Introduction

I have been using some of the delightful photographs collected and annotated by my grandfather taken during the 1920s when he was a performing member of the Leicester Amateur Dramatic Society to illustrate by series of articles on the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. Found with his album and other loose photographs was this intriguing programme for 'The Mikado'. The programme itself is of interest as it dates back to a production by this same society put on barely twenty years after the opera was written and at a time when W.S. Gilbert was still alive (and three years before he was knighted by King Edward VII).

It is impossible to be certain but the fact that he had preserved this programme leads me to believe that he was in the audience during this week in April 1904. I like to think too that it was the spur that led him into performance himself and ultimately to become the Company's lead tenor taking such roles as Nanki-Poo.

The Programme

LEICESTER AMATEUR MUSIC AND DRAMATIC SOCIETY
(by special arrangement with Mrs R D'Oyly Carte, a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Japanese Opera)

"THE MIKADO" or The Town of Titipu will be presented at the Royal Opera House, Leicester on Monday April 11th 1904 and the five following nights. In aid of local charities. Over �2000 has already been distributed in aid of the above by this society.
Augmented Band and Chorus. Hon Conductor; H.B. Ellis Esq, FRCO.
Dresses and wigs by Messrs BJ Simmons & Co., Court Costumiers, 7 King Street, Covent Garden, London. New and elaborate scenery and effects by Mr C.D. Leigh, Royal Opera House
Box office open at Mr J.H. Taylor's Music Warehouse, Granby Street (next door to Temperance Hall) on Monday March 28th to Saturday April 9th from 12 to 4o'clock each day; after that date the Box Office, Royal Opera House.

The advert for J.N.Sedley and Sons notes that the organisation carries "always a large stock of inexpensive artistic furniture which invariably includes many novelties in design unobtainable elsewhere."
Specialities are priced as follows (Shillings and pence) Artistic wooden bedsteads with spring mattresses attached from 49/6; exclusive designs in seasoned linoleum 1/6 square yard.
The Company's mantra "We are prepared to accompany clients to London, when desired, to introduce them to any of the largest and best wholesale houses"

The Fifteenth Annual Performance

The Mikado of Japan ...................................................................... Mr Frank Brown
Nanki-Poo (his son, disguised as a wandering minstrel) ..... Mr Alfred Page
Ko-Ko (Lord High Executioner of Titipu) ..................................... Mr J.H. Taylor
Pooh-Bah (Lord High Everything Else) ....................................... Mr Walter Langford
Pish-Tush (a Noble Lord) ............................................................. Mr J McArragher
Yum-Yum (Three sisters, Wards of Ko-Ko) ............................... Miss Florence Robinson
Pitti-Sing ............................................................................................ Miss Florence Blackwell
Peep-Bo ............................................................................................ Miss Maud Spence
Katisha (An elderly Lady, in love with Nanki-Poo) ..................... Miss Ada White
Chorus of schoolgirls, nobles, guards and coolies

Act 1: Courtyard of Ko-Ko's Official Residence
Act 2: Ko-Ko's Garden

Stage managers: Mr J.H. Taylor; Mr T.H. Prentice
Musical Directors: Mr H.B. Ellis; Mr J.K. Blackwell

Previous Performances: Trial By Jury; Pirates of Penzance (1891); La Fille du Madame Angot (1892); Princess Ida (1893); La Fille du Tambour Major (1894); Erminie (1895); Les Cloches de Corneville (1896); Iolanthe (1897); Haddon Hall (1898); The Mountebanks (1899); Dorothy (1900); Yeomen of the Guard (1901); The Gondoliers (1902); Patience (1903)

Continued in column 2...

LEICESTER AMATEUR MUSIC AND DRAMATIC SOCIETY: PATRONS AND SPONSORS

H.R.H. Princess Christian; H.R.H. Princess Frederica; His Grace The Duke of Rutland KG; The Marquis of Granby; The Rt Hon Elizabeth, Countess of Wilton; The Rt Hon The Earl of Dysart; The Rt Hon, Earl Howe; The Rt Hon Lord Belper; Henry Broadhurst MP; Sir C.B. McLaren, MP; St Thomas Wright; Sir Israel Hart; Sir John F.L. Rolleston; Sir Henry Irving; Capt Burns-Hartopp; Ald Edward Wood; J. Herbert Marshall; Ald George Collins; Lt-Col. Winstanley; Rev Canon Sanders; J.A. Corah; J.H. Cooper; George Jessop; BG.W. Russell; T.A Wykes; H.B. Ellis; Edward Holmes; W.H. Barrow; J.E. Faire; W.J. Freer; H. Nicholson; W.D. Stableford; Orson Wright; F.W. Lomax.

Acting Manager and Treasurer: Mr W.T. Topott, ST Peters Road
Hon. Secretary: Mr A.E. Deacon, 41 Montague Road, Clarendon Park.

Subscribers' Privileges

SUBSCRIBERS OF ONE GUINEA are entitled to six seats in either Dress Circle or Stalls
SUBSCRIBERS OF HALF A GUINEA are entitled to three seats in either Dress Circle or Stalls
SUBSCRIBERS VOUCHERS may be obtained from the Secretary, any member of the Committee or of Mr J.H. Taylor, Granby House (next door to Temperence Hall) Leicester, Mr W. Langford, Mr F. Brown, Mr J McRobie, Mr J.A. Hartopp, Mr T.C. Richardson, Mr T. Monk.

Holders of vouchers must exchange them at the Booking Office, Mr J.H. Taylor's Music Warehouse, Granby Street (next door to Temperence Hall) before April 9th after which date it will be open to the general public at the Royal Opera House, Silver Street (hours 11am until 4pm)

Photographs were taken by Ramsdens of Granby Street, Leicester
The programme was designed and reproduced by Crumbie, Printer, Leicester

"THE MIKADO": A review

Page added - December 4th 2005
Last updated - April 17th 2012

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