A Song to Sing O is a one-man musical play by Melvyn Morrow, with music by Arthur Sullivan and George Grossmith, and lyrics by W. S. Gilbert and Grossmith, about the life of comedian and actor George Grossmith, who originated the principal comic roles for the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas from 1877 through the 1880s. The plot concerns a backstage interview given by Grossmith to a reporter during a performance of The Yeomen of the Guard. In between some interview gossip, Grossmith sings Gilbert and Sullivan songs, and some of his own songs to the reporter, and he enacts a scene from Grossmith's book, The Diary of a Nobody.
The show was originally created for D'Oyly Carte Opera Company star John Reed at the Savoy Theatre in London in 1981. The Times review commented that it was "as if the writer never trusted the Savoyards to accept more than the slightest criticism of Gilbert and Sullivan while he was actually straining to say something genuinely rude" and that the script "refrains from real expression".[1]
The piece has since been played in Australia by Anthony Warlow in 1987 and Dennis Olsen in 1991.[2] More recently, Simon Butteriss has starred in the show in Britain and on tour.