Biography
Born in Sydney, Burchmore has been performing since the age of two, trained in singing, acting, and dancing. She earned a scholarship to the University of New England, where she majored in Theatre Arts.
She gained international recognition for her role as Kate in the 1982 film The Pirate Movie.
Burchmore’s major Australian theatre breakthrough came in 1988 with the production of Sugar Babies, starring opposite Garry McDonald and Broadway performer Eddie Bracken. Later that year, she reprised her role alongside Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller in London's West End. While in the UK, she also starred in the revival of Stop the World – I Want to Get Off.
Following numerous stage performances, playwright David Atkins created a role specifically for her in his tap dancing musical Hot Shoe Shuffle. In 1997, she opened Melbourne’s Crown Casino with her own cabaret show, Red Hot & Rhonda, performing to over 60,000 people. That same year marked significant milestones as she secured a role on Broadway in the Irving Berlin classic Easter Parade and later appeared in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods with the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Burchmore released her debut album, Rhonda Burchmore, in 1998. Since then, she has released three more albums: Midnight Rendezvous, Live At The Melbourne Concert Hall, and Pure Imagination. She also appeared regularly as a guest on the long-running Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday.
In 1999, she starred in the lead role of The Production Company’s inaugural show, Mame. She later played the title role in Annie Get Your Gun for the same company and returned to Mame in a new production in 2008.
Her subsequent roles include Adelaide in an Australian revival of Guys and Dolls, Tanya in the hit musical Mamma Mia!, as well as performances in Urinetown The Musical, Tom Foolery, Respect: A Musical Journey of Women, and her own productions Rhonda Burchmore Sings ‘n Swings, My Funny Valentines, and Fever.
Additional Australian stage credits feature Song and Dance, They’re Playing Our Song—where she portrayed one of the alter egos—and Diana in Lend Me a Tenor. With Victorian Opera, she earned critical acclaim for her roles as Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus alongside Joan Carden, as well as performances in Ruddigore and An Evening with Sondheim.
In 2013, she appeared in Trevor Ashley's musical comedy Little Orphan trAshley with Gary Sweet.
