Roland Macquarie Cunningham (1872 – 3 May 1958) was an Australian-born British singer and actor of the late Victorian and

Edwardian era In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

s. He began his professional career in

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

in London in 1895 and appeared briefly with the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

in 1899. In the early years of the next century, he appeared in

Edwardian musical comedies Edwardian musical comedy is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into the 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical ...

in both Britain and America. In 1910, he starred in the long-running original London production of '' The Chocolate Soldier''.

Life and career

Cunningham was born in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. A

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

, he made his London debut in 1895 in the

opéra bouffe ''Opéra bouffe'' (, plural: ''opéras bouffes'') is a genre of mid- to late 19th-century French operetta, closely associated with Jacques Offenbach, who produced many of them at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, inspiring the genre's name. It ...

Dandy Dick Whittington ''Dandy Dick Whittington'' was an opéra bouffe in two acts, written by George Robert Sims and composed by Ivan Caryll, based on the folktale Dick Whittington and His Cat. In this version, Dandy Dick performs in a circus and loves the owners' da ...

'' at the Avenue Theatre. In 1892, he appeared in the comic opera ''Toto and Tata'', composed by Antoine Banes, as Gaston Manners. He toured for the

's 'D' Company from July to September in 1899, playing John Manners in ''

Haddon Hall Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye, Derbyshire, River Wye near Bakewell, Derbyshire, a former seat of the Duke of Rutland, Dukes of Rutland. It is the home of Lord Edward Manners (brother of David Manners, 11th Duke of Rut ...

'' as well as appearing in '' The Lucky Star''. In the same year he married his wife, Mabel Annie, who was born 1869 in

Rhyl Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...

, Wales and died 12 February 1944 at

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. In 1904 Cunningham appeared at New York's now-demolished

Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

as Philip Merivale in the

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

'' The Two Roses''.Cunningham in ''Who's Who in the D'Oyly Carte'' website
/ref> Thereafter, he appeared regularly in musical theatre on the London stage, and acted in '' Two Merry Monarchs'', an

Edwardian musical comedy Edwardian musical comedy is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into the 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical ...

that opened at the

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy ...

in London on 10 March 1910, under the management of C. H. Workman.Farrell, Scott. ''The C. H. Workman Productions: A Centenary Review of the Final Savoy Operas'', Scott Farrell (2009), p. 75 Cunningham starred as Alexius Sparidoff in the original London production of '' The Chocolate Soldier'' at the Lyric Theatre, opposite Workman, for about 500 performances during its original run between 1910 and 1911, reprising the role at the same theatre in 1914. Roland Cunningham died in 1958 at

, aged 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Roland 1872 births 1958 deaths Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom 19th-century British male opera singers Male actors from New South Wales Singers from New South Wales 20th-century British male opera singers