THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Charles Gilbert (1888-91)

Baritone Charles Gilbert made his first appearance in a D'Oyly Carte program in February 1888 when he created the part of Smithers, the butler, in the Desprez & Cellier companion piece Mrs. Jarramie's Genie at the Savoy. Later that year he filled in for Rutland Barrington as the Sergeant of Police (April 1888) and Pooh-Bah (September 1888) in the first Savoy revivals of The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. During the original production of The Yeomen of the Guard he deputized briefly for Wallace Brownlow as the Lieutenant of the Tower (February 1889), then for W. H. Denny as Wilfred Shabolt (November 1889), while continuing to play Smithers in Mrs. Jarramie's Genie. He next created the mysterious part of Ottavio in the Company's new production of The Gondoliers (December 1889).

In April 1890 Gilbert joined D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "B" on tour as Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers. When The Yeomen of the Guard was added to the tour in December he took up Shadbolt as well.

Charles Gilbert left the D'Oyly Carte organization in July 1891. He returned to London where he played Captain Clay in the farcical comedy The Planter (Prince of Wales's, October-November 1891), before transferring to the Lyric where he was the original Luigi Spaghetti in W. S. Gilbert & Alfred Cellier's The Mountebanks (January-August 1892). He also appeared in Lyric companion pieces The Sentry (January-June 1892) and Opposition (June-August 1892), and later productions there of Incognita and Beef Tea (both October 1892-January 1893).

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