Ione Burke

Ione Burke was an American Broadway performer whose stage career spanned the early 1860s and extended into the 1870s. Her verified Broadway credits include productions of Oliver Twist, Tib, The Fair One with the Golden Locks, The Invincibles, and Blondette, among others, with her documented Broadway appearances running from 1860 to 1863.

Beyond her early Broadway work, Burke was among the original cast of Evangeline; or, The Belle of Acadia, a musical extravaganza with music by Edward E. Rice and a book and lyrics by J. Cheever Goodwin. The production, loosely derived from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 epic poem, debuted at Niblo's Garden in New York City on July 27, 1874. Burke and Lizzie Harold shared the title role on an alternating basis during the initial run, which comprised 16 performances before the production moved on to a touring engagement. Other members of the original cast included James Dunn, W. H. Crane as LeBlanc, Connie Thompson in the trouser role of Gabriel, and Louis Mestayer in drag as Gabriel's aunt Catherine.

The 1874 production of Evangeline was funded by Rice himself and billed as an "American extravaganza," a designation the creators settled on after rejecting both "American burlesque" and "American opéra-bouffe" as unsuitable labels. Though the initial New York run was modest in scale, the show was subsequently revised and went on to considerable success, including a Boston production the following year, a return to New York in 1877, and a Broadway revival in 1885 that ran for 252 performances. Over the course of its many revivals and tours through the late nineteenth century, the production accumulated more than 3,000 total performances.