Mayo memories: Stephen Garvey’s Mikado productions of 1926 and 1957

By Tom Gillespie

EIGHT weeks ago I wrote of Stephen Garvey’s production of A Country Girl, which was staged in Castlebar Town Hall in 1944.

Over his career the Castle Street native produced many light operatic and pantomime productions under the Stephen Garvey’s Musical Society.

His first showpiece was the Mikado, or The Town of Titipu, a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of 14 operatic collaborations.

That was in 1926. Thirty-one years later (1957) Stephen again staged the Gilbert and Sullivan classic, this time with a 22-piece orchestra made up of Michael Devanney, Johnny Gavin, Jim Devanney, William Schoenberner, Charlie Reynolds, Fr. Gabriel Charles (musical director), Karl Weiss, Tommy Devanney, Dan Doyle, Bill Carolan, Jimmy Feeney, Jim Courell, Liam Gavin, Sean O’Connell, Kevin Collins, Rose Carney, Francis Carney, Mai Coughlin, Angela Corcoran, Mrs. Daly, Mrs. O’Brien, Fr. Prendergast and my father Dick Gillespie.

The 1926 production was originally premiered in London’s Savoy Theatre, 40 years earlier.

My cousin Richard Gillespie did research on the 1926 Mikado and found the first production was such an international success that the producers had to fast-track an American production to steal the march on an American theater company that was preparing a pirate production of the show.

Mr. Garvey’s track record with pantomimes in Castlebar boded well for a musical extravaganza - the success of which led to the staging of a series of operas over the following years.

The principal male performers in Stephen’s first Mikado, which ran on November 27, 29 and 30, 1926, were Eddie Cannon, Philip Hoban, T.J. Armstrong, Willie Downes and Tommy Gavin, while the female principals were Ray Heaney, Irene Gillespie (my aunt), Gretta Hayden and Angela Corcoran.

The following is a review of that production that appeared in The Connaught Telegraph on December 12 of that year:

“Taking the principal performers as we find them on the programme, Mr. Willie Downes, in the title role, The Mikado, gave us a good representation of the eastern potentate, while ‘his son’, Mr. Tommy Gavin, as Nanki-Poo, acted that part to perfection, his previous experience in drama, opera and on the concert stage enabling him to acquit himself with great éclat, his singing being greatly admired.

“Mr. Philip Hoban, as Lord High ‘Executioner’, and Mr. T.J. Armstrong as ‘Lord High Everything Else’, were both exceptionally good. Despite the high solemn offices they held, it fell to them to impart the vim and ludicrousness, and again and again they made the house rock with laughter, and in the magnificent song ‘Willow, Tit-Willow’, Mr. Hoban as Lord High Executioner, and the disappointed in love, scored a great triumph each night.

“Miss Irene Gillespie, as Katisha, made an excellent tragedienne: she sang and acted splendidly, her make-up and costume left nothing to be desired, and her high action song, ‘Alone and Yet Alive’, was tendered in a way that won the appreciation of all.

“Miss Ray Heaney’s interpretation of Yum-Yum was really excellent, and her singing of ‘The Moon and I’ earned her well merited applause.

“Mr. Eddie Cannon, Miss Angela Corcoran and Miss Gretta Hayden, the other principal characters, also acquitted themselves well and sang their different songs charmingly.”

The remainder of the cast included choruses of school girls, nobles, guards, and coolies, as follows: Sopranos - Misses Bridie Sheridan, Molly O’Malley, Dollie Doyle, Bertha Boland, Duxie Mitchell, Cissie Flannelly, Isabel O’Malley, Bridie Hanley, Kathleen Geraghty, Norah Wynne, Grace O’Malley, Annie Walsh and Maggie Kenny.

Contraltos - Misses. Bridie Leonard, Gertie Corcoran, Maura Mullins, Josephine Downes, Kathleen Heneghan, Evelyn Staunton, Madge Hynes and Alice Gavin.

Tenors - Messrs. Eugene Boland, Paddy Kitterick, Michael Garvey, Sam McCormack, Eddie O’Malley and Paddy McCormack.

Basses - Messrs. Jim Ward, Andy McTigue, Mattie Flannery, Tommy Conway, Dan Dargan, Tommy Leonard, Tim Callaghan, Jack Mellett and Frankie Munnelly.

Orchestra - Mrs. Dr. Thornton, Mr. P. Malone, Westport, Mr. Giblin, Mr. George Smith, Mr. T. Jordan and Master Jimmy Garvey.

Stage managers - Mr. John Hoban and Miss Josie Downes. Scenery and make-up - Mr. John Dwyer assisted by Mr. Bob Kilkelly and lighting - Mr. Lacey.

Irene Gillespie played many leading roles and featured in several productions before emigrating to Chicago, and then London, where she trained and worked as a hospital matron.

Richard Gillespie wrote that according to family lore the hospital was bombed in World War II during the blitz.

Irene, who never married, later moved back to America and finally took up a position in Toronto, Canada, in 1946. She remained in Canada until her death in 1966.