Charles H. Workman
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Charles H. Workman (May 5, 1873 – May 1, 1923) was a singer and actor best known as a successor to George Grossmith in the comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He was sometimes credited as C. Herbert Workman or C. H. Workman.
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[edit] Life and career
Charles Herbert Workman was born in Bootle, Lancashire, and studied singing under his brother, Alfred E. Workman, in Liverpool.
[edit] D'Oyly Carte years
A newcomer to the stage, he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1894 as Calynx in a provincial tour of Utopia, Limited. In 1895, he also played the roles of Pedrillo in The Chieftain, Mr. Bunthorne's Solicitor in Patience and Pennyfather in After All!, the curtain raiser for a revival of The Mikado. Workman then created the small part of Ben Hashbaz in The Grand Duke (1896). He later created the part of Adam in F. C. Burnand and R. C. Lehmann's His Majesty (1897; appearing briefly as King Ferdinand when George Grossmith abandoned the part, until Henry Lytton took over). Workman was Simon in Old Sarah, the companion piece for the first revival of The Yeomen of the Guard (1897). In The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein that year, he also played Carl.
Beginning in 1897, Workman was promoted to principal comedian of the main repertory touring company, appearing as the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, and Jack Point in Yeomen. He toured with D'Oyly Carte until 1906, appearing as John Wellington Wells in The Sorcerer, Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Reginald Bunthorne in Patience, the Lord Chancellor, King Gama in Princess Ida, Ko-Ko, Jack Point, the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers, and Scaphio in Utopia. He also appeared as Hassan in The Rose of Persia (1901) and as the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury beginning in 1904. He returned to the Savoy Theatre in 1906 and played for three years in the comic baritone roles, sometimes at the Savoy and sometimes on tour. He never played a role in Ruddigore, as that opera was not in the D'Oyly Carte repertory during his tenure.
Gilbert interrupted a rehearsal of Yeomen, where Workman was playing Jack Point, stating that Workman was too enthusiastic in his kissing of the ladies portraying Elsie Maynard and Phoebe Meryll. "Oh, I see", said Workman. "You would not kiss them more than once." Gilbert rejoined, enthusiastically, "Oh, I would. But I must ask you not to." (Ayre, p. 197).
[edit] After D'Oyly Carte
Workman then left the D'Oyly Carte organization and became an actor-manager. He leased the Savoy and produced three operas: Eden & Somerville's The Mountaineers (1909), appearing as Pierre; W. S. Gilbert & Edward German's Fallen Fairies (1909), appearing as Lutin; Two Merry Monarchs (1910), appearing as Rolandyl; and Orpheus (1910).
Fallen Fairies was unsuccessful. Workman and his financial backers quarreled with Gilbert over the casting of the librettist's protégée, Nancy McIntosh, as Selene, the Fairy Queen. At the end of the first week of the run, Workman replaced McIntosh. Gilbert angrily forbade Workman from appearing in any of his works on stage in the United Kingdom, although the prohibition did not apply elsewhere, or in the recording studio.
Workman continued his acting career to good notices in London, in The Chocolate Soldier (1910-11), Nightbirds (1911) and The Girl in the Taxi (1912-13). In 1914, he traveled to Australia where he once again appeared in Gilbert and Sullivan operas (1918) with the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, and as Ali Baba in Chu Chin Chow (1920–21). In 1922–23, Workman led a tour of India and east Asia with his wife, Bessel Adams, a former D'Oyly Carte singer, playing in Gilbert and Sullivan, again with J. C. Williamson's. Adams died on that tour in February 1923 in Calcutta, and Workman died at sea in May 1923 in a steamer outside Hong Kong, returning from the same tour.
[edit] Recordings
Workman recorded over a dozen songs from his G&S repertoire for Odeon in 1910, and several more in 1912. Many of these have been re-issued Pearl on LP and CD ("The Art of the Savoyard," Pearl GEMM CD 9991).
[edit] References
- Ayre, Leslie (1972). The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: W.H. Allen & Co Ltd. Introduction by Martyn Green.
[edit] External links
- C. H. Workman at "Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte
- Profile of Workman
- Biography of Workman and discussion of his recordings
- "The Controversy Surrounding Gilbert's Last Opera" by Robert Morrison
