THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Percy Blandford (1879)

[Born Bovey Tracey, Devon 1847, died Woodcote, Tenterden, Kent 15 Mar 1928]

Percy Blandford (full name Percy Blandford Weston) was known as a concert singer in Brighton and other provincial towns before embarking on a stage career in 1876. That year he toured with a Carl Rosa company as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.

His first and only appearance under D'Oyly Carte management was as Ralph Rackstraw in a touring Comedy Opera Company Ltd. production of H.M.S. Pinafore (Liverpool and Birmingham, April and May 1879).

Following the blow-up between D'Oyly Carte and the directors of the Comedy Opera Company in London, Blandford appeared as Ralph in the rival Pinafore at the Imperial and, later, the Royal Olympic Theatres there (August to October 1879). Subsequent performances in the early 1880s appear to have been limited to the concert stage.

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