LONG EXPERIENCE

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20494, 12 March 1932, Page 17

LON G EXPERIENCE

GILBERT AM) SULLIVAN OPERA. BtRXA UI) MAXNING'S C AUK Lit. rJI « di-tiii.-ti.-i. of l.ciug the senior u { tho liillic-rt ami Sullivan ■** v in point experience with iy "p-Oyiv Carte ' "'litanies in EngreJts Mr I '' irn!iril Maiming, jjnowii n-r his characterisations Mikado, an.i Dick Deadeye, who * playing i« C'hrisftcliurch for the * Mr Maiming lias a parwarm regard for this City in i to the people who so generous- | his wife 1,1 hcr flltal illnuss ** Jr five vears ago. •' In all mincer*l can thal ullt>llk ' England J "* \A rather' be iu Christchurch than else." he said in an inter- ** Tin- Pk»*s yesterday, anTie * * 2 that at the •■ml of the present intended to return to his home '•ffiSif wi,s in Derbyshire • firm which had been held by .us since llu received his ~~2.\ education at the Liverpool Cathwhere he sang from his eighth jia sixteenth year. Tlien he t-d to see the world, and was sent Sfto Sorth Queensland to work under Mend of his father's. After a tlSrtsr there, and a little singing i» iTßrisbane Cathedral, he returned to | studied for five years under I Sundon Ronald. Curiously enough, •SL-gb he had previously sung tenor, (rained him as a bass. He won SttTaad scholarships for the singing Swiads and oratorio, and ultimately IgMred in Queen's and Albert Halls, to introduce newly-published A Wide Repertoire. qb Us Teturn from the Great War, taj*a whieh he served with the Lonflgjottish Regiment, Mr Manning * to Mr Rupert D'Oyly Carts and \oa at onee engaged. He remained ■ftk tie D'Oyly Carte companies until engaged by J. C. Williamson irt b 1925. Since then he has twice (gad New Zealand with the Gilbert «d Sullivan operas and also with the ..Mr which played "The New jZjjH jukJ "The Belle of New York." JlJaitnli*, kis in musical comedy tug ln*r* still more numerous. His fftgt tad Sullivan repertoire is ex (]tr^— wide, and in Australia and he has at different times jjgad so fewer than three different uiti ia eaeh opera. to present his leading parts are the wwAi the Pirate King, Dick Dead- j tyt, Sergeant Bouncer in 4 ' Cox and jbm» Sergeant Merrill, the Colo- - get in "Patience," and Sir Roder- : Jti ia "Bnddigore." He is a versa- ■ S* linger of almost every type of opergjjf tftwii-, and can take his part in ptaA opera u well as light opera. One at Us hobbies both in England and Anil*Ha has been lecturing to schoolriiMren oo the lives and works of GilVert and Sullivan. "I think it is up to fiery one of' as to do something of tie kiad nowadays," he said, "when peejle have become so lazy that they j ire tones tteii tense of good music." > Be rarauoned alio, the formation of a ' Gilbert tad gnlfim Society in Sydney, feQowiiig the lines of those already established ia GrAt Britain. Mr Manning hinself is life preedwif of the Plymouth fkKietjr, En&tiLy ' Tit Ufiter Moments. L Sit Joig txperience of Gilbert and IgWftpe JM> got been without its lightHC MMlMtl He recalls a time when Bpeoaptity (which was managed in adDM bf Auk O'Sullivan) arrived at KMI town in North Queensland and Hp tisf tbey were billed to appear ttfftjHWu ot "Gilbert and O'Sulli*n Newcastle, New South EMjyMira# approached after a perjjipweof ".The Mikado" by a miner HHMlNtal that while he had spotted M| ,M soon as the curtain rose, B||g|lg|i|ed if he could find Gilbert IfJPJ* on the Btage. Less pleasant ifWP* time when during an Engof "The Gondoliers," Ifpia-handg, rejoicing in their Satbliss, pulled the gondola so :ttat he was jerked out osim**° the water and then had HlHwfeetly dry, and continue hits