Opera Scotland

Pirates of Penzance 1967D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Read more about the opera Pirates of Penzance

The 1967 autumn tour by D'Oyly Carte opened on Monday 2 October for two weeks at the Glasgow Alhambra, followed by three weeks at the King's Edinburgh. The Glasgow schedule was:

Week commencing 2 October: Mon Mikado: Tue Iolanthe; Wed mat & eve Trial & Pinafore; Thu Ruddigore; Fri Yeomen of the Guard; Sat mat and eve Mikado.

Week commencing 9 October: Mon Ruddigore; Tue Mikado; Wed mat & eve Cox and Box & Pirates of Penzance; Thu Yeomen of the Guard; Fri Patience; Sat mat & eve Iolanthe.

In the three week Edinburgh visit, starting on 23 October, The Yeomen of the Guard was given four performances - one in each week, with two on the final Saturday. With the exception of Princess Ida, and (perhaps more surprisingly, unless they knew Scottish Opera were planning it) The Gondoliers, the company's entire stage repertoire was presented (The Sorcerer had just been recorded, but would not be given a production until a couple of seasons later).

The most frequently performed piece was, inevitably, The Mikado (6 performances), followed by Iolanthe (4), Yeomen (4), Trial / Pinafore (3), Cox & Box / Pirates (3), Patience (2), Ruddigore (2).

This is largely the Pirates cast that went into the studios a few months later for what would be Isidore Godfrey's final recording before his retirement. Peggy Ann Jones does not appear in that recording, replaced by Jean Allister, and the Sergeant of Police is played by another guest, the great Owen Brannigan.  Kenneth Sandford, the company member who usually took the parts created by Rutland Barrington, had recorded the part ten years earlier, but no longer sang it, finding it lay too low for comfort. The singer of the Sergeant in Edinburgh needs to be clarified by reference to a cast list - by the 1969 visit, Thomas Lawlor had assumed the part, and, although he was in the 1967 company, it is not listed among his roles.

On this tour, Pirates was given in a double-bill, preceded by Cox and Box. The likely cast is assembled from biographical notes in the programmes in the OperaScotland collection.