THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Richard Andean as Major Murgatroyd in Patience

Richard Andean (1906-07)

[Born Bristol 29 Dec 1873, died Dunster, Somerset 6 Jul 1943]

Richard William Andean sang as an amateur in his native Bristol, including a turn as Lord Chancellor in a local production of Iolanthe and one as the Physician in Hood and Sullivan's The Rose of Persia.

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.

His sister Adrienne also also a Savoy chorister and small part player between 1908 and (on tour) 1912.

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