Alice May

Alice May (1847[1] – 16 August 1887[2]) was an English singer and actress best remembered as the creator of the soprano role of Aline in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer (1877).

She quickly returned to Offenbach in London under the management of Richard D'Oyly Carte and, by 1882, she was touring with Emily Soldene's opera company.

She split up with Allen and moved to the U.S. in 1883, where she performed first in New York but soon joined Charles Ford's Opera Company in St. Louis and on tour.

[15] The Observer wrote in January 1877, "a morning performance of The Grand Duchess was on Wednesday last given at the Opera Comique Theatre.

[16] She then toured in The Grand Duchess and other operettas, earning good notices while also singing songs, such as G. B. Allen's "Unrest", in concert.

[17] In May, she played Mlle Lange in Charles Lecocq's operetta, La fille de Madame Angot.

"[18] After a recital in Belfast, Ireland, in early 1877, The Musical World printed not only a favourable review but also a celebratory poem dedicated to her.

For Carte, May created the role of Aline in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer at the Opera Comique, and Allen became musical director of the production.

[11] Late in January 1878, she played Drogan in a revival of Jacques Offenbach's Geneviève de Brabant in Islington at the Royal Philharmonic Theatre in a production also managed by Carte.

She debuted with the Barton English Opera Company in May 1883, in the title role of Michael Balfe's Satanella at New York's Standard Theatre.

She first starred in F. C. Burnand and Meyer Lutz's operatic burlesque of Bluebeard, which had opened in London earlier that year.

Pinafore, Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, Lady Jane in Patience, Jelly in Gilbert and Clay's Princess Toto, and Katisha in the first authorised American production of The Mikado at Uhrig's Cave in St. Louis, in July 1885.