The London Musical Stage of 1894
by Michael Walters

This paper is based on a talk and concert given to the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of London on Thursday 17 November 1994. There were some last minute changes in cast owing to the sudden illness of Brendan Beales, who could not be present. Victor Golding, who was in the audience, offered to sing two numbers without rehearsal, and in the following programme, the names in square brackets indicate the singer who was originally intended to sing that number.

Singers: [Brendan Beales], Victor Golding, Christopher Gutteridge, Orla Kennedy, Cassie Leanaghan, Kevin McRae, Melanie McRae, Selwyn Tillett, Michael Walters, Zoe White.

At the piano: Selwyn Tillett [and Brendan Beales].

Narrator: Michael Walters

MIRETTE: By Harry Greenbank, Frederic E. Weatherly, Adrian Ross and Andre Messager.

THE SHOP GIRL: by H.J.W. Dam and Ivan Caryll.

INTERVAL

THE CHIEFTAIN: by Francis Burnand and Arthur Sullivan.

HIS EXCELLENCY: by W.S. Gilbert and Osmond Carr.

When Utopia Ltd. closed on 9 June 1894, it was replaced at the Savoy by a French operetta written especially for the occasion. This opened on 3 July. Mirette was devised by Michel Carr who wrote the dialogue and a few of the lyrics in French; Harry Greenbank translated the French into English, that one-man lyric factory Fred E. Weatherly wrote the songs, and Andr Messager composed the music to fit the English lyrics. One asks - Why?

To answer this question (in part), we may turn to The World of 11 July 1894. This is George Bernard Shaw at his most vitriolic:

Mirette was interesting enough from a critical point of view. I have made a careful analysis of it, and have formed the following opinion as to the process by which it was produced. First, it was decided, in view of the essentially English character of the Savoy enterprise, to engage a French librettist and a French composer. Then came the appalling difficulty that Frenchmen are often clever, and are consequently in danger of writing above the heads of the British public. Consequently Messager was selected as, having learnt by the financial failure of his Basoche at the Royal English Opera (now a music hall) how very stupid the English nation is. Carr was warned to ascertain the exact British gauge by a careful preliminary study of the works of Mr. Weatherley, the most popular of English providers of words for music.

The Times, continued on a similar theme:

Carr ... must think very poorly of English dramatic taste in the present day, if he supposes the London public to be capable of taking an interest in the loves of two couples, one in high life, and the other a pair of gypsies, when there is really nothing provided in the way of action except that the aristocrat and the gypsy girl imagine themselves in love with each other for the greater part of three acts ... one is constantly reminded of such old-fashioned productions as the Bohemian Girl and Maritana, to say nothing of one scene being almost an exact replica of a situation in Esmeralda.

(Esmeralda, of course, was an opera by Sullivan's pupil Arthur Goring Thomas, based on the Hunchback of Notre Dame).

The story of Mirette was described by the critic of Vanity Fair as follows:

Mirette is a gypsy maiden. That is to say, she is not really a gypsy maiden, but has been found under a gooseberry bush by the head gypsy, and has been adopted by his band. A good deal of stress is laid upon this fact, but nothing comes of it. Probably the authors intended to make her the lost heiress of a widowed Duchess, and then altered their minds. Anyhow, Picorin, a gypsy, falls in love with her, and she rather likes him. But presently, a young noble, Gerard, finds her asleep under a tree, and makes love to her.

A comic gypsy, Bobinet, is hidden in the tree and "overhears all". But nothing comes of it. The young noble retires, and presently returns with soldiers. The gypsies all hide under blankets and rags, but nothing comes of it. They emerge suddenly for no reason, and the soldiers arrest several of them, as they originally intended to. Why they are arrested is not stated, though it does not particularly matter. Nothing comes of it.

Mirette herself goes as lady help to the aunt of Gerard, where Picorin is engaged as major-domo. It is distinctly stated that only one month elapses between the first and second acts, so of course nothing is more natural than that Picorin, a gypsy, should in that short space of time obtain employment as the most responsible of all domestic servants in a large household. But possibly Picorin was a footman or something before he became a gypsy.

