Kate Santley

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Kate Santley (1837 - 1923) was an American-born English actress, singer, comedienne, and theatre manager. Her brother was the English baritone, Sir Charles Santley, famous in Wagner's Flying Dutchman among other roles.

[edit] Musical theatre career

Santley made a name in the 1860s in British music halls and Drury-lane pantomimes. Early in her career, she was popular for singing the song "The Bell goes a-ringing for Sarah." At the Oxford Music Hall, she had appeared with Mademoiselle Parepa, who later married Carl Rosa. Santley was slim and pretty and became much photographed for visiting cards, postcards and advertising. Early in her career, she played in F. C. Burnand's St. George and the Dragon.

In 1871-72, Santley appeared on Broadway, including in a revival of the hit 1866 musical, The Black Crook. In 1872 she appeared in the London production of The Black Crook at the Alhambra Theatre, where she also starred in Jacques Offenbach and Burnand's La Belle Helene (1873). Later that year, she sang Cunegonde in Le roi Carotte. In 1874, she played in H. J. Byron's Don Juan, then La Jolie Parfumeuse, followed by the title role in Whittington, by Offenbach. In 1876, she played the title character in (and produced) Princess Toto, a comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and Frederic Clay. In 1879, she played in La Marjolaine. In 1879, she starred in (and produced) Little Cinderella and in Tita in Thibet by Frank Desprez. In 1880, she played in the Drury Lane pantomime Mother Goose (and the Enchanted Beauty) with Arthur Roberts, the popular music hall comedian.

[edit] Theatre management

In 1875, Santley became the manager of the Royalty Theatre, which she managed or leased for the next thirty years. In 1876, she also managed Gilbert and Sullivan's revival of their Trial by Jury at the Opera Comique. Richard D'Oyly Carte joined forces with Santley in January 1877 at the Royalty Theatre. to present Lischen and Fritzen, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Happy Hampstead by Carte (under the pseudonym Mark Lynne) and his secretary, Frank Desprez.

Many of the productions at the Royalty were opera-bouffes adapted from the French. Santley was praised for the theatre's renovations in 1883 and 1905.[1] In 1886, Santley hired Sidney Jones as musical director for the tour of her musical Vetah. In 1892, the hit play Charley's Aunt opened at the Royalty, but it soon transferred to the larger Globe Theatre.