Rudolph Lewis (bass-baritone)

Rudolph Lewis (c. 1844 – 21 November 1917) was a bass-baritone known for creating several small roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas including Go-To in The Mikado (1885) and Old Adam Goodheart in Ruddigore (1887).^[1]

Lewis worked as a wood engraver for two decades before beginning a performing career that would last more than three decades. In 1884, at the age of 40, he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, with which he performed steadily for the next decade at the Savoy Theatre. He sang in the chorus, created small bass roles such as Go-To in The Mikado, Old Adam in Ruddigore, Samuel Chunk in Captain Billy and Sing-Song Simeon in Haddon Hall, and he played such other roles as the Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore.

He later taught music and, from 1893, performed with the Carl Rosa Opera Company before touring in Edwardian musical comedies. From 1900, he again toured with D'Oyly Carte and later performed with the company in London. The other roles he created during this period included the Tinker in Merrie England and Jem Johnson in A Princess of Kensington both in London and on tour. He performed in musical comedies in London from 1903 to 1905 and continued to sing and act after this with less success until the First World War.