As a grand fete is being given, Gerard, having thought that the gypsies were the right people to arrest in the first act, thinks they are the right people to invite in the second to come and amuse his aunt. She, however, wishes to humiliate Mirette, for whom Gerard has developed an affection; so she insists on Mirette resuming her gypsy habit and entertaining the company with a song and dance. This Mirette does, and then rushes away with her old companions to the adjacent forest, leaving Gerard so affected that he refuses to marry his cousin. But nothing comes of it. Gerard promptly changes his mind and resumes his cousin, when he discovers that Mirette and Picorin are travelling about together - quite platonically [Ho, ho!] - with a booth. Then Mirette says that she has loved Picorin all along; and why on earth she did not say so at an earlier stage of the proceedings is not very evident. A more trivial story has rarely been told at such inordinate length to an indulgent audience.

But not everyone held this view. The critic of the Pall Mall Budget, who left early, recounted a rather touching episode, too good to be lost:

The opera was not over, I blush to confess; indeed, the third act had not long begun. Two ladies went before me up the pit stairs hurrying for a train; and I heard one remark to the other, "Its such a pity we have to go, isn't it? I should have liked to know who she marries!" Thus, the story, which to me was naught, was evidently of absorbing interest to these fair playgoers. They could scarcely tear themselves away from a theatre which I was leaving of my own free will and despite remonstrances of conscience. There you have an example of the difference between the professional play-taster and the theatre-loving public; and this brings me, by a natural transition, to consider the question, "Ought criticism to be abolished?"

After the opera had been running for a time, D'Oyly Carte was obliged to close the Savoy for a few months owing to the London County Council requiring structural alterations. Carte took this opportunity to have the opera considerably rewritten by the reliable Adrian Ross. In fact it was almost like a new opera, certainly the differences were as great as those between The Contrabandista and The Chieftain.

The Morning Advertiser commented on the Mark 2 version:

Messager, in addition to the many new numbers which he has written, has materially added to the strength of his orchestration, and the present score of Mirette is not unworthy of the composer of La Basoche. But the original music would have passed muster if the libretto had been better ... Mr. Adrian Ross it would appear, has had a very free hand allowed him, for he has supplied what is to a great extent, a new book. Three or four minor characters have gone by the board, and two others have had their interest materially strengthened, but the best improvement of all is the alteration which has taken place in the story and its development. In the old version there was a want of clearness and dramatic intention [very French, no doubt], and, in spite of the fact that the authors tried to make their love interest very sentimental and sympathetic, their arrows went wide of the mark, and the general effect was incongruous. Mr. Ross has altered all that, and in his first act puts the audience in possession of a clear and intelligible idea of what is and what will be, and in the next two acts develops that idea with workmanlike consistency, and brings it to a fitting and satisfactory conclusion, while treating it altogether in a lighter and more agreeable vein than his predecessors. The characters also have been drawn with a much firmer hand, and their actions are as reasonable as the exigencies of light opera permit. The young baron who falls in love at first sight with the gypsy Mirette now leaves all his wealth to follow her, and at the beginning of the third act is seen dressed up as a pantaloon assisting the gypsy band in their entertainment at a village fair, but three weeks of a nomad's life has cured him of his infatuation for Mirette, while she, on her part, has found out that a nobleman masquerading as a Romany loses the subtle aroma of the fairy prince of imagination, and so, while Mons. Gerard is only too happy to get back to his friends and the ill-used Bianca, Mirette resolves to reward the faithful Picorin with her hand and [unlike Meryll] heart.

There had been a hiatus in the casting of the title role, Marie Tempest, Lillian Russell, and "the brilliant but strangely neglected" Aida Jenoure had been considered and declined. Maud Ellicott was a new name. She received the interviewer of The Sketch sitting on a sofa, wearing: a dress of French-grey crpon, with a veston and sleeves of guipure, and amber-coloured bretelles of silk, and though the heat made the very furniture perspire, she looked so cool that the sight of her was as refreshing as an ice-cream.

Her fiance was also present. They were to be married two nights after the piece opened, and she would retire after it closed. She was born in Calcutta, her father English, her mother the daughter of a Scotsman and a native. She was playing in an amateur production of Iolanthe in Calcutta in 1893, when she was seen by the critic Clement Scott, who advised her to go on the stage. She had already studied in England at the Royal Academy. She came back to England in autumn 1893, armed with a letter of introduction from Scott to D'Oyly Carte. She replaced Nancy McIntosh for three performances of Utopia Ltd. and was sent on tour as Zara. "The papers spoke kindly and the people applauded warmly" (her words).

