Donald Adams

Charles Donald Adams, born on 20 December 1928 in Bristol, England, and died on 8 April 1996, was a bass-baritone opera singer and actor whose career spanned more than five decades. Educated at Bristol Cathedral School, he sang as a chorister in the cathedral and, at sixteen, played Thomas Becket in a production of Murder in the Cathedral. His first professional engagement came in 1944 with the BBC Repertory Company, while he was still a student. He later studied voice in London with Italian singing teacher Rodolfo Melle, a former La Scala singer who had performed alongside tenor Aureliano Pertile. Melle's technique, which emphasized sustaining vowels before reaching consonants, remained central to Adams's vocal practice throughout his life.

Following his early stage and radio work, Adams served in the British Army, where he produced theatrical productions at the Army Repertory Theatre at Catterick Camp. After completing his national service, he returned to performing, spending two years as leading man at the Little Theatre in Great Yarmouth with Aurora Productions Limited. During this period he was also a member of a vocal quartet called The Regal Four and appeared in pantomime at the Euston Theatre in King's Cross. A chance encounter with performers Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane while on tour led to Lucan's suggestion that Adams combine his singing and acting abilities and audition for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

Adams joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorister in 1951, initially taking on smaller roles including Bill Bobstay in H.M.S. Pinafore, Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance, Second Yeoman in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Antonio in The Gondoliers, while understudying twenty-six roles in total. He quickly advanced, taking over the principal role of Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore and substituting in several other parts, including Cox in Cox and Box, the Counsel in Trial by Jury, and Grosvenor in Patience. He also filled in for the aging Darrell Fancourt in roles such as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, the Earl of Mountararat in Iolanthe, the title role in The Mikado, and Sir Roderic Murgatroyd in Ruddigore. When Fancourt retired at the end of the 1952–53 season, Adams became the company's principal bass-baritone. He asked Bridget D'Oyly Carte for permission to develop his own characterizations of the roles rather than replicate Fancourt's interpretations, a request she granted. In 1952, he married D'Oyly Carte soprano Muriel Harding. Adams remained the company's principal bass-baritone until 1969, regularly performing roles including Dick Deadeye, the Pirate King, Colonel Calverley, the Mikado of Japan, Sergeant Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Arac in Princess Ida following that opera's 1954 revival. His Broadway appearance came in 1955, with credits that included Iolanthe, The Yeomen of the Guard, The Hot Mikado, Princess Ida, and The Pirates of Penzance.

In 1969, Adams left D'Oyly Carte to work full-time with Gilbert and Sullivan for All, a touring company he had co-founded with Norman Meadmore and Thomas Round. The company recorded nine of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas and toured the British Isles, North America, Australasia, and the Far East. Adams performed roles including the Pirate King, Lord Mountararat, the Mikado, Sergeant Meryll, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers, and also served as a director for the company. Alongside this work, he appeared as W. S. Gilbert in Ian Taylor's musical Tarantara! Tarantara!, touring with Thomas Round, and recorded a musical documentary titled The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan. In 1982, he appeared in three Brent Walker television productions of Gilbert and Sullivan works, playing Sir Marmaduke in The Sorcerer, Colonel Calverley in Patience, and Sir Roderic in Ruddigore.

From the early 1980s, Adams expanded into broader operatic and operetta repertoire on international stages. Invited by Matthew Epstein, he sang the title role in Peter Sellars's production of The Mikado in Chicago in 1983, which led to further engagements there including Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow and the Theatre Director and the Banker in Lulu. In December 1983 he sang Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady for Scottish Opera. His Covent Garden debut followed on 4 November 1983, when he appeared as a Frontier Guard in Boris Godunov. He returned to Covent Garden in July 1986 to sing Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and again in 1993 to perform the roles of Badger and the Priest in The Cunning Little Vixen. He also sang Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus at Covent Garden.

Adams's work with English National Opera began in 1985 with the role of Dikoj in Katya Kabanova and continued through numerous productions, including Mozart's Bartolo in 1991 and 1993, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Alcindoro and Benoit in La bohème in 1991, the Woodcutter in Königskinder in 1992, Mumlal in The Two Widows in 1993, Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1995, and Don Pasquale in 1996. For Welsh National Opera between 1985 and 1987, he appeared as Monterone in Rigoletto, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, and the Theatre Director and the Banker in Lulu. His Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier for Welsh National Opera in 1990 drew notice from The Independent. At Glyndebourne Festival, beginning in 1988, he sang Quince, the lawyer Swallow in Peter Grimes, and Antonio in the production of The Marriage of Figaro that opened the new opera house there in May 1994. His international engagements also included Schigolch in Lulu for Canadian Opera in 1991, Rossini's Bartolo in Amsterdam, the Sacristan in Tosca in Geneva in June 1987, and the Mikado in Los Angeles. He appeared as Sergeant Meryll in the Welsh National Opera production of The Yeomen of the Guard in 1994–95, the first Gilbert and Sullivan production staged at the Royal Opera House. Adams's final performance was with English National Opera in Don Pasquale, one month before his death on 8 April 1996.