{"product_id":"2940014233712","title":"THE SECRETS OF A SAVOYARD","description":"Contents.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                 PAGE.\u003cbr\u003e           FOREWORD. BY MR. RUPERT D'OYLY CARTE      8\u003cbr\u003e           HENRY A. LYTTON: AN APPRECIATION          9\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    CHAPTER.\u003cbr\u003e        I. YOUTH AND ROMANCE                        13\u003cbr\u003e       II. VAGABONDAGE OF THE COMMONWEALTH          25\u003cbr\u003e      III. CLIMBING THE LADDER                      38\u003cbr\u003e       IV. LEADERS OF THE SAVOY                     53\u003cbr\u003e        V. ADVENTURES IN TWO HEMISPHERES            69\u003cbr\u003e       VI. PARTS I HAVE PLAYED                      81\u003cbr\u003e      VII. FRIENDS ON AND OFF THE STAGE             94\u003cbr\u003e    VIII. HOBBIES OF A SAVOYARD                    110\u003cbr\u003e      IX. GILBERT AND SULLIVAN                     121\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    THE STORIES OF THE OPERAS                      136\u003cbr\u003e    A SAVOYARD BIBLIOGRAPHY                        185\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFOREWORD.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_There have been many who have made great reputations in the Gilbert and\u003cbr\u003eSullivan characters and have established themselves as favourites with\u003cbr\u003ethe public who love and follow the operas, and when the roll comes to be\u003cbr\u003ewritten down finally, if ever it is, Henry Lytton undoubtedly will be\u003cbr\u003eassigned a foremost place. He has played a wide variety of the parts,\u003cbr\u003eand the scope and versatility of his work is unique. It is unlikely that\u003cbr\u003ehis record as a Gilbert and Sullivan artiste will ever be surpassed._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: (Signature of) Rupert D'Oyly Carte]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHENRY A. LYTTON.\u003cbr\u003eBY\u003cbr\u003eAN ADMIRER OF HIS ART.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSincerely indeed do I offer my good wishes to my old friend, Henry A.\u003cbr\u003eLytton, on his giving to the world this most interesting book, \"The\u003cbr\u003eSecrets of a Savoyard.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLytton represents a distinct type on our musical comedy stage. No other\u003cbr\u003eartiste, I think, has quite that gift of wit which makes one not merely\u003cbr\u003ea happier, but a better, man for coming under its spell. Its touch is so\u003cbr\u003etrue and refined and delightful. Somehow we see in him the mirror of\u003cbr\u003eourselves, our whimsicalities, and our little conceits, and could ever a\u003cbr\u003eman captivate us so deliciously with the ironies of life or yet chide us\u003cbr\u003eso well with a sigh?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCertainly it was fortunate both to him and to us that circumstances, in\u003cbr\u003ethe romantic manner this book itself describes, first turned his early\u003cbr\u003esteps towards Gilbert and Sullivan, and thus opened a career that was to\u003cbr\u003emake him one of the greatest, as he is now the last, of the Savoyards.\u003cbr\u003eLike the natural humorist he is, he could be and has been a success in\u003cbr\u003eordinary musical comedy rôles, but it is in these wonderful operas that\u003cbr\u003ehe was bound to find just his right sphere. Lytton in Gilbert and\u003cbr\u003eSullivan is the \"true embodiment of everything that is excellent.\" He\u003cbr\u003ewas made for these parts, just as they might have been made for him, and\u003cbr\u003eno man could have carried into the outer world more of the wholesome\u003cbr\u003echarm of the characters he depicts on the stage. He himself tells us on\u003cbr\u003ethese pages how his own outlook on life has been coloured by his long\u003cbr\u003eassociation with these beautiful plays.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo closely, indeed, is he identified in the public mind with the wistful\u003cbr\u003efigure of _Jack Point_, or the highly susceptible _Lord Chancellor_, or\u003cbr\u003ethe agile _Ko-Ko_ that the thousands of Gilbert and Sullivan worshippers\u003cbr\u003ewho crowd the theatres know all too little of the man behind the motley,\u003cbr\u003ethe real Henry A. Lytton. For that reason I want to speak less about the\u003cbr\u003egreat actor whom the multitude knows and more about the manner of man\u003cbr\u003ethat he is to those, relatively few in numbers, whose privilege it is to\u003cbr\u003eown his personal friendship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLytton's outstanding quality is his modesty. No \"star\" could have been\u003cbr\u003eless spoilt by the flatteries of success or by those wonderful\u003cbr\u003ereceptions he receives night after night. Something of the eager,\u003cbr\u003eimpetuous boy still lingers in the heart of him, and he loves the\u003cbr\u003esociety of kindred souls who have some good story to tell and then cap\u003cbr\u003eit with a better one. But all the while he lives for the operas. Even\u003cbr\u003enow, after playing in them for twenty-five years, he is constantly\u003cbr\u003easking himself whether this bit of action, this inflection of the voice,\u003cbr\u003ethis minor detail of make-up, is right. Can it be improved in keeping\u003cbr\u003ewith the spirit of genuine artistry? So severe a self-critic is he that\u003cbr\u003ehe will take nothing for granted nor allow his work to become slipshod\u003cbr\u003ebecause of its very familiarity. If ever there was an enthusiast--and\u003cbr\u003ethere is much in this book to show that he is as great an enthusiast in\u003cbr\u003eprivate life as he is while in front of the footlights--it is Harry\u003cbr\u003eLytton.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47169881080048,"sku":"2940014233712","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014233712_p0.jpg?v=1763603647","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014233712","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}