Welsh baritone Eric Roberts began his operatic career with the Welsh National Opera as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute and has since appeared with most of the major British opera companies. Now enjoying an international career singing in the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe, he has delighted audiences with his performances in a wide variety of roles from the title role in Eugene Onegin to Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and from the crusty Dr Bartolo in The Barber of Seville to magnificent portrayals of Gilbert & Sullivan comic roles.

Whilst much in demand for his distinguished operatic performances, Eric still manages to maintain his G&S credentials by performing at least one of the Savoy operas every year.

Since his first encounter with G&S in 1988, when he sang with the newly reformed D'Oyly Carte for three seasons, he has played the Learned Judge, Sir Joseph Porter, Jack Point, the Lord Chancellor, the Major General and KoKo, the last two recorded with the company in 1990.

It was whilst performing at the Savoy in The Mikado, directed by John Wells, that he became fascinated by the personality of George Grossmith, who, a century earlier in the same theatre, had made such an impact in creating the G&S comic patter roles that are known to this day as "the Grossmith Roles".

Eric Roberts was forced into reading The Diary of a Nobody while at Art College - the alternative being to finish a particularly awful painting - and he was hooked. The same painting made the attractions of opera singing irresistible. In 1988 , now with an operatic pedigree which caused his clergyman father much bemusement, he met the late John Wells his director in a production of The Mikado at the Savoy. Their shared love of The Diary of a Nobody and the thrill of following in Gee Gee's footsteps at the Savoy led to the creation of this show.

GEE GEE

George Grossmith, remembered today as the author of The Diary of a Nobody, played the great comic leads in Gilbert and Sullivan's original productions. His relationship with W S Gilbert, who directed them, drove him to drugs and near-despair. Performed by Eric Roberts with piano accompaniment, this is George Grossmith's own story of the Savoy Years, told by himself - an evening's entertainment lit with G&S favourites and Gee Gee's own rare original compositions. Written by John Wells and Eric Roberts, original direction by John Wells.

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Last Updated: 30 December 1998

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