- Isabelle Lucas
- A black actress who deserves to be better remembered
for her long career in the service of the British and American
musical
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- Born in Toronto on 3 December 1927, Isabelle Lucas came to
London to make her way in the theatre in 1954 and studied singing
with Mark Raphael. Her first West End appearance was in The Jazz
Train at the Piccadilly Theatre in April 1955. Promoted as 'a
cavalcade of Negro song and dance', it had an attractive cast
that included Bertice Reading and Edric Connor, but London audiences
didn't seem ready for such a culture shock, although the show
managed 111 performances. But even from this first showing, it
was clear that Lucas had a lovely quality, and could emanate
an inner quiet that made her seem closer to the music she worked.
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- The next year she joined Ivy Benson's all-girl orchestra
as a singer in a season on the Isle of Man, and then broke into
television and radio drama. Work seems to have been plentiful,
and diverse: guesting on The Gilbert Harding Show, singing in
TV's The Black and White Minstrel Show, making her first film,
Miracle in Soho, in 1957, and playing in Dick Whittington at
Leeds. In September 1959 Lucas was seen as Aida, one of the several
Soho prostitutes who made up the chorus of The Crooked Mile at
the Cambridge Theatre. It was a tiny part, with no solo singing,
but presumably Lucas also understudied Elisabeth Welch, and may
have played the leading part of Sweet Ginger on occasion.
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- The musicals that lay ahead were quite interesting but not
always successful, and she struggled to get half-way decent parts
in them. In 1961 she got the minor role of Maude in a revival
of the old war-horse Finian's Rainbow. It starred the glorious
Jean Carson, opened in Blackpool and didn't reach London. A real
curiosity came in November 1963 when a shaky production of an
American musical that nobody had ever heard of, Pocahontas, was
seen at the Lyric Theatre. Lucas attended the doomed Indian princess
(played by a visiting American Anita Gillette) but her role of
Winnuska attracted more sympathy than attention. Theatre World
thought that the musical would appeal 'to two classes of people
- those who have never been to the theatre before in their lives,
and those who have not seen a musical for about 35 years'.
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- She had a better time in Funny Girl at the Prince of Wales
Theatre in April 1966, but again it didn't give her a chance
to sing anything, as Styne's score was aimed at the show's star,
Barbra Streisand. Of much less public interest was a mini-musical,
Bakerloo to Paradise, which premiered at the Connaught, Worthing
in May 1969 and embarked on a modest tour. It sounded interesting
- the story of black people living in London, with Lucas leading
the company with the one-time pop-singer Kenny Lynch - but emphasised
how difficult it was for black actors to get leading roles in
British theatre (and British musicals).
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- Lucas was also working consistently in straight theatre,
and spent some years with the National Theatre, during which
time she was in Tyger, a musical work based on the writings of
William Blake. The interesting company included Jane Wenham,
Denis Quilley, Maureen Lipman and Louie Ramsay. The show was
seen at the New Theatre in July 1971 for a short stay, during
which Lucas sang 'London Song', 'The Fields' and 'I See Your
Form'. Tyger was a much more compelling project than most musical
actresses had to get to grips with, but another highlight of
Lucas's career was being cast in the supporting role of Mammy
in Harold Rome's Gone With The Wind at the Theatre Royal, Drury
Lane in May 1972. Of course, the role served to accentuate the
subservient roles of black people as they were perceived in twentieth
century culture, but Lucas threw herself into it. She got to
sing a mawkish duet, 'Blueberry Eyes', but at least she was billed
(along with almost everyone else in the cast) and the show managed
to survive some sniggering reviews to achieve a creditable run.
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- There was an overseas tour of the compilation-show Cole in
1980, which went to the Hong Kong Festival; the show was a hotch-potch
creation, but it gave her the chance to sing a few good songs
(which most of her roles had denied her). Another, and final,
opportunity came when she was cast as one of the two leading
ladies in Look To the Rainbow at the Apollo Theatre in March
1985. A tribute to the American lyricist E. Y. (Yip) Harburg,
the show had her singing 'April in Paris', 'Happiness is a Thing
called Joe' and 'Silent Spring', but audiences were taking themselves
elsewhere, and the show was soon struck off.
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- Through the years, Lucas also achieved success as a television
actress, and worked consistently in that medium. She starred
as Pearl Foster opposite Norman Beaton in a popular series The
Fosters, following this with others such as Desmond, and My Husband
and I. Towards the end of her career she was cast in EastEnders.
A much admired artist, Isabelle Lucas died in bed of a heart-attack
at her home in southwest London on 24 February 1997.
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- Selected discography
- Original cast recordings of
The Crooked Mile
Tyger
Gone With the Wind
- Studio recordings
Porgy and Bess
Show Boat [1959]
RETURN TO UNSUNG HEROINES
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