THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Charles Kelleher (1875, 1876, 1877)

[Born London c.1851, died 2 Oct 1878]

Charles Kelleher's first appearance in London may have been as an Officer in a new opera-bouffe version of The Black Crook (Alhambra, December 1872-August 1873). In 1874 he toured the midlands with Frederic Sullivan in The Contrabandista, Cox and Box and other operettas. Kelleher later appeared in Manchester and on tour as Fernando in Robert Reese & Frederic Clay's new comic opera Cattarina (August-December 1874).

He was Foreman of the Jury for the first few months of the original production of Trial by Jury at London's Royalty Theatre beginning March 25, 1875. He was also Don Pedro in Offenbach's La Perichole, the full-length attraction on the Royalty bill at the time. In April he stepped out of the jury box and replaced B. R. Pepper as the Usher, but in June 1875, when the Royalty closed and the Company went on tour, Kelleher left the cast, returning to Cattarina (by then playing at London's Charing Cross Theatre) as a replacement in the role of Nicolo.

Kelleher did have three further engagements under D'Oyly Carte management in 1876-77. He was Barthel in The Duke's Daughter when it played at the Royalty and Globe by Selina Dolaro's Company under the joint management of Carte and George Dolby. (He returned to the Usher's position at the Royalty in April 1876, though the production was no longer under Carte management.)

In June 1876, Mr. R. D'Oyly Carte's Opera Bouffe Company was formed for a brief tour with Carte himself as musical director. The Company performed such full-length works as La Perichole (Kelleher presumably as Don Pedro) and La Fille de Madame Angot (as Larivaudiere), and shorter works including Trial by Jury (Kelleher once more as the Usher) and Carte's own Happy Hampstead (as the Policeman). The tour ended in August.

Happy Hampstead was produced again in London in January-February 1877, this time at the Royalty Theatre under the management of Kate Santley and D'Oyly Carte. Kelleher was the Policeman once more. It was his last engagement under D'Oyly Carte management. He died the following year at the age of 27.

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