Of her performance, the Era remarked, guardedly:

Miss Maud Ellicott was a most attractive representative of Mirette, her success in acting, being, perhaps, greater than in singing, and her appearance as the gypsy maiden was prepossessing.

While the Times said:

Miss Maud Ellicott takes the title part with much success; she is a lively actress, and she uses a not very agreeable voice with great skill.

When the Mark 2 version opened, it was with a new leading lady, but the press were less than chivalrous to the unfortunate soprano who stepped into Maud Ellicott's shoes. On 22 September, the Era had announced that Miss Ellicott would play the part in the amended version, but she evidently preferred wedded bliss, and a fortnight later the opera opened with Kate Rolla in the part.

Kate Rolla was American and before coming to London, had sung in all the larger cities of Italy, in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Berlin. She had studied in Paris with Madame Marchesi, and made her debut at Milan in Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix. About 7 years previous to her Savoy engagement she had appeared in Dublin, 3 years later she was called upon to sing Donna Elvira at very short notice at Covent Garden. This led to a long engagement with Sir Augustus Harris, after which she returned to America as a concert singer. She was said to have played most of the principal female roles in Italian opera, and to have a repertory of some forty parts. Mirette was the first she had sung in English.

The Era

It is only fair to Miss Rolla to state that a certain want of flexibility and the absence of a sympathetic quality of tone were probably due to the cold from which she was suffering. In her acting Miss Rolla played the gypsy heroine from a drawing room point of view. It was hard to fancy this brilliantly attired lady as the companion of Bohemians who, as their leader says "Rob by night, while kings rob by day". When Miss Rolla is in full possession of her powers she will doubtless impart greater vivacity to the character. The Referee

Miss Kate Rolla ... comes to the Savoy after having graduated in Italian opera, and brings to the part of Mirette a ripe talent for singing and acting, and a grand style which is not always suitable to humble work of this class. Miss Rolla, however, may not have any peculiarly distinctive characteristics, but she has a good voice and a pleasing, if somewhat distant, manner.

St. James's Budget

Miss Kate Rolla was born on the other side of the Atlantic [makes it sound like the wrong side of the blanket], and in her best days she was probably as good as many other of those American singers who (fortunately) come to us in such numbers. Those days, however, have passed away. Miss Rolla possesses a fine voice, somewhat the worse for wear, and she sings like an educated artist; but her acting is of the conventional operatic kind, and she persists in singing, after the Italian manner, to the audience when she ought to address herself to her colleagues in the piece. On the whole, Miss Kate Rolla is about as well suited to light opera as the slight and slender Miss Florence Perry, with her pretty little voice, is to serious opera of the most intensely dramatic pattern.

Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

It is obvious that a heavy prima donna should not be put into a light part, and yet this is the mistake of which Mr. Richard D'Oyly Carte with all his managerial astuteness has been guilty ... Miss Kate Rolla ... is the roundest peg, in a square hole we have seen for sometime. She is supposed to portray a bright, vivacious, captivating little gypsy queen, and what she makes of it is the lymphatic fair-haired queen of pantomime who sweeps down to the footlights to sing her song, and whose idea of acting and gesture mainly consists of two or three set automatic movements of the arms. Surely we are not so destitute of attractive vocalists as appearances would lead us to imagine; but if we must go to America for our prima donnas, then in pity's sake let them send us of her youth and keep the much maturer article for the Wild West. Sportsman

Notwithstanding the reputation she brings from the concert room and the operatic stage, Miss Kate Rolla makes but an indifferent Mirette. The voice, though well-trained, is somewhat worn, and not - at any rate in the upper register - of very pleasing quality; nor, as it happens, has the lady those qualifications of youth and youthful slimness which are well nigh indispensible for such a role as this.

On 27 October, The Era printed the following notice:

Miss Florence St. John has been engaged by Mr. D'Oyly Carte to undertake the role of Mirette. This week the role has been played by Elaine Gryce.

