Roland Cunningham

Roland Macquarie Cunningham (1872 – 3 May 1958) was an Australian-born British tenor and actor who worked in comic opera and musical comedy during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Born in New South Wales, Australia, he built a career that spanned stages in both Britain and the United States before his death at Bromley, Kent, at the age of 85.

Cunningham made his London debut in 1895 at the Avenue Theatre, appearing in the opéra bouffe Dandy Dick Whittington. Earlier, in 1892, he had taken the role of Gaston Manners in the comic opera Toto and Tata, composed by Antoine Banes. His association with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company came in 1899, when he toured with the company's 'D' Company from July through September, performing the role of John Manners in Haddon Hall and also appearing in The Lucky Star. That same year he married Mabel Annie, who had been born in 1869 in Rhyl, Wales, and who died on 12 February 1944 at Bromley, Kent.

In 1904, Cunningham crossed the Atlantic to appear on Broadway, taking the role of Philip Merivale in the musical comedy The Two Roses at the Broadway Theatre in New York. Following his American engagement, he returned to regular work on the London musical stage. In March 1910, he appeared in Two Merry Monarchs, an Edwardian musical comedy that opened at the Savoy Theatre on 10 March 1910 under the management of C. H. Workman.

Later in 1910, Cunningham starred as Alexius Sparidoff in the original London production of The Chocolate Soldier at the Lyric Theatre, performing opposite Workman. The production ran for approximately 500 performances between 1910 and 1911, and Cunningham reprised the role at the same theatre in 1914.