Alfred Cellier: Dorothy
Majella Cullagh (Dorothy), Lucy Vallis (Lydia), Matt Mears (Wilder), John Ieuan Jones (Sherwood), Edward Robinson (Squire Bantam), Stephanie Maitland (Phyllis), Patrick Relph (Tuppitt), Michael Jones (Lurcher), Sebastian Maclaine (Tom)
Victorian Opera, Richard Bonynge
Cellier’s score is amiably put together if lacking the inventiveness of Sullivan or Edward German…I’d be surprised if the recording led to any major revivals, but it’s good to have such a capable...
Alfred Cellier: Dorothy
Majella Cullagh (Dorothy), Lucy Vallis (Lydia), Matt Mears (Wilder), John Ieuan Jones (Sherwood), Edward Robinson (Squire Bantam), Stephanie Maitland (Phyllis), Patrick Relph (Tuppitt), Michael Jones (Lurcher), Sebastian Maclaine (Tom)
Victorian Opera, Richard Bonynge
Purchase product
Cellier’s score is amiably put together if lacking the inventiveness of Sullivan or Edward German…I’d be surprised if the recording led to any major revivals, but it’s good to have such a capable...
About
Alfred Cellier was a contemporary of Arthur Sullivan as a Chapel Royal chorister, and would later conduct several Gilbert and Sullivan productions. With its rural tale of disguise and romantic scheming, its jaunty tunes, lively characters and farcical comedy, Cellier’s light opera, Dorothy, has been almost entirely forgotten today. It had the longest run of any 19th-century piece of musical theatre, seeing off The Mikado and Ruddigore, and became such a popular hit in its day that the box office profits were able to fund the building of the Lyric Theatre on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue.
Contents and tracklist
- Edward Robinson (baritone), Sebastian Maclaine (tenor), Stephanie Maitland (mezzo-soprano), Majella Cullagh (soprano), Lucy Vallis (mezzo-soprano), Matt Mears (tenor), John Ieuan Jones (baritone), Patrick Relph (baritone), Michael Vincent Jones (tenor)
- Victorian Opera Orchestra, Victorian Opera Chorus
- Richard Bonynge
Awards and reviews
April 2019
Cellier’s score is amiably put together if lacking the inventiveness of Sullivan or Edward German…I’d be surprised if the recording led to any major revivals, but it’s good to have such a capable performance available…Bonynge conducts with vivacity.
April 2019
Cellier does a nice line in lilting ballads and waltz-songs; and, with Richard Bonynge at the helm of an orchestra that would have done any Victorian theatre proud, we can enjoy both the graceful swing of Cellier’s melodies and his luminous little touches of colour…You don’t expect or need heavyweight singing in this repertoire, though Majella Cullagh has richness to spare as Dorothy.
March 2019
A work which still has the power to charm and delight after a century of neglect.
July 2019
[Bonynge’s] relaxed tempos and delicate moulding of choral and instrumental textures – not least in the appealingly Smetana-esque ballet – convey winning affection if limited zest…Dorothy offers the teasing pleasures of a soft sherbet fountain rather than anything more intoxicating, but all hail Victorian Opera for reviving this gentle blast from England’s musical past.
Opera Now February 2019
Conducted by Richard Bonynge with efficiency... and neatly performed by a generally young cast.
