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The Toreador
This musical comedy was the final musical preformed at the Gaiety Theatre in London. According to the Musical Cyberspace website “The Toreador” ‘debuted on the 17th June 1901 and ran for 675 performances, with the Broadway premiere following in 1902, running for 121 performances’. It also was performed on Broadway again in 1904 and was produced internationally.
It was based on a book by James Tanner and Harry Nicholls, the lyrics were by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank and the music was by Lionel Monckton and Ivan Caryll. Ross, Caryll and Monckton were all part of the Gaiety Theatre team and this was their most successful musical.
The main songs are “Captivating Cora”, “I’m Romantic” “When I Marry Amelia”, “Keep Off the Grass” and “Archie”.
The plot, as is often the case, is complicated. The main character is Sammy Gigg and according to the Timaru Herald on the 16th December 1902 ‘Percy (who plays Gigg) is quaint and hardworking as ever and he infuses an infinity of comic business into his part’.
W S Percy. Casey, John :Photographs relating to the Pollard Opera Company. Ref: PAColl-1091-02. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23101859
“The Toreador” was first performed in New Zealand in Auckland in November 1902. At the time of writing in the Timaru herald on the 15th December 1902, “The Toreador” was still being performed at the Gaiety Theatre in London, after 458 consecutive performances. Eventually there were 675 performances between 1901 and 1903 at the Gaiety Theatre in London.
From personal ephemera collection.
The following information comes from Peter Downes book which is listed below. In November 1902 “The Toreador” was introduced. However, the opening was affected by the Elingamite being wrecked on rocks on Three Kings Island. This steamship had been carrying theatrical props from Sydney. Included in these props were several hundred artificial flowers which were used in one scene of the play. On the morning of the opening on the 10 November, the scheduled matinee of Florodora was cancelled, and the company made the flowers themselves. The first performance of “The Toreador” was hailed as a success which some of the credit going to Will Percy in the role of Sammy Grigg.
Wrigglesworth and Binns (Firm). Wrigglesworth & Binns, fl 1874-1900 (Photographers) : Alice Pollard. Cooper, Jeanne and Peter :Album, photographs and press cuttings relating to the Pollard Opera Company. Ref: PAColl-1097-1-06. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23067805
James Pollard founded the first Pollard Opera Company of juveniles in Tasmania in 1878. James Pollard died in 1883. According to one newspaper article, fifteen of James Pollard’s children were part of the original company. This first juvenile company landed in Bluff in 1881, and gave its first professional performance in Invercargill.
Ephemeral items relating to the Pollard Liliputian Opera Company. Cooper, Jeanne and Peter :Album, photographs and press cuttings relating to the Pollard Opera Company. Ref: PAColl-1097-1-08. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22895117
In August 1922 Tom Pollard died in Christchurch at the age of 64. The Ashburton Guardian of the 31st August 1922 states that ‘Mr Pollard represents the last of the old school of Australian producers, and his passing recalls the fact that the company he formed developed under his direction into one of the greatest schools for comic opera in the annals of the stage. The achievements of the Pollard “girls and boys” have made the name known all over the world, and today the fact of having been through the ranks of the “Pollards” is accepted as a hall-mark of capability’. Tom Pollard’s name was actually Thomas O’Sullivan, and he initially joined the company as a member of the orchestra. He changed his name in order that the Pollard name should be preserved. Later on, he became the stage manager, and he married Emily Pollard, James Pollard’s daughter. Initially he organised a juvenile company, followed by a collaboration with J. C. Williamson with Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company, and when the children grew older the company became an adult company. Sir Joseph Ward invited Tom Pollard according to the Greymouth Star dated 31st August 1922 ‘to take charge of the concert hall at the New Zealand International Exhibition in Christchurch and his post within a few weeks expanded into Director of Entertainments which involved complete control of all forms of amusement in the exhibition outside of athletes and outdoor sports generally’. After the Exhibition, Pollard organised a new Pollard Juvenile Opera Company. After his last company was disbanded in 1910 Pollard gave his services to amateur societies throughout New Zealand. Ten years before his death, Tom Pollard (Sullivan) acquired an interest in the moving picture business in Greymouth.
Grey River Argus 2nd February 1910
It was noted that the Pollard Opera Companies always assisted with charitable and patriotic movements, two of which were the Brunner coal mine explosion and the Wairarapa shipwreck. There was also fundraising for two troop horses that accompanied the fourth contingent in the Boer War. During WW1, Pollard set aside one night a week at the moving picture theatre as a benefit to the Greymouth patriotic funds, all expenses were paid out of his own pocket.
Many of the members of the various Pollard opera companies went on to have careers on stage.
www.musicalcyberspace.com/2023/06/forgotten-musicals
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toreador
The Pollards: A Family and its child and adult opera companies in New Zealand and Australia 1880 – 1910 by Peter Downes, published 2002 by Steele Roberts Ltd