Rhonda Burchmore’s soaring voice and warm heart bring joy wherever she goes at Christmastime – delivering treats to hard-working surf lifesavers or performing onstage at the Regent Theatre. In this interview for our Christmas 2025 issue, she talks about her current plans for the silly season. Read on…
Rhonda Burchmore pulls a long, sparkly gown from her suitcase. The red sequins wink in the light, as bright and festive as Christmas morning.
She has just returned from Egypt, she explains, where she performed on the banks of the Nile during a bucket-list holiday with her husband. She shows no signs of jetlag as she swirls the dress, letting it catch the light.
Over the next two hours, the glamorous performer poses with Christmas trees and a giant yuletide bow. When she stops for a break, she describes her Christmas plans with a word one doesn’t normally associate with Rhonda: simple.
“It is going to be very basic at home because we open right on Christmas,” she says, “open” referring to the stage musical Anastasia.
“Hopefully my husband and daughter will do the bulk of it, and I kind of like that,” Rhonda adds. “I grew up in Sydney, and Mum used to set the most extraordinary tables, and we’d have up to 20 people. Now that they’ve all passed away, I’m a little bit melancholy that they’re all gone. I do make an effort for my young daughter [Lexie, 30]. Simple is sometimes nice.”
Where does Rhonda Burchmore go for Christmas?
When she’s not needed on stage, Rhonda likes to flee to the beach for the holidays.
“I’ve got a little place on the Gold Coast. I do Christmas by the sea,” she says. “Crayfish, lobster, champagne, salad – forget the roast pork. Go for a swim. Take some choccies down to the lifesavers.”
Last Christmas, Rhonda was performing in Sister Act the Musical at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne. Many of the cast members were from out of town and away from their families.
“We all did Christmas craft. We had to decorate our dressing room door. There was a wonderful festive spirit.”
I mention to Rhonda that I have a fond memory of her spreading her own particular brand of Christmas joy about 20 years ago, when I was working as a shop assistant over the uni break. She was tearing around a Melbourne department store, red hair swinging, singing at the top of her lungs. I sold her some runners and after she left, her songs seemed to hang in the air like magical Christmas dust. The team was in a good mood for the rest of the day.
“And look at us now,” Rhonda says, with characteristic warmth.
What is Rhonda Burchmore famous for?
The talk turns to big breaks, and she reminisces about being cast in Sugar Babies in the ’80s and travelling to London to perform on the West End opposite Mickey Rooney.
“He was incredible. Extraordinarily talented but very difficult to work with,” Rhonda says. “And all very bitter from the Hollywood system, but what an honour and a privilege to work with him.”
He would talk about his time in the Hollywood machine. “I used to love story time with Mickey, hearing about Judy [Garland],” Rhonda says. “Judy was one of my pin-up girls growing up. That was the amazing thing about working with Mickey, because they’d done so many films together.”
Since then, Rhonda has built a remarkable stage career, yet Anastasia, she says, is “probably the most beautiful show I’ve ever been in”. She plays Countess Lily in the story based on the myth that the youngest Romanov daughter escaped the execution of the Russian imperial family.
“It’s beautifully presented,” Rhonda says. “I’m married to a Belarussian.” For 41 years, she has been married to Nikolai Jeuniewic. “I’ve never seen him more excited about wanting to tell me the history of that whole Russian situation with the Bolsheviks.”
Anastasia the Musical is touring Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Visit anastasiathemusical.com.au.
Rhonda’s Christmas picks
What snacks do you leave out for Santa?
A nice bottle of wine. Santa likes a drink.
Favourite Christmas carol?
Being a sentimental fool, my mum and dad’s absolute favourite was Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Favourite part of Christmas Day?
Big, big, full stomach, going to bed early and then getting up and eating the leftovers.
New Year’s resolution?
If you have the impulse to do something, do those things, rather than regret later on.
This article originally appeared in the Christmas 2025 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Subscribe so you never miss an issue.
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