CONTRALTO'S SUCCESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22444, 13 June 1936, Page 17 (Supplement)

CONTRALTO'S SUCCESS

RECALLED TO ENGLAND Instead of leaving for Australia with tho Gilbert and Sullivan opera company which has been touring New Zealand, Miss Evelyn Gardiner, leading contralto, sailed for the United States and England. She has boen recalled to fill the role of principal contralto in the Savoy Opera company, London, directed by Mr. Rupert D'Oyley Carte. On August 20 she will appear on Broadway in the parts she has played on the Australian and New Zealand tour, which she has just completed. After the New York season she will tour in tho United States and later in England. "I know 1 am very lucky to get such a splendid chance," she said. "1 realise it is a great honour to be recalled from a distance of 12.000 miles to take a position for which I know so many are waiting, and, I confess, I was greatly excited when 1 received the cable asking mo to go. But I was grieved when 1 thought of leaving the present company." Miss Gardiner arrived in Australia in 1931 under circumstances somewhat similar to those of her departure. In the Gilbert and Sullivan revival, which began in Australia in 1931. Miss Dorothy Gill was engaged to play the contralto parts. She appeared in Melbourne in April, but after a few months she was recalled to London on the death of the great Bertha JiOwis, who had played the leading contralto parts for 18 years. Miss Gardiner was sent out to take Miss Gill's place. She made her first appearance in Sydney in August as the Duchess of l'laza-Toro and remained with tho company for its tour of Austialia, New Zealand and South Africa. Returning to London sho forsook opera and immediately was engaged to play in drama, with Beatrix Thomson, in an all-star company at tho Vaudeville, in the Strand. But very soon tho lure of Gilbert and Sullivan again drew her round the world. She was acting in a talking film in London, and was at tho same time rehearsing Sullivan and Hood's "Rose of Persia," when Mr. Tait offered her a tour in tho parts sho had played before. "1 had liked Australia and New Zealand so much and 1 had enjoyed working with the J. C. Williamson management so greatly," explained Miss Gardiner, "that I gave up my other work and accepted his offer, and now, like Dorothy Gill, whose place I took five years ago, I am recalled."