The previous week it had commented:

Miss Kate Rolla has been obliged to abandon for the present, the title role in Mirette, at the Savoy Theatre, as her medical adviser has forbidden her to sing for some time.

Her departure after less than a month due to "illness" was probably Carte's diplomatic way of sacking her. Years later, Ellen Beach Yaw was permitted to leave on the same terms. Kate Rolla never appeared for D'Oyly Carte again. Florence St.John "saved" the show. The Era purred:

Mirette has gained in favour, and the other artists, stimulated by Miss St.John's presence, act and sing with greater animation.

Walter Passmore, as Bobinet, was playing his first big lead. The Times didn't like him:

It is sad to see the well-intentioned efforts of Mr. Walter Passmore accepted as a satisfactory exposition of humour on the boards that are no longer trodden by Mr. Grossmith, Mr. Barrington, or even Mr. Denny. Yet it is not the fault of their successor that the comic part of the piece goes for so little, and, after all, he dances very nimbly.

But the Era was kinder:

Mr. Passmore bids set fair to become a very popular comedian. He has a strong sense of humour, and is very ready in making the most of any droll situation, while much of his comic business is spontaneous and amusing and told well with the audience. In fact, Mr. Passmore is an acqusition to the company, and will, we think, become a favourite at the Savoy

Walter Passmore was born in London on 10 May 1867 and died on 29 August 1946. He was educated privately, and began as a choirboy at All Saints, Notting Hill, also being apprenticed for 3 years in Cramers' piano factory. On Christmas morning 1881 he sang in The Messiah, and the following day made his first professional appearance at Sunderland with the Majiltons in the title role in "Cinderella"! His first London appearance was in 1893 as Greg, one of the two "bulldogs" in Jane Annie, followed by Tarara in Utopia Ltd.. He was now settled at the Savoy where he remained in D'Oyly Carte employ till 1903, interpreting the comic roles as successor to Grossmith.

The Shop Girl was written by H.J.W. Dam. Music by Ivan Caryll, Additional numbers by Adrian Ross, and Lionel Monckton. It was produced at the Gaiety Theatre on 24 November 1894 and ran for 546 performances. It underwent many changes during this period, including the normal practice with musical comedies, of replacing songs with other new ones every time there was a change of cast.

The story takes place in a shop, and is about (would you believe) a shop girl, who is believed to be a missing heiress to a mining fortune. After several mistaken identities, the real heiress proves to be a different shop girl from the one originally thought. In the meantime everyone is making love to, and proposing marriage to, just about everybody else. And they all live happily ever after. Typical musical comedy.

In the early part of 1894, Jessie Bond was appearing in such pieces as Go-Bang by Adrian Ross and Osmund Carr, and Wapping Old Stairs by Stuart Robertson and Howard Talbot. Of her appearances in these operas she says little in her memoirs, but it would appear that the press considered her to be wasting her time and talents. Of her appearance in Go-Bang the Era said:

In the process of "working-up" it is desirable that - if possible - Miss Jessie Bond's part shall be improved. She has little chance of employing those powers of arch humour of which she has so often given proof. Almost her only real "opportunity" comes just before the conclusion of the comedy, in the shape of a ballad beginning "Did you but know, my lover" which brings down the house. Her charmingly piquant style has small scope in any of the scenes.

Go-Bang was performed at the Trafalgar Theatre, whose proprietor was Frank Wyatt, of Gondoliers fame. The cast included George Grossmith junior as Lt. the Honourable Augustus Fitzpoop, Sidney Howard (he must have been very young then) as Wang, the guardian of the Golden Canopy. Jessie played Helen, the daughter of Sir Reddan Tapeleigh.

I was unable to trace a score of Wapping Old Stairs but I read the libretto, many years ago. Allardyce Nicoll in his History of the English Theatre, lists it as the only play Stuart Robertson ever wrote, and it is not difficult to see why. It is a trivial story about life in the docklands. It was tried out for 3 performances at the Theatre Royal, Kings Lynn from 4-6 January 1894, before opening at the Vaudeville Theatre on 17 February. Apart from Richard Temple, the Kings Lynn cast was quite undistinguished. In London, Courtice Pounds, Avon Saxon and Jessie Bond joined the cast. The press felt that Jessie was above blame, whatever the demerits of the piece:

The Times

It need be said with what zest Miss Jessie Bond throws herself into the part of a slatternly servant girl whose head has been turned by reading "penny novelettes".

