Derek Oldham

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Derek Oldham, (March 29, 1887 – March 20, 1968) was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

1 Life and career
- 1.1 D'Oyly Carte and musical comedy years
- 1.2 Later years
2 Recordings and films
3 Reference
4 External links

[edit] Life and career

Derek Oldham was born John Stephens Oldham, in Accrington, Lancashire. As a child, Oldham was a boy soprano in demand for oratorios (including Sullivan's The Golden Legend and The Prodigal Son), concerts (including "Neath My Lattice" from Sullivan's The Rose of Persia, and pantomimes. As a young man, he worked as a bank clerk and sang in amateur operatic societies. He did not make his first professional adult stage appearance until 1914, as Julien in The Daring of Diane. He then played Bumerli in The Chocolate Soldier (1914). After that, he joined the Scots Guards, and in World War I he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry.

[edit] D'Oyly Carte and musical comedy years

Oldham joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1919, playing the roles of Alexis in The Sorcerer, Lord Tolloller in Iolanthe, Cyril in Princess Ida, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Marco in The Gondoliers. In 1920, he added the roles of Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, and Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore, and in 1921 he swapped Cyril for Prince Hilarion in Princess Ida.

In 1922, Oldham left the D'Oyly Carte organisation to star in a great number of musicals and operettas at Drury Lane and other West End theatres throughout the 1920s, including Madame Pompadour (1923), The Merry Widow (1923), Rose-Marie (1925), and The Vagabond King (1927). His first musical was Whirled into Happiness, as Horace Wiggs, where he met his future wife, Winnie Melville. She would later join the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano. They married in 1923 but later divorced.

Oldham returned to D'Oyly Carte from time to time, appearing in the 1929–30 season and on tour as Ralph, Frederic, Tolloller, Hilarion, Nanki-Poo, Fairfax, and Marco. In the 1934–35 season, he played the same roles on the company's American tour. In 1936, he made a guest appearance as Hilarion at Sadler's Wells, and he was leading tenor in the 1936–37 season, which included another long American tour. Oldham's presence was a condition demanded by the American promoters.

[edit] Later years

In his later years, Oldham played in many musicals and plays, including The Song of the Drum at Drury Lane (1931). His last appearance in London was as Dr. Stoner in the Agatha Christie play, Verdict (1958). He also appeared in several films between 1934 and 1957.

In 1940, on the 29th of February, the character Frederic came of age, as described in The Pirates of Penzance. This was a significant date for any G&S tenor. In New York, the Gilbert and Sullivan Society journal, "The Palace Peeper," marked the event by publishing an original ode to Frederic, in which Oldham was honoured as the archetype of the romantic Frederic. In 1947, Oldham was elected Vice-President of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society in London.

For the last ten years of his life, he lived in retirement in Hampshire, and he died in Portsmouth.

[edit] Recordings and films

Oldham recorded tenor leads in nineteen full and abridged HMV recordings of the operas: Trial by Jury (1928, Defendant), The Sorcerer (1933, Alexis), Pirates (1920, 1929, 1931, Frederic), Patience (1930, Duke of Dunstable), Iolanthe (1922 [part], 1929, Lord Tolloller), Princess Ida (1924, 1932, Hilarion), The Mikado (1926, 1936, Nanki-Poo), Ruddigore (1924, 1931, Richard Dauntless), Yeomen (1920, 1928, 1931, Colonel Fairfax), and The Gondoliers (1927, 1931, Marco). He also made numerous recordings of songs, musicals and operettas.

He also appeared in several films between 1934 and 1957, including The Broken Rosary (1934), as Giovanni; Charing Cross Road (1935), as Jimmy O'Connell; Melody of My Heart (1936), as Joe Montfort, and Dangerous Exile (1957), as William.