2015 won both the AACTA and Logie awards for Most Outstanding Telefeature or Mini Series.

Simon has appeared in over 130 stage productions in Australia and the UK. In London's West End he has starred as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Raoul in Phantom of the Opera, Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music opposite Dame Judi Dench, Georges in La Cage Aux Folles opposite John Barrowman, and in the European premieres of the Australian classics Holding the Man and When the Rain Stops Falling. Simon recently starred in La Cage Aux Folles opposite Todd McKenney for the Production Company, in The Wharf Revue and Mrs. Warren's Profession for Sydney Theatre Company and played Mr Banks in Disney's Mary Poppins. He is currently touring the country starring as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray the Arena Specacular.

Simon has appeared in countless television productions including Deep Water, Rake, Hustle, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, The Alice, Brides of Christ, Scales of Justice, Water Rats, South Pacific and Grass Roots, and he hosted his own variety series for Foxtel, Studio A with Simon Burke. Also on Foxtel, Simon hosted and co-wrote the Helpmann Awards from their inception in 2001 until 2006 and again in 2012, and for 25 years was one of ABC TV''s Play School's best-loved presenters

His feature film credits include Passion, Pitch Black, Travelling Light and the forthcoming Super Awesome, for which he co-wrote and recorded the film's theme song Man to Man.

Simon was President of Actors Equity from 2004-2014 and has been a proud member of his union for 40 years. He was made an honorary life member of the MEAA in March 2015. In June 2015 he was awarded an AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) in the Queen's Birthday Honours for distinguished service to the performing arts as an actor, singer and producer.

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