The Era

Miss Jessie Bond was better off than Mr. Temple, and the humorous archness and piquant drollery of her representation of Susan Sinnett were irresistible. The "slavey" who reads penny novelettes has appeared in dozens of melodramas and domestic comedies; but that fact does not prevent Miss Bond from scoring the only memorable success of the evening ... the single scene ... was well painted ... and one of the very best moons we saw on the stage rose in the second act . Miss Jessie Bond and the practicable moon were the only two things in Wapping Old Stairs that made any positive impression on us.

Among the other new productions that year were Jaunty Jane Shore by Richard Henry, music by John Crook, at the Royal Strand Theatre. It ran for 56 performances. The cast included Ada Doree, who, 10 years before, had been savaged by the press as Mrs. Partlett in the first revival of The Sorcerer. After that opera closed she was sent out on tour in the same role. That was her last appearance under D'Oyly Carte management, but in the early 1890s she appeared in several London productions. Her last traceable appearance was as Dame Ursula in Jaunty Jane Shore.

The historical Jane Shore was a mistress of King Edward IV and was accused of sorcery by Richard III so that he might seize her lands. In the burlesque, she is the daughter of a publican, engaged to a pawnbroker, but really loves a baker. She is sought after by the rest of the male cast and the "plot" (for want of a better term) concerns everyone's efforts to wed and/or bed her.

King Kodak, a burlesque by Arthur Branscombe, music by John Crook, Walter Slaughter, Edward Solomon, Alfred Plumpton, Milton Wellings, Herman von der Fink and Lionel Monckton. It achieved 63 performances at Terry's Theatre. The slight plot concerned an English explorer who finds gold in Africa and has built up a buffer state round his mines over which he rules, and which has grown large enough to be of interest to the world's powers.

The cast included George de Pledge who had appeared as Sir Arthur Rougegorge in Ruddy George, and then toured as Go-To and the Carpenter's Mate, He understudied Sir Richard Cholmondeley at the Savoy, created Giorgio in The Gondoliers, and understudied Don Alhambra. He reappeared in a small role in Haddon Hall, played in a matinee performance of Barrington's Bartonmere Towers at the Savoy and was Michael de Vere, Earl of Margate in Mr. Jericho. The following year he appeared as Lt. Jack Broadsides in King Kodak and later as Muley Muzpha in Eastward Ho. That seems to have been his last appearance in London.

Claude Duval by Frederick Bower and Arthur Roberts, music by John Crook and Lionel Monckton. John Crook seems to have been busy this year. He was a prolific composer, but the only music of his to survive in the repertoire is his incidental music to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Claude Duval notched up 142 performances at the Prince of Wales's Theatre and the cast included Savoyards Eric Thorne, W.H. Denny and Leonard Russell. A quite different opera with the same title had been toured by D'Oyly Carte 12 years previously.

The Queen of Brilliants by Brandon Thomas, with music by Edward Jacobowski. It ran for 41 performances at the Lyceum, and included W.H. Denny, John le Hay, Avon Saxon, Fred Storey, Fred Wright and Lillian Russell. The piece concerns a wayward tomboy beauty (Lillian Russell) who leaves a nunnery to join a circus, the proprietor of which has a wonderful diamond necklace which he requires a beautiful young lady to wear as queen of the "brilliants".

Lillian Russell (Nellie to her friends), was born at Clinton, Iowa, on 4 December 1861. She appeared in the chorus of one of the pirated productions of H.M.S. Pinafore. Next, she joined the management of Tony Pastor who mounted a burlesque of The Pirates of Penzance, entitled The Pie Rats of Penn Yann. Sullivan and D'Oyly Carte who were in New York, went to see it and were captivated by Lillian as Mabel. They approached her to appear in the official version on tour, and she gleefully refused, allegedly because 6 months earlier she had haunted D'Oyly Carte's hotel in New York, hoping for work, and he had refused to see her.

