THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Lilian La Rue as Kate in The Pirates of Penzance

Lilian La Rue (1879-80)

[Born Cincinnati, Ohio c.1855, died Cincinnati, Ohio 22 Jun 1885]

Lilian La Rue (real name Francis Alice Jones) first appeared in a D'Oyly Carte program as Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore with Mr. D'Oyly Carte's "2^nd London" Company on tour in November-December 1879. In January-February 1880 she was at the Opera Comique as Hebe, while Jessie Bond was touring America. Miss La Rue then appeared as Mrs. Liverby in the Desprez & Cellier "vaudeville" In the Sulks, that played first as a companion piece with a juvenile H.M.S. Pinafore, beginning in February 1880, and again in April with the First London production of The Pirates of Penzance. Miss La Rue was also Kate in The Pirates of Penzance until July 1880 when Miss Bond returned from America. At that point, Julia Gwynne took over both Kate and Mrs. Liverby.

Miss La Rue then joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company, making her first appearance in Manchester in September 1880. She eventually became a prima donna, and would tour with Rosa throughout Britain, mont notably in the title role in Carmen, which she played through 1882. After a brief time in America she returned to the London stage in an adaptation of La Vie Parisienne (Avenue Theatre, Oct-Dec 1883).

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