THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Charles Ashford

Charles Ashford (1882-83)

[Born Birmingham, Warwick 1850, died 14 Oct 1903]

Charles Ashford’s only appearance under D’Oyly Carte auspices was in a 1882-83 tour of Planquette’s Rip Van Winkle in which he played the role of Peter van Dunk.

His first stage appearance was in Nottingham in 1871, and his London debut was as Welsh in Charles Reade's Scuttled Ship (Olympic, April 1877).

Before his D’Oyly Carte tour he was a regular on the London Stage, appearing in Themis (farcical comedy at the Royalty, 1880), Cupid (burlesque at the Royalty, 1880), Les Mousquetaires (comic opera at the Globe, 1880), La Belle Normande ("musical buffoonery" at the Globe, 1881), Seeing Frou-Frou (one-act comedy at the Globe, 1881), La Boulangère (comic opera at the Globe, 1881), Claude Duval (as Martin McGruder in the original production at the Olympic, 1881), Quite an Adventure (as Mr. Wallaby in the original production at the Olympic, 1881), and Les Manteaux Noirs (as Nicholas in the original production at the Avenue, 1882).

He was back in London in May and June 1886 at the Comedy Theatre in a comic opera called The Lily of Leoville. In 1887-88 he was on tour in two comic operas, The Royal Watchman and Gipsy Gabriel. He appeared again in London in 1890, in the comic opera Les Cloches de Cornville at the Opera Comique, and 1891, in the drama Arrah-Na-Pogue at the Princess’s. In 1892-93 he served as Assistant Stage Manager for three productions at the Vaudeville, and in October 1893 appeared again at the Princess’s in a melodramatic opera called Miami.

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