All My Eye-Van-Hoe, a burlesque of Ivanhoe by Philip Hayman, music by John Crook, Howard Talbot, Philip Hayman, Edward Solomon and others. It ran for 9 performances at the Trafalgar Theatre. The characters included Robert Fitzpoof, Seedie Wreck, Mithter Ithaacths, Boilden Oiley, Lady Alicia Fitzworse, and Miss Rebecca Hothouse Peach. You can guess why it only ran for 9 performances. In fact it was a fiasco. Howard Talbot had to take the producers to court to pay for the songs they had commissioned. His claims amounted to #42. 1s and 10d. Fred Story also had to take them to court for 8 weeks guaranteed salary at #17 per week.

Eastward Ho!, originally produced as The Caliph and then as The Black Cat (I confess I don't quite see the connection). It achieved a London run of only 6 performances at the Opera Comique. George de Pledge was in the cast, as the Caliph.

The Saucy Sultana by Victor Stevens, produced at the Cambridge Theatre.

Giddy Miss Carmen by Sidney Lester, music by John Crook, Meyer Lutz, Sidney Jones, C. Scott Gatty, Jimmie Glover, May Ostlere, etc. (it says. I don't know how many other names the etc concealed). Produced at the Brighton Aquarium. The dolphins must have loved it.

The County Councillor by H. Graham, music by John Crook.

The House of Lords by Harry Greenbank. Music by George Byng (who was the conductor for some of the 1920s complete recordings of the G&S operas) and Ernest Ford (of Jane Annie notoriety). Furneaux Cook was in the cast.

A Knight Errant by Rutland Barrington, music by Alfred Caldicott (of whom Gervase Hughes said "he was never cured of an apparent inability to find inspiration in any time signature other than 6/8"). It ran at the Lyric Theatre as a curtain raiser to His Excellency.

The Chieftain by F.C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan, was produced at the Savoy Theatre on 12 December 1894 and ran for a miserable 96 performances. The cast included Rosina Brandram as Inez, Walter Passmore as Grigg, and Scott Fishe as Ferdinand.

After Mirette, Florence St.John remained at the Savoy to create Rita in The Chieftain. She had begun in Music Hall, but soon started to make her way as a full-blown opera singer as one of the ugly sisters in Rossini's Cinderella. After this she appeared at the Crystal Palace in such roles as Cherubino, the title role in Maritana and Azucena. Her repertory included both florid soprano and dramatic contralto roles, and she had a wide vocal range as well as considerable histrionic versatility. This is borne out by the only gramophone record she is known to have made.

She then launched herself into French operetta, playing a wide range of parts. On the opening night of The Chieftain, the critic of The Times was in an ungallant mood, but others were of more favourable opinion:

The Times

Miss Florence St.John, whose long period of servitude to a lower type of entertainment has left little trace on her style, though her voice has naturally lost much of its old freshness, is completely successful as Rita.

Theatre

... was delightfully frank and charming The Era

... has rarely been so successful in humorous acting

and brilliant singing ... gave the greatest possible interest to the character of Rita. Her sprightly humour and brilliant vocal powers were invaluable.

She then temporarily left Savoy management, but returned to play the title role in The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. Her last major appearance on the musical comedy stage was in Floradora. Her subsequent career was principally as a straight actress, in a series of now forgotten plays.

Passmore had the part of Peter Adolphus Grigg and seems to have scored a triumph.

The Times

Mr. Passmore is better suited to the part of Grigg than in any which he has yet undertaken, and his singing of the

famous "From Rock to Rock" was deservedly encored.

The Era

He displayed abundant drollery and his singing of the lively music was admirable .. In fact Mr. Passmore proved himself a vocal comedian of the highest ability, and the enthusiastic applause he won was amply merited. [His] cleverness was displayed in every scene both vocally and histrionically. His entire performance of Grigg deserved the highest commendation.

His Excellency by W.S. Gilbert and F. Osmund Carr, was produced at the Lyric Theatre on 27 October 1894 and ran for 162 performances. The cast included Rutland Barrington as the Prince Regent, George Grossmith as the Governor Griffenfeld, John le Hay as the Syndic, Charles Kenningham as Erling, Nancy Macintosh as Christina the ballad singer, Jessie Bond and Ellaline Terriss as the Governor's two daughters, Arthur Playfair as Harold and Gertrude Aylward as Blanca, a vivandiere.

