Eileen Sharp

Eileen Nora Sharp (20 September 1900 – 25 March 1958) was an English singer and actress who was the principal mezzo-soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1923 to 1925.

[3][4] After studying at the Royal College of Music in London, where she was awarded a scholarship,[5] Sharp made her stage debut in December 1921 in The Lady of the Rose at the Prince's Theatre in Manchester in a chorus role.

In March 1922, at the age of 21, Sharp was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and was immediately cast in the small roles of Kate in The Pirates of Penzance, the fairy Leila in Iolanthe, Peep-Bo in The Mikado, Ruth in Ruddigore and Vittoria in The Gondoliers.

Pinafore, Edith in Pirates, Angela in Patience, the title role in Iolanthe, Melissa in Princess Ida, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, Margaret in Ruddigore, Phoebe in The Yeomen of the Guard and Tessa in The Gondoliers.

[18] Eileen Sharp was so pretty and unspoilt that I would have imagined that no one could have found fault with her, but unfortunately she was an incorrigible giggler, and we were both reported for this heinous crime in one of our scenes together.

Sharp as Mad Margaret in Ruddigore (1923)
Sharp in a 1922 postcard
Publicity shot: Henry Ainley and Sharp in The Moon and Sixpence (1925)