THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Edward Connell

Edward Connell (1882-83)

[Born Spitalfields, London c.1842, Died New York, N.Y. 1 Mar 1891]

Edward Connell appeared in both Gilbert's Ages Ago (as Angus McTavish) and Sullivan's Cox and Box (as Sergeant Bouncer) in a double bill at German Reed's Gallery of Illustration from November 1869 to March 1870. In October 1875 he replaced Charles Kelleher as the Usher during the first run of Trial by Jury at the Royalty Theatre, London, when Charles Morton succeeded Richard D'Oyly Carte as general manager. Trial ran until December, then transferred to the Opera Comique in January 1876 where it ran until May.Connell left the cast in April. In 1876 he played Captain Flint as the St. James's Theatre in a revival of Alfred Cellier's The Sultan of Mocha.

While Connell's engagements in Trial by Jury were not under D'Oyly Carte management, he eventually did spend six weeks with the D'Oyly Carte organization. He appeared as Private Willis with Carte's Second American Iolanthe Company at the Lyceum Theatre, Philadelphia, beginning December 5, 1882. It was his only role with a D'Oyly Carte Company.

Connell had earlier come to America, appearing with the Alice Oates Opera Company as Captain Corcoran in one of the country's first H.M.S. Pinafore productions at the Bush Street Theatre, San Francisco, on December 23, 1878. He made his New York debut on March 31, 1879, with the Oates Company in Lecocq's Le Petit Duc. Between 1879 and 1890, Connell appeared often in New York and Philadelphia light opera programs with a variety of companies. His roles included a reprise of Sergeant Bouncer in Cox and Box (St. Francis Xavier's New College Hall, May 1883), and Captain Corcoran in Pinafore (Cosmopolitan Theatre, July 1884). In 1885-86, Connell played the Arch Street Opera House in Philadelphia with H. B. Mahn's company in a repertoire that included Princess Toto (as Zapeter) and a pirated version of The Mikado (as Pooh Bah). The following year, at that city's Casino Theatre, his roles included the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance and Christpher Crab in Stephens & Solomon's Billee Taylor.

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