Edgar Perkins Lyric Opera Company
The Edgar Perkins Lyric Opera Company was a theatrical company founded, managed and directed by Edgar Perkins.
The company visited Cape Town for the first time in 1890, to perform in the Exhibition Theatre during January.
The company itself consisted inter alia of R.S. Gregg, E. le Hay, Dennis Coyne, Frank Wheeler, Harry Miller, Ada Bemister, Carrie Nelson, Harriet Wood, and Ella Bankhardt. Musical direction was by James Hyde.
F.C.L. Bosman (1980) mentions that the company's repertoire during this season consisted entirely of light comic opera, including inter alia such works as Dorothy (Cellier and Stephenson), Falka (Leterrier and Vanloo/Farnie), Pepita (Chivot and Durn), Erminie (Bellamy and Paulton), Yeoman of the Guard (Gilbert and Sullivan), The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan) and Patience (Gilbert and Sullivan).
According to D.C. Boonzaier (1923), reporting on the 1890 Cape Town season, Perkins had "very artistic ideas in the direction of mise-en-scène" and his operas were staged "lavishly in regard to scenery and costume".
Sources
D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)
F.C.L. Bosman, 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 130, 397
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