| Administrative History | The Matlock Musical Theatre began life as Matlock and District Amateur Operatic Society, being formed at a meeting chaired by Mr. Henry Challand, the managing director of Smedley's Hydro. On August 16th 1906 a number of people gathered at Matlock Town Hall. Funds were collected from those present with £50 suggested as the guaranteed amount needed. It was also decided to form a committee and officers were duly elected, despite the chosen President (the Right Hon. Victor Cavendish, M.P.) and Vice-Presidents (Messrs F. C. Arkwright, J.P. D.L., Mr. J. B. Marsden-Smedley, J.P., and Col. Robertson-Aikman) were not present on the night. From those who were at the meeting E. H. Charge became the Secretary, Mrs. Charge was appointed Registrar, Mr. W. Basquil was elected as Treasurer and the Executive Committee was Miss Leslie, Miss Newton, Messrs. McGee, W. Bond and L. G. Dickenson.
The first production ‘Erminie’ was in 1907 at Victoria Hall off Smedley Street, Matlock. The society first performed at The Grand Pavilion, Matlock Bath in a one-off in 1911 when it was the ‘New Pavilion’. The works of Gilbert and Sullivan dominated the repertoire in the early years.
When the Society resumed in 1927 after the Great War, in the performances in the newly opened Cinema House on Causeway Lane. Over the decades the Society has tackled a wide variety of styles, from ‘Pink Champagne’ (based on Die Fledermaus) and Bizet’s ‘Carmen’, many popular Rogers and Hammerstein works, such classics as mentioned above and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, ‘Annie Get Your Gun’, through to The Wizard of Oz and Into the Woods. Even Panto and carol singing.
MADAOS shortened its name to Matlock Operatic Society in the early 1980s. Following another stint at The Pavilion. The Society moved to the newly opened Derbyshire Arts Centre in 1986. Funding cuts necessitated the venue’s closure in 1991. Temporary homes at various school halls and even Chesterfield’s Pomegranate Theatre, and a name change followed before the Matlock Musical Theatre returned to the Pavilion in 2014 with ‘Little Shop of Horrors’.
Sources: https://en-gb.facebook.com/MatlockMusicalTheatre/posts/110-years-of-musical-theatre-in-the-matlocksits-a-big-anniversary-this-year-for-/1033994546733840/ and http://www.andrewsgen.com/matlock/pix/matlock_operatic.htm |
| Custodial History | Acquired by