Alice May (1847 – 16 August 1887) was an English singer and actress best remembered as the creator of the soprano role of Aline in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer (1877).
After musical studies as a child, May studied voice in London with the composer George Benjamin Allen. She began singing in his concerts. May and Allen began to have a relationship, and she travelled with him to Australia in 1870, where they performed together in concerts. Beginning in 1872, May began star in comic operas in Australia. May and Allen returned to England in 1876, where she continued to perform in Offenbach works, earning good notices.
In 1877, May created the role of Aline in The Sorcerer, earning warm reviews, but she left the company after only two months. She quickly returned to Offenbach in London under the management of Richard D'Oyly Carte and, by 1882, she was touring with Emily Soldene's opera company. She split up with Allen and moved to the U.S. in 1883, where she performed first in New York but soon joined Charles Ford's Opera Company in St. Louis and on tour. The next year, she married Louis Raymond, another member of the company. She was earning good notices, but she began to miss performances due to her growing struggle with alcoholism. She continued to perform on tour until 1887, when she became ill and died at the age of 40.
Biography
May was born in Yorkshire, England. She began to study music as a child. She sang amateur concerts in the 1860s. About 1868, she began to study voice in London with the composer George Benjamin Allen (1822–1897), with whom she later lived.
Early career
By 1869, May was singing professionally in Allen's concerts. In 1870, Allen and May had an opportunity to perform in Australia and made the voyage posing as Mr. and Mrs. Allen. She made her Australian concert debut at the Princess's Theatre, Melbourne, in 1870, receiving good notices. After building her reputation in concert work, May made her operatic debut with Lyster & Cagli's Royal Italian Opera Company in 1872, soon becoming Australia's leading comic opera soprano. She toured in New Zealand for a year, beginning in 1874, with Allen's Royal English Opera Company, followed by seasons with that company in Australia (Melbourne and Adelaide) and India (Calcutta and Madras).
After May and Allen returned to England, she first performed in Liverpool for R. W. South in December 1876, and later the same month she began to star at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in the title roles of Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and La belle Hélène. She continued to star in operettas and became a client of Richard D'Oyly Carte's artiste agency. The Observer wrote in January 1877, "a morning performance of The Grand Duchess was on Wednesday last given at the Opera Comique Theatre. Miss May proved herself a capable heroine of opera bouffe, both in her singing and her acting.... The Opera is [presented by] Mr R. W. South's company". She then toured in The Grand Duchess and other operettas, earning good notices while also singing songs, such as G. B. Allen's "Unrest", in concert. In May, she played Mlle Lange in Charles Lecocq's operetta, La fille de Madame Angot. The Manchester Guardian wrote, "Miss Alice May [played] the part... with considerable power. Especially good was her acting in the scene in which the favourite realises that Clairette is her rival; in facial expression, in the tone of her voice, and in every gesture, Miss May succeeded in this scene in giving powerful expression to intense but subdued passion." After a recital in Belfast, Ireland, in early 1877, The Musical World printed not only a favourable review but also a celebratory poem dedicated to her. Her repertory was not restricted to comic opera; she was warmly praised as a Handel singer.