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Who’s Who |
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www.icosreunion.co.uk |
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OK, you were expecting a video …. If you want to jump straight there use this link but first a bit of background MICHAEL WALTERS To many people Michael was an eccentric, self-proclaimed theatre critic with an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Gilbert and Sullivan. Brought up in Portrush, Northern Ireland, he moved to SW London and spent much of his working life as curator of the birds’ egg collection at an outpost of the Natural History Museum in Tring. During this time he attended many, many performances of G&S, both amateur and professional, and invariably published and circulated ‘crits’ of these shows to his many contacts around the country and abroad who shared his passion. Some of these pithy writings can still be found on the internet by searching for “Gilbertian Gossip”, his self-published periodical. Although Michael could certainly call a spade a shovel, by and large the ‘crits’ he directed at Imperial College Operatic Society were well-meaning and had the effect of encouraging young participants to develop their abilities. Hence the heightened anticipation at the end of each production when a manila envelope packed with tightly-typed Walters opinion arrived. Michael also invited many of us to his G&S Society meetings and soirees at which were staged excerpts, quite often very obscure or contrived ones, on a G&S theme. These afforded good, if sometimes frightening experience for us youngsters. On one occasion Roger Nicholls recalls being allocated the part of Captain Corcoran to find he was playing opposite a certain Alan Titchmarsh as Sir Joseph Porter. Ellis Pike, on forgetting the words to a song he was requested to perform, found himself prompted by the entire audience, all of whom knew the lines better than he did. ….more |
