Captain Billy

Captain Billy is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Harry Greenbank and music by François Cellier. It was first performed at the Savoy Theatre on 24 September 1891 until 16 January 1892, as a curtain raiser to The Nautch Girl, and from 1 February 1892 to 18 June 1892, as a curtain raiser to The Vicar of Bray, for a total of 217 performances. The first stage production with an orchestra for over 100 years was done in May 2007 by the Chapel End Savoy Players at the Deaton Theatre, Forest School, Snaresbrook, London as a curtain raiser for their production of The Pirates of Penzance. The vocal score was published by Chappells and is in the British Library.

There is no printed libretto.

A copy of the libretto was filed in the Lord Chamberlain's collection in January/February 1880.

A recording of an abridged version was made by a Leicester (UK) G&S Society in the 1970s. A recording (omitting the spoken dialogue) was issued by Dutton Epoch in 2020, together with Haddon Hall and Mr. Jericho, The recording features the BBC Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by John Andrews.

Text from the Wikipedia article "Captain Billy", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the Composer

François Arsène Cellier (14 December 1849 – 5 January 1914), often called Frank, was an English conductor and composer. He is known for his tenure as musical director and conductor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company during the original runs and early revivals of the Savoy operas. Succeeding his elder brother Alfred as the company's chief conductor in 1878, Cellier devoted almost all the rest of his life to comic opera. He was musical director for the original runs of nine Gilbert and Sullivan operas and fourteen full-length pieces by other writers at the Savoy Theatre between 1881 and 1902. He composed songs and also some short curtain raisers that were well received but have rarely been…

Text from the Wikipedia article "François Cellier", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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