THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Margaret Mitchell as Patience in Patience

Margaret Mitchell (1944-51)

[Born Dollar, Scotland 1927, died 13 Jan 1994]

Soprano Margaret Patricia Kelso Mitchell auditioned for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at age fifteen. Told she was too young, she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company chorus two years later in July 1944. She took the small part of Fleta in Iolanthe in January 1945, and Edith in The Pirates of Penzance in September of that year. In November 1945, upon the departure of Margery Abbott, she took on Lady Ella in Patience, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Kate in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Casilda in The Gondoliers.

Miss Mitchell gave up Edith in 1946 (though she deputized in the role briefly in September 1948) and Kate in 1947, while taking on Patience in Patience (shared with Helen Roberts in 1946-48), and Phyllis in Iolanthe (shared with Miss Roberts in 1946-47). She added Rose Maybud when Ruddigore was revived in November 1948. For the balance of her D'Oyly Carte career she appeared as Patience, Phyllis, Yum-Yum, Rose, and Casilda. She left the D'Oyly Carte in August 1951.

Miss Mitchell was on five Decca LP recordings of the operas made in 1950 and 1951 (as Yum-Yum, Casilda, Rose, Phyllis, and Patience). She also sang Yum-Yum on a 1951 BBC radio broadcast.

Margaret Mitchell later appeared in London as Sonia in The Merry Widow (Stoll, 1952), and in the revue Over the Moon (Piccadilly and Casino, 1953). She ultimately went into pantomime at the urging of producer Tom Arnold, and enjoyed immediate success as a principal boy.

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