Opera Scotland

Yeomen of the Guard 1967D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Read more about the opera Yeomen of the Guard

The 1967 autumn tour by D'Oyly Carte opened on Monday 2 October for two weeks at the Glasgow Alhambra, followed by three weeks at the King's Edinburgh. The Glasgow schedule was:

Week commencing 2 October: Mon Mikado: Tue Iolanthe; Wed mat & eve Trial & Pinafore; Thu Ruddigore; Fri Yeomen of the Guard; Sat mat and eve Mikado.

Week commencing 9 October: Mon Ruddigore; Tue Mikado; Wed mat & eve Cox and Box & Pirates of Penzance; Thu Yeomen of the Guard; Fri Patience; Sat mat & eve Iolanthe.

In the three week Edinburgh visit, starting on 23 October, The Yeomen of the Guard was given four performances - one in each week, with two on the final Saturday. With the exception of Princess Ida, and (perhaps more surprisingly, unless they knew Scottish Opera were planning it) The Gondoliers, the company's entire stage repertoire was presented (The Sorcerer had just been recorded, but would not be given a production until a couple of seasons later).

The most frequently performed piece was, inevitably, The Mikado (6 performances), followed by Iolanthe (4), Yeomen (4), Trial / Pinafore (3), Cox & Box / Pirates (3), Patience (2), Ruddigore (2).

The cast included several veterans of the 1964 Sargent recording - John Reed, Kenneth Sandford, Donald Adams, Philip Potter - with the valuable addition of Valerie Masterson as Elsie (what a pity they did not stage Princess Ida on this visit, as the title role must have suited her beautifully).

Cast details are from copies of the Glasgow and Edinburgh programmes in the OperaScotland collection.