SHORT TAKES : Canadian Actor Takes Big Leap

Singer and actor David Malek has sidestepped Broadway and leaped from Toronto’s tiny theater scene to London’s West End by winning the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical, “Aspects of Love.”

Malek, who is from Ottawa, is taking over for David Greer as Alex in the musical playing at London’s Prince of Wales Theater.

The role will almost guarantee Malek future stardom by putting him in the center of the Lloyd Webber star-making machine.

“Everything he has done has been a big hit,” Malek, 26, said in a recent interview in Toronto.

“It really is a great opportunity for me to move forward. Being so close to New York, I always thought the next step was going to be Broadway, but if you look at where all the musicals have been created over the last few years, London is it,” Malek said.