Richard Watson (1903-1968)
Richard Watson, born in Adelaide, Australia, on 1903, had a distinguished career in music and opera before passing away in his hometown on August 2, 1968. He began his musical training in Adelaide and continued at the Royal Academy of Music. Watson made his London stage debut in a single matinee performance of a musical fantasy titled The Ladder at Daly's Theatre in June 1927. His early performances also included the one-act opera The Shepherds of Delectable Mountains at the Court Theatre in June 1928, as well as numerous grand operatic roles at the Lyceum and Covent Garden between 1929 and 1932.
In August 1932, Watson joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, taking over the roles of Private Willis in Iolanthe and King Hildebrand in Princess Ida, previously played by Sydney Granville, and the Lieutenant of the Tower in The Yeomen of the Guard, a role formerly held by Leslie Rands. In December 1932, with the revival of The Sorcerer at the Savoy, he added the Notary to his repertoire. By June 1933, following Flynn's departure from the Company, Watson assumed the role of Old Adam in Ruddigore. Throughout the 1932-34 seasons, he occasionally replaced Darrell Fancourt as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance and filled in for Granville as Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers. Watson can be heard as Hildebrand in the Company's 1932 recording of Princess Ida.
Watson left the D'Oyly Carte at the end of the season in June 1934 and spent six months touring with the Carl Rose Opera Company. He subsequently returned to Australia, where he performed with the J. C. Williamson Company during 1935-36 in a Gilbert & Sullivan tour. During this period, he made his debut as the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury and took on roles including the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance, Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Sergeant Bouncer in Cox and Box, Colonel Calverley in Patience, and Sir Despard Murgatroyd in Ruddigore.
Watson returned to England from 1936 to 1939, where he engaged in several further performances at Covent Garden. He then went back to Australia for another Gilbert & Sullivan tour, as well as other works, which continued throughout World War II from 1940 to 1945. His G&S roles during this time included all his previous parts along with Doctor Daly in The Sorcerer, Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore, King Hildebrand in Princess Ida, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers.
In September 1947, Watson rejoined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Initially, his roles included Bouncer (shared with Richard Walker), the Judge, Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore (also shared with Charles Dorning), Private Willis (shared with Walker), Pooh-Bah, the Lieutenant, and Don Alhambra. He once again filled in for Fancourt as the Pirate King during the 1947-48 season. The following season, after Walker's departure, Watson took on the Sergeant of Police in Pirates and switched to Shadbolt in Yeomen. During that year, while Dorning played Captain Corcoran, Watson portrayed Bill Bobstay in Pinafore, and he occasionally substituted for Fancourt as Colonel Calverley in Patience. In November 1948, he appeared as Sir Despard in a new production of Ruddigore.
For the 1949-50 season, Watson yielded the role of Sergeant Bouncer, and in 1950-51, Captain Corcoran was taken over by newcomer Eric Thornton. Nevertheless, Watson retained his roles as the Judge, Sergeant of Police, Private Willis, Pooh-Bah, Sir Despard, Shadbolt, and Don Alhambra for the remainder of his time with the D'Oyly Carte. He departed from the Company for the second and final time in August 1951, having recorded most of his roles, including Judge, Sergeant of Police, Pooh-Bah, Don Alhambra, Sir Despard, and Shadbolt, as part of the first series of LP recordings from 1949 to 1951. He also sang Pooh-Bah in a 1951 BBC broadcast of The Mikado.
Following his tenure with the D'Oyly Carte, Watson taught at the University of Saskatchewan for a time before returning to Australia in 1955. He embarked on a final grand tour with the Williamsons in Gilbert & Sullivan from 1956 to 1958, where he played his customary roles. Subsequently, he joined the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide as a teacher. In the early 1960s, Watson made what would be his last professional appearance on the musical stage as Mr. Bumble in the original Australian production of Lionel Bart's Oliver!.
