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MARTINS BANK OPERATIC SOCIETY - LIVERPOOL |
Martins Bank Operatic Society has a much longer shelf-life than Martins
Bank itself, with costumes being hung up for the last time in 1980, some eleven
years beyond the merger of Martins and Barclays. Special thanks go to James McLaren, whose
late father Malcolm was Chairman of the re-titled “Martins Operatic
Society” in 1978. James came
across the official programme for the 1978 Production of The Merry widow, by
Franz Lehar, which like so many of the Society’s productions was staged at
Liverpool’s Neptune Theatre. The
programme contains a list of the many operas, operettas and other light
musical productions staged by the society since its inception as MARTINS BANK SOCIETY OF THE ARTS – MUSIC SECTION in 1946.
This list forms the basis of our menu below, from which you will be
able to choose to explore the wide range of nearly all of the productions
that were staged. Award Winners… THE SOCIETY RETAINS 'LEONARD OSBORN' TROPHY The
Operatic Society followed its production with another success which calls
for our congratulations. For the fourth successive year the Society won the
Leonard Osborn Trophy in the annual competition organised by the Liverpool
Branch of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society at the Liverpool Y.M.C.A. on May
9th. Entries take the form of extracts from any of the Savoy operas,
performed in modern dress and without scenery. Piano accompaniment only is
allowed and each excerpt is limited to 15 minutes' duration. This year there
were ten entries, three from our Society, six from Bentley Operatic Society
and one from Rock Ferry Operatic Society, thus providing the most formidable
opposition our Society has faced in the four years it has competed.
Nevertheless, the Gavotte scene from 'The Gondoliers', was considered by the
three judges from Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester to be the best entry. The menu on this page covers the productions
performed under the name of Martins
Bank Operatic Society, which begin in 1957. For performances from 1946 to 1956, please
visit MARTINS BANK
SOCIETY OF THE ARTS. Whilst have also listed the performances of
the society under Barclays, most will not be available as individual pages of
information and photographs for some time. We are working hard to add details
for the productions of the renamed “Martins Operatic Society” which
ran from 1970 until 1980. You can currently choose from the first six of
these shown from 1970 to 1975 below. To help us add this extra decade of
performances, in as much detail as possible, we would really welcome your
memories, and photos, scans of tickets, programmes, etc.. We hold the official printed programmes for
all but one of them - “Die Fledermaus” (1979).
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