page_title: Fred Billington
section_title: 1880s
hierarchical_section_title: Fred Billington / Life and career / 1880s
caption_attribution_description: Drawing showing english actor Fred Billington, drawn by C.W.Allers
context_page_description: Fred Billington was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. His career with the company began in 1879 and continued with brief interruptions until his death in 1917.
  Billington seldom played in the West End but was a favourite with provincial audiences, chiefly in the roles created by Rutland Barrington. He created two roles in Savoy operas: the first was the Sergeant of Police in the one-off performance of The Pirates of Penzance given in December 1879 in Paignton to establish Gilbert's and Sullivan's British copyright, and the second was King Mopolio in His Majesty at the Savoy Theatre in 1897.
context_section_description: Billington joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1879 playing the Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore in the London suburbs, and Policeman 100-A in a companion piece, Antony and Cleopatra, a one-act French farce adapted by Charles Selby in 1842.  Soon he took over the larger role in Pinafore of Dick Deadeye, touring the English provinces.  He created the role of Sergeant of Police in the Paignton performance of The Pirates of Penzance in 1879.  He also had a part in Number One Round the Corner, a farce that played as a companion piece with Pinafore. In his early days with the company, there were complaints from reviewers that he tended to sing flat, but such complaints soon ceased.  He became known for his excellent diction.
  In 1880, in D'Oyly Carte touring companies, Billington added the roles of the Notary and later Doctor Daly in The Sorcerer, and Sisyphus Twister in the curtain-raiser Six and Six. In 1881 and 1882 he took on the roles of the Pirate King in Pirates and Captain Corcoran in Pinafore.  In 1882 and 1883, he toured as Derrick von Slous and Captain Hendrich Hudson in Farnie and Planquette's operetta Rip Van Winkle.  He also played Private Willis in Iolanthe.  In 1884, he played King Hildebrand in the tour of Princess Ida.
  In 1885, Billington added to his list of roles the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury and Pooh-Bah in The Mikado.  In August of that year, he travelled to New York for the American production of The Mikado, in a cast that included George Thorne (Ko-Ko), Geraldine Ulmar (Yum-Yum) and Courtice Pounds (Nanki-Poo). Returning from America in May 1886, he performed the roles of Corcoran and Pooh-Bah in the provinces and then Germany and Austria.  He then returned to England in 1887 to rehearse the new Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Ruddygore, gave two matinee performances as Sir Despard Murgatroyd at the Savoy Theatre, and then sailed for New York again, to play Sir Despard in the American cast.  This was followed by British and European tours of Ruddigore, The Mikado and Patience, in which he played Colonel Calverley.  He also filled in for Rutland Barrington as Sir Despard briefly at the Savoy.
  In 1888 and 1889, Billington toured as Deadeye, Sergeant of Police, Colonel Calverley, Pooh-Bah, Sergeant Meryll and later Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard.  He then briefly left the D'Oyly Carte company to play Bragadoccio in Edward Jakobowski and Harry Paulton's comic opera Paola in Edinburgh, in a cast also including Leonora Braham.  In 1890, to strengthen the New York cast of The Gondoliers, Carte sent several chosen players to America, including Billington as Don Alhambra.  Billington next returned to Britain, touring in The Gondoliers and then The Mikado as Pooh-Bah and Yeomen as Shadbolt.
caption: Billington as Pooh-Bah (1888)
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