Alice May: Gilbert & Sullivan's First Prima Donna

Alice May is the archetype of the Gilbert and Sullivan prima donna. She ran away with her music teacher as a girl and landed in Australia, becoming that country's leading comic opera singer. As the head of her own company she toured Australia and New Zealand, eventually making her way to Britain via India, where she entered into successful partnerships and productions. Before she drank down the last of her last days in St. Louis--minus the music teacher--she had traveled oceans and brought down not a few houses. This biography brings it all within view, and helps fill-out the picture we have of a former period in musical theater.