A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Charles Herbert Workman

Charles Herbert Workman was born on the 5th of May 1872 at 5 Richmond Terrace, Rimrose Road, Bootle on the outskirts of Liverpool. As the youngest of four children born to Charles Workman and his wife, Sarah, ( née Forrest ), he was educated at Waterloo College, Liverpool, followed by a stint in 'commercial life' as a clerk in a merchant’s office. He studied singing under his brother and singing teacher, Albert Edward Workman before making his stage debut in November 1894 as Calynx in 'Utopia Limited' with the D'oyly Carte Opera Company on tour in Stratford-on-Avon. He assumed the role of Calynx full-time from December 1894-March 1895, and also appeared as Pedrillo in 'The Chieftain' and Mr. Bunthorne's Solicitor in 'Patience' between February and November 1895. In November 1895 he was called to the Savoy where he made his London debut as Pennyfather in 'After All!', the curtain raiser for 'The Mikado' and then created the small part of Ben Hashbaz in 'The Grand Duke' in March to July 1896. When 'The Mikado' and 'After All!' were brought back in July, he once again took up Pennyfather before later creating the part of Adam in 'His Majesty' in 1897, appearing briefly as King Ferdinand V when George Grossmith abandoned the part. Charles was First Citizen in the first revival of 'The Yeomen of the Guard' and also played Simon in 'Old Sarah', a companion piece that accompanied 'Yeomen' between May and November 1897 and, for a time, 'The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein', in which he briefly played Carl. Leaving the Savoy in December 1897 he began his career as D'Oyly Carte principal comedian, appearing until March 1898 with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "B" as the Lord Chancellor in 'Iolanthe', Ko-Ko in 'The Mikado', and Jack Point in 'The Yeomen of the Guard'. It was here that he also met his fellow performer and wife-to-be, the Belfast-born Totie Adams, around 1897 and following a whirlwind romance and courtship, they were wed in her hometown in 1898 during the opera company’s tour of Ireland in December of that year. Their son, Roy was also born in Belfast in 1902.

As Ko-Ko in 'The Mikado'

In June 1898 he joined and travelled with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "C.", later known as "The D'Oyly Carte Principal Repertory Opera Company" until November 1906, appearing as John Wellington Wells in 'The Sorcerer', Sir Joseph Porter in 'H.M.S. Pinafore', Major General Stanley in 'The Pirates of Penzance', Reginald Bunthorne in 'Patience', the Lord Chancellor, King Gama in 'Princess Ida', Ko-Ko, Jack Point, the Duke of Plaza-Toro in 'The Gondoliers', and Scaphio whenever their operas were performed. He also appeared as Hassan in 'The Rose of Persia' in 1901 and as the Learned Judge in 'Trial by Jury' beginning in November 1904.
Charles was then called to the Savoy for the First London Repertory Season in December 1906, again in the comic baritone roles:Jack Point, the Duke in 'Gondoliers', Bunthorne, and the Lord Chancellor. After another tour with the Repertory Company in nine of his accustomed roles from September 1907 to April 1908, he returned to the Savoy for the Second London Repertory Season until March 1909 as Ko-Ko, Sir Joseph, the Lord Chancellor, General Stanley, the Duke, and Jack Point. Under W.S. Gilbert’s personal direction, he achieved fame at the Savoy Theatre, earning particular praise for his portrayal of the tragi-comic jester Jack Point of which Gilbert himself expressed his opinion in a public speech: ‘In Mr Workman we have a Jack Point of the finest and most delicate finish, and I feel sure that no one will more readily acknowledge the triumph he has achieved in their old parts than his distinguished protagonists, Mr George Grossmith, and his immediate predecessor, Mr Passmore'. 

In his favourite role of Jack Point in 'The Yeomen of the Guard'

With such praise ringing in his ears, Charles left the D'Oyly Carte organization and became an actor-manager leasing the Savoy Theatre between September 1909 to May 1910 in a venture that proved to be less-than-successful. Here he produced Eden & Somerville's 'The Mountaineers' in 1909, appearing as Pierre; Gilbert & German's 'Fallen Fairies', as Lutin; 'Two Merry Monarchs', appearing as Rolandyl; and Orpheus until May 1910. 'Fallen Fairies' was less than successful and led to a major blow-up between Workman and Gilbert as Workman's syndicate of backers had not wanted Nancy McIntosh, Gilbert's protegee as Selene. At the end of the first week Charles replaced Miss McIntosh with her understudy, Amy Evans. Gilbert was furious and forbade Workman from appearing in any of his works again. Gilbert could keep Workman from performing Gilbert & Sullivan on the stage, at least in England, but not in the recording studio. Workman recorded over a dozen songs from his G&S repertoire for Odeon in 1910, and several more in 1912. Many of these have been preserved by Pearl on LP and CD ("The Art of the Savoyard," Pearl GEMM CD 9991). After leaving the Savoy, he had several more successes on the London Stage, most notably in 'The Chocolate Soldier' (Lyric, 1910-11) and 'The Girl in the Taxi' (Lyric, 1912-13). Packing his trunks and accompanied by Totie and 12-year-old, Roy, he joined with his fellow principal players of the Lyric Theatre, London (who had also been engaged for the Australian tour of 'The Girl in the Taxi' by Malone), aboard the RMS Orontes, which set sail from the London docks on the 19th of June 1914 travelling to Australia via Gibraltar, Toulon, Naples, Port Said and Colombo. Here he once again appeared in Gilbert & Sullivan operas (1918), and as Ali Baba in 'Chu-Chin-Chow' (1920-21).

In 1922-23, he was on a Gilbert & Sullivan tour of India and the Far East with his wife but amazingly, neither of them made it back to Australia. Miss Adams died in December 1922 in Calcutta and Charles Workman died at sea in May 1923 shortly before the steamer carrying the Company from Japan arrived in Hong Kong.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/06/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-mary.html