Hardly a Miserable night for star Simon
GEELONG actor Simon Gleeson has won a prestigious award for his portrayal of the leading man in Les Miserables.
The father-of-two, who performs as Jean Valjean in the Sir Cameron Mackintosh production, took home the Helpmann Award on Monday night for best actor in a musical.
It was a role he had dreamt of playing as a child.
Gleeson was crowned at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre on the same stage that has been showing the musical eight times a week, with the production also winning top gong for best musical.
“It was a big night,” Gleeson said. “I don’t think I’ve been out past midnight for pretty much the entire season.”
Enjoying a well-deserved day off with his wife Natalie O’Donnell and their two children on Tuesday, Gleeson said the result hadn’t yet sunk in.
While the 38-year-old has been nominated twice for a Helpmann for both Mamma Mia and Love Never Dies, this was his first win at the live performance awards.
“It’s just nice to be recognised by your peers. There was such a great atmosphere in the room last night,” he said.
“It was great to catch up with a lot of people who you never get to see.”
Les Miserables won five awards, with 12 nominations in total.
Once the Sydney season wraps up in October the cast will head to Brisbane in November for the final run.
Gleeson said, while he would be “absolutely emotional” when the production came to a close, he and his family were looking forward to coming home.
“I know the four of us are looking forward to getting back to Geelong when this is over and resuming our lives there, we love it down there,” he said. “It’s been such a great bunch of people on stage and off. I think there will be a lot of emotional people when the final curtain comes down. But for now it’s definitely business as usual.”
It’s been a busy month for Gleeson who recently released his debut album Elements.
Independently produced, he took four days off in Perth to record the “simple and honest” tracks and said the team was likely to perform it live in Geelong.