page_title: Frank Wyatt
section_title: D'Oyly Carte and later theatre career
hierarchical_section_title: Frank Wyatt / D'Oyly Carte and later theatre career
caption_attribution_description: English: Frank Wyatt as the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers in 1889
context_page_description: Frank Wyatt was an English actor, singer, theatre manager and playwright.
  After beginning his career as an illustrator and painter, in 1877 Wyatt began a stage career in comedy, Victorian burlesque, pantomime and operetta. In 1884 he had success in a Shakespeare role in Henry Irving's company, and in 1885 he created the role of Ravennes in the comic opera Erminie, which went on to become an international sensation. In this production he met Violet Melnotte, who also appeared in Erminie and who managed the theatre where it premiered; they married in 1886.
  In his more than two-decade career on stage Wyatt is best remembered for his roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1889 to 1891, and in particular for creating the role of the Duke of Plaza-Toro in Gilbert and Sullivan's hit comic opera The Gondoliers. Wyatt continued to perform in comic operas and comedies until about 1900. From the 1890s Wyatt and his wife owned and managed the Trafalgar Square Theatre, known after 1895 as the Duke of York's Theatre. He also wrote plays and a grand opera.
context_section_description: On 8 June 1889, W. S. Gilbert visited Arthur Sullivan at his home in London to read through the draft of their new opera, The Gondoliers.  In the evening they both went to see Wyatt performing the role of Don Trocadero in the opéra comique Paul Jones, in which he had received good notices, as they were looking for a replacement for their long-time leading comedian, George Grossmith, who was leaving the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in August. Satisfied by what they had seen, they invited Wyatt to join the D'Oyly Carte company on a two-year contract to create the role of the Duke of Plaza-Toro at the Savoy Theatre in The Gondoliers.  Wyatt appeared in the role throughout the run of 554 performances, from December 1889 to June 1891. Punch said of his performance: "Mr. Frank Wyatt, as 'the new boy' at the Savoy School, doesn't, as yet, seem quite happy; but it cannot be expected that he should feel 'quite at home', when he has only recently arrived at a new school." H. M. Walbrook recalled, however, that Wyatt was "a tall, handsome, nimble and very polished comedian, who immediately acted, sang and danced the part of the Duke of Plaza Toro as it has never been rendered since."
  Wyatt next created the role of Baboo Currie in The Nautch Girl by Dance and Solomon, playing the part from June to December 1891, when his contract with D'Oyly Carte ended. From January to July 1892 he appeared at the Lyric Theatre as Arrostino Annegato in The Mountebanks by Gilbert and Alfred Cellier. Wyatt's reviews describe his effectiveness in the songs allotted to him. He then played Woodpecker Tapping in Haste to the Wedding, a short-lived comic opera by Gilbert and George Grossmith at the Criterion Theatre. Also in 1892, he appeared in London in Ma mie Rosette, together with Jessie Bond and Courtice Pounds. On tour, Wyatt appeared in Mam'zelle Nitouche in 1893. Later that year, he returned to London in a farce called A Screw Loose at the Vaudeville Theatre. In 1896, Wyatt was seen in The Star of India at Princess's Theatre, London. He appeared in The Mermaids and other pieces in 1897 at the Avenue Theatre. His appearances became fewer after this, although he performed in new works as late as 1900 in The Gay Pretenders by George Grossmith, Jr. at the Globe Theatre.
caption: Wyatt as the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers 1889
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