THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Richard Andean as Major Murgatroyd in Patience

Richard Andean (1906-07)

[Born Bristol]

Richard Andean joined the D’Oyly Carte for the First Repertory Season at the Savoy in December 1906 playing the small role of First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard. In April 1907, he took the part of Major Murgatroyd in Patience when that opera was added to the repertory. He also appeared briefly on tour in July 1907, substituting as Major Murgatroyd in Patience, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, and Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard.

He left the Company shortly thereafter, appearing on the London Stage in several productions between 1908 and 1922. During this stretch, Andean also traveled to South Africa with a "Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company" in a repertoire of seven Gilbert & Sullivan operas. They opened in Johannesburg in June 1920, with Andean as Ko-Ko in The Mikado. His other roles on the tour were the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury, Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers.

In 1929 he was engaged by a local amateur operatic society to coach the performers in a jubilee production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Bijou Theatre, Paignton.




Page modified January 27, 2004 © 2001-04 David Stone