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Adele Ritchie (December 21, 1874 – April 24, 1930), was an American prima donna of comic opera and star of Edwardian musical comedies and vaudeville. Her career began in the early 1890s and continued for nearly twenty-five years. Her life would end tragically in a murder-suicide involving a close friend. ==Early life and career== Ritchie was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Quaker parents of French descent and, by the age of three, the step-daughter of Jacob Benclift Pultz, founder of the J. B Pultz Company.〔(Parker, John - ''Who's Who in the Theatre, '' 1916, p.412 ) Retrieved July 24, 2013〕〔(Briscoe, Johnson - ''The Actors Birthday Book,''1907, p.280 ) Retrieved July 23, 2013〕〔(Death Winner in Long Race. ''Sarasota Herald Tribune,'' January 11, 1926, p. 1 ) Retrieved July 22, 2013〕 She attended the Catholic girl’s preparatory school, Villa Maria Academy at Malvern, and made her first stage appearance as a singer in a production of a French comedy entitled ''The Isle of Champagne'' at Miner's Fifth Avenue Theatre on June 5, 1893. With the aid of Reginald De Koven, Ritchie appeared in the fall of 1893 at the Park Theatre, Philadelphia, playing a minor role in his comic opera, ''The Algerians.'' Her rendition of "Song of the Rose" became an audience favorite when ''The Algerians.''appeared in New York at the Garden Theatre and later Daly's Theatre. When Marie Tempest, the prima donna, left the production at the end of the year, Ritchie was chosen as her replacement.〔Theatre Gossip-Adele Ritchie to Star. ''The New York Times,'' December 29, 1893, p. 8〕 ''The Algerians'' like many other road tours found it difficult to achieve profitability in the face of the economic consequences resulting from the Panic of 1893.〔(Curtains Rung Down. ''The Utica Sunday Tribune,'' June 17, 1894 ) Retrieved July 23, 2013〕 On July 14, 1894 Ritchie and the German tenor Conrad Behrens sang with the Sousa Band in a summer concert performed at Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn.〔(Manhattan Beach (advertisement). ''The New York Tribune,'' July 14, 1894, p. 11 ) Retrieved July 23, 2013〕 At Abbey's Theatre, that September, Ritchie opened as Princess Mirane in ''The Devil’s Deputy,'' an operetta adapted from the French by J. Cheever Goodwin and composer Edward Jakobowski. The following week though she was replaced by the more experienced Amanda Fabris, who manager Al Canby and lead actor Francis Wilson felt would give the stronger performance.〔Mr. Wilson's New Operetta. ''New York Times,'' September 11, 1894, p. 5; New Princess in ''The Devil's Deputy.'' ''New York Times'', September 17, 1894 p. 3〕 Ritchie was next engaged at the American Theatre in January 1895 as Madge Brainerd in the Harrison Grey Fiske political drama, ''The District Attorney'',〔(Clapp, John Bouvé & Edgett, Edwin Francis - ''Plays of the Present,'' 1902, p. 90 ) Retrieved July 19, 2013〕 and that summer at the Garrick Theatre, New York, she played Little Willie in the burlesque ''Trilby'' by Joseph W. Hebert and Charles Puener.〔(Our Theaters Next Week. ''The World'' (New York), June 1, 1895, p. 6 ) Retrieved July 19, 2013〕 In 1896/97 Ritchie toured in the Reginald De Kovan and Harry B. Smith comic opera ''The Mandarin'' playing Ting-ling, favorite wife of the Mandarin and,〔(''Life Magazine,'' vol. 28, 1896, p. 360 ) Retrieved July 19, 2013〕 at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre later in 1897, appeared as Cleopatra in the Victor Herbert and Harry B. Smith comic opera, ''The Wizard of the Nile; or, The Egyptian Beauty''.〔(Archer, William - ''The Theatrical World of 1893-97'', 1898, p. 409 ) Retrieved July 19, 2013〕 By January 1898 Ritchie was reported to be in Paris studying under the Italian tenor Giovanni Sbriglia.〔(Dramatic and Musical Notes. ''Kansas City Journal,'' January 23, 1898, p. 9 ) Retrieved July 19, 2013〕 Ritchie made her vaudeville debut with tenor Don Giovanni Perugini (née John Haley Augustin Chatterton), the husband of Lillian Russell, early in April 1898 at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in an operetta by Alexandre Derolles entitled ''Au Bain''.〔( This Week on Our Stage. ''The New York Sun,'' March 27, 1898, p. 3 ) Retrieved July 19, 2013〕〔(John Perugini, The Bright Stars of Yesterday ) Retrieved July 19, 2013〕 That November Ritchie assumed the role Dorothy Stanley from Yvette Violette after Augustine Daly moved the Edwardian musical comedy ''A Runaway Girl'' to the Fifth Avenue Theatre. The musical, in which she sang, ''Oh Listen to the Band'' and ''I Love You, My Love, I Do'', continued its long run well into February 1899.〔(''Runaway Girl.'' ''The New York Times,'' November 22, 1898, p. ) Retrieved July 21, 2013〕 Ritchie was ranked 8 out of 12 among leading actresses whose companies had the highest gross receipts over the 30 week 1898/99 season.〔(Stories and Gossip of the Stage. The Kansas City Journal,'' April 30, 1899, p. 19 ) Retrieved July 21, 2013〕 On Christmas Day 1899 Ritchie played Beatrice Jerome in the R.A. Barnet musical comedy, ''Three Little Lambs'', at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, and would go on to appear in such Broadway musical productions as ''The Toreador'' as Dora Selby at the Knickerbocker Theatre, January–May 1902; ''A Chinese Honeymoon'' as Mrs. Pineapple at the Casino Theatre, June 1902-April 1903; ''Fantana'', by John Raymond Hubbell, as Fanny Everett at the Lyric Theatre, January–September 1905; ''The Social Whirl'', as Violet Dare at the Casino Theatre, April–September 1906; ''Fascinating Flora'' as Flora Duval at the Casino Theatre, May–September 1907; and ''All for the Ladies'' as Nancy Panturel at the Lyric Theatre, December 1912-April 1913.〔(Adele Ritchie The Internet Broadway Database ) Retrieved July 21, 2013〕 At this point in her career Ritchie returned to vaudeville billed as the Dresden China Prima Donna in skits and acts that often featured songs she had performed over her career.〔(''The New York Sun,'' October 4, 1914, p. 8 ) Retrieved July 21, 2013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Adele Ritchie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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