THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Brian Crossley

Brian Crossley (1950-51)

[Born 2 Oct 1926, died Sandringham, Australia 8 Sep 2012]

Brian Stow Crossley trained at the Birmingham Repertory before joining the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company chorus for the 1950-51 season. He shared the small named parts of Mr. Bunthorne's Solicitor in Patience with Ernest Dale and First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard with Roy Roser, and on at least one occasion (November 1950) filled in for Peter Pratt as Major Murgatroyd in Patience. It was his only season with the Company.

Crossley also worked in musical comedy and revue in England before relocating to Australia in 1954.There he worked first with the Union Theatre Repertory Company, and toured Australia for the J. C. Williamsons in their 1956 season. Over the years he directed plays for various companies, and operas for the Victorian Opera, the Melbourne Opera, the Adelaide Festival Theatre (including Iolanthe, The Mikado, The Gondoliers), and Australian Opera in Sydney (Iolanthe).

In addition to his work in the theatre and opera houses, he directed numerous Australian television programs and appeared in several of them himself, most notably in a series called "World of Operetta," and as the lovable Mrs. Flower-Potts in a children's program, "Adventure Island," that aired for five years.

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