Jennifer Gay Bishop (16 December 1933 – 17 January 2022), known by her stage name Jennifer Toye, was a British operatic soprano best known for performances with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1950s and 1960s, including as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore , Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Yum-Yum in The Mikado . She later performed in musical theatre and opera with other companies.
Toye was born in Holywell, Flintshire, in North Wales, the daughter of the professional singer Eleanor Toye and her husband, Joseph Richard Bishop, a lawyer. [1] She had a brother, Francis. [2] Her maternal uncles included Francis and Geoffrey Toye; her use of her mother's family name as a stage name connected her with her uncles' established musical careers. She was educated at Bon Sauveur Convent, Anglesey, [2] and studied vocal music at the British Institute of Florence, which was at the time under the direction of her uncle Francis. [3]
In September 1953, [4] having performed with amateur companies in North Wales, [3] Toye joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, [4] of which her uncle Geoffrey had been musical director in the 1920s. [5] In the 1954–55 season she was given the small roles of Ada and Chloe in Princess Ida . [6] In 1957 she sang the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury , Sacharissa in Princess Ida and Kate in The Yeomen of the Guard , [7] and added Casilda in The Gondoliers the following season. [8]
In May 1960 Toye was promoted to principal soprano in succession to Jean Hindmarsh and took on the roles of Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore , Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance , Lady Ella in Patience and Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard. [9] The following season she added Yum-Yum in The Mikado , Lady Psyche in Princess Ida , [10] and Celia in Iolanthe . [11] She also made occasional appearances as Phyllis in Iolanthe and Zorah in Ruddigore during the 1963–64 season. [12] She continued to perform with D'Oyly Carte until 1965. [3] Having joined the company for experience, she told a press reporter that she felt it time to move on: "I can't pretend I'm here for experience any more … I'm not tired of it at all, but if I'm ever to get any other experience the time is now". [13]
During her time with D'Oyly Carte, Toye took part in two tours of North America. [14] During the second tour she married a flautist in April 1965. [13] While with the company she also took part in concert performances ranging from Bach's St John Passion [15] to Gilbert and Sullivan miscellanies with D'Oyly Carte colleagues. [16]
After leaving D'Oyly Carte, Toye appeared on a cruise ship for nine months [2] and on stage in Lock Up Your Daughters in York, [17] on television with Arthur Askey and the Fol-de-Rols, [18] and in pantomime in the title role in Cinderella, [19] and as the Empress in Aladdin. [20] In the early 1970s she was a member of the chorus of Sadler's Wells Opera (later English National Opera) company, [21] where she sang in a wide range of operas by composers from Monteverdi to Wagner. [22] She left that company in the mid-1970s to care for her father during his final illness. [2] In 1979, she married Michael Rees, a business executive; they settled in Kingston-Upon-Thames, where they operated a bespoke hardwood joinery business for the next 30 years. [2]
Toye died on 17 January 2022, at the age of 88. [2]
On recordings made by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Toye performs as Peep-Bo in the 1957 Mikado, [23] as Celia in the 1960 Iolanthe, [24] as Casilda in the 1961 Gondoliers [25] and as Lady Ella in the 1961 Patience. [26] She also voices Zorah in the 1967 Halas and Batchelor animated film of Ruddigore . [27]
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Bertha Amy Lewis was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for her work as principal contralto in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Sydney Granville was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Ann Drummond-Grant was a British singer and actress, best known for her performances in contralto roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Marjorie Eyre-Parker was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in first the soprano, and later the mezzo-soprano, roles of the Savoy operas. She performed with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for more than two decades and later performed with the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. She married another D'Oyly Carte performer, Leslie Rands, in 1926.
George Cook was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in the bass and bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
John Ayldon was an English opera singer and comic actor, best known for his performances in bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Elsie Griffin was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Patricia Leonard was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in mezzo-soprano and contralto roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Harry Norris was a New Zealand-born conductor best remembered as musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1920 to 1929.
Pauline Wales was an English singer and actress best known for her performances in the mezzo-soprano roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Sylvia Cecil was an English singer and actress. She began her career in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, with whom she performed, off and on, from 1918 until 1937. She also performed in musical theatre, concerts, music hall and variety from 1921, and broadcast on radio. In the 1940s and 1950s she starred in several musicals by Ivor Novello and Noël Coward.
Clara Millington Dow was an English operatic soprano and actress of the early twentieth century. After a concert career, she appeared at the Savoy Theatre in the first repertory seasons of Gilbert and Sullivan operas mounted by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1906–09, under the direction of the author. She is remembered as one of the last principal sopranos personally trained by W. S. Gilbert at the Savoy. In between engagements with D'Oyly Carte, Dow performed in concerts and operetta. After her retirement from the professional stage, she directed amateur productions of the Savoy Operas until she was in her seventies.
Sybil Gordon was an English singer and actress. She is best remembered for her performances in Gilbert and Sullivan roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1926 to 1931. Gordon started out as a concert singer. After her career with the D'Oyly Carte company, she moved to Canada, where she broadcast on the radio. In the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, she is misidentified as the fiancée of Olympic runner Harold Abrahams.
Anna Bethell was an English actress, singer and stage director. She is best known for her performances in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. After playing other small mezzo-soprano parts, she played the role of Mrs. Partlett in The Sorcerer for many years. She also occasionally played some of the larger contralto roles. She later became stage director of the company from 1947 to 1949 and also directed the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Company.
Muriel Dickson was a Scottish soprano who was particularly known for her performances in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. After performing with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for seven years, she sang for four seasons with the Metropolitan Opera and went on to a concert career. In later years, she taught singing at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and privately.
Peggy Ann Jones is an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in the mezzo-soprano roles of the Savoy operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. During a fifteen-year career with that company, beginning at age 19, she was particularly known for her interpretations of the title role in Iolanthe, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, Phoebe Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Mad Margaret in Ruddigore. She later performed on television, in films and in musicals in London's West End. Jones's best-known recordings include the role of Pitti-Sing on both the 1973 D'Oyly Carte Mikado and the company's 1966 film version of The Mikado.
Christene M. Palmer is a retired Australian singer and actress, known for her performances in the contralto roles of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company during the 1960s. Her performance as Katisha in The Mikado is preserved in the D'Oyly Carte 1967 film version of that opera.
Eileen Nora Sharp was an English singer and actress probably best known as the principal mezzo-soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1923 to 1925. For a few years after that, she continued to act in the West End and on tour, but she left the stage after marrying in 1928, making some radio and television appearances in the 1930s.
Jessie Kate Rose was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for her performances as principal mezzo-soprano in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. From 1896 to 1899 she originated several mostly smaller roles in Savoy operas and then continued to play a variety of smaller and larger roles in repertory with the company. She was its principal mezzo-soprano from 1904 to 1909.
Mary Sansom was an English operatic soprano best known for her performances in principal soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1950s and 1960s, including as Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Phyllis in Iolanthe, the title role in Patience and Gianetta in The Gondoliers. In later years, she performed with Gilbert and Sullivan for All, directed stage productions and established a costume hire business. She also appeared in supporting roles on British television.