Nancy McIntosh was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She was described as an expert horsewoman, won prizes in sculling matches, could shoot and fence, played baseball and cricket and enjoyed swimming and diving, clearly a recipe for the "English Girl" of Goldbury's song in Utopia Ltd. She came to London to study music with Sir George Henschel. At a party at Henschel's house Gilbert met and was at once struck by her, or as some have implied, infatuated. He engaged her for the leading soprano role in Utopia Ltd., apparently completely redesigning it to accommodate her, and subsequently adopted her as his daughter and heir. She had a comparatively short stage career, the reasons for this have never been clear and have been the subject of speculations and unfounded comments in the G&S literature.

Gilbert planned His Excellency to be played at the Savoy, and in John Wolfson's opinion the reason it was not (in other words, the reason why Sullivan declined to set it) was because Gilbert insisted that Nancy McIntosh be given a part. Gilbert then approached George Henschel to set His Excellency but this proposal also fell through. Eventually the opera was composed by Osmund Carr.

John Le Hay, one of the more interesting members of the cast, was born in Ireland and made his stage debut at the Kings Cross Theatre, subsequently travelled with a minstrel troupe, and was in 1879 engaged as a member of the chorus and understudy to the principal tenor in a production of The Zoo at the Royalty Theatre. Later the same year he joined the chorus of the "2nd Pinafore Company" in Exeter and Torquay. It was, of course, the Torquay company who were selected to give the copyright performance of The Pirates of Penzance at Paignton. Le Hay was selected to play the role of James, later cut from the opera, so that Le Hay was, in effect, the only person ever to play the part.

He created Tom Strutt in Dorothy, Crook in Cellier's Doris, Phantis in Utopia Ltd. and the small role of Mats Munck in His Excellency in which he was singled out for special praise.

He was an excellent ventriloquist, and appeared on several occasions before King Edward VII. H. Chance Newton in his book Idols of the Halls (1928) says:

One of the best of ventriloquists ... was undoubtedly the brilliant actor John Le Hay ... He was long a comic operatic and straight part player with a singularly pleasing tenor voice ... Le Hay's figure was that of a grumbling old man with a comic growl ... condemned to wear "rotten cotton gloves". This catch phrase uttered in varying tones of deeper and deeper misery never failed to evoke hurricanes of laughter.

In an Era interview, Le Hay remarked:

My experience ... is that it is generally left to the ... comedian to do the best he can. As a rule, the author doesn't put any fun into comic parts ... As soon as you get together a musical production, you can depend upon it that there will be no humour in the book. It has to be supplied by the comedian ... You had no such trouble with Gilbert and Sullivan's pieces. One never had to worry as to what the part would be like - all you had to do was to play it. Personally, I would not care to put a single gag in any piece if there were good and funny lines for me to speak.

Would that more present day "comedians" playing Gilbert and Sullivan thought the same!

Charles Kenningham was born circa 1860 in Hull, Yorkshire. The Kenninghams were a prominent Hull family whose influence on the musical life of the city extended over 125 years, as conductors, organists, choristers and instrumentalists. Their services extended to the cathedrals of Salisbury, York and London.

Charles was a choirboy at St. Paul's Cathedral and in 1886 joined the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. His stage debut was as De Bracy in Ivanhoe, followed by L'Eville in The Basoche. He then toured during 1891 in The Nautch Girl and The Vicar of Bray. In August 1892 he was transferred to the Savoy to create the second tenor role of Oswald in Haddon Hall, being promoted to principal tenor in Jane Annie. After this, Kenningham created Fitzbattleaxe in Utopia Ltd, then went on tour in the same opera, while Courtice Pounds returned to the Savoy to play in Mirette and The Chieftain. Kenningham named his house on Barnes Common "Utopia". He created Erling in His Excellency then continued to tour until he returned to the Savoy to play Nanki-Poo in the 1895 revival, subsequently he created Ernest Dummkopf in The Grand Duke, Prince Max in His Majesty, Fairfax in the revival of The Yeomen of the Guard and Fritz in The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein.

He appeared in only one more production at the Savoy, the revival of The Gondoliers in 1898, leaving the same year for Australia where he was employed by the J.C. Williamson Company. He is said to have sung all over "the colonies" in a great many light operas, and to have been a great favourite with audiences there.

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