THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Sybil Evers

Sybil Evers (1930-31)

[Born Rugby, Warwickshire 19 Jun 1904, died Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire 24 Jun 1963]

Sybil Marjorie Evers made her first London appearance in June 1927 as Nixie in a single performance of The Ladder, a musical fantasy at Daly's Theatre.

She appeared with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from March 1930 to September 1931, taking the small parts of Kate in The Pirates of Penzance, the Lady Saphir in Patience, Leila in Iolanthe, Peep-Bo in The Mikado, and Vittoria in The Gondoliers.She also deputized on occasion for Marjorie Eyre as Tessa in The Gondoliers and Mad Margaret in Ruddigore.

She married Harold M. Abrahams, the 1924 Olympic champion in the 100 meter dash and subject of the film Chariots of Fire.(Miss Evers is misidentified in the film as "Sybil Gordon.")

Miss Evers returned to the London Stage in January 1934, appearing in a children's play called Ever So Long Ago at the Cambridge.It was reportedly the first play attended by Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II.Over the next several years Miss Evers appeared in legitimate plays and comic opera at the Open Air, Winter Garden, Criterion, Arts, and Scala Theatres. Her last appearance was as Hansel in Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel at the Scala in December 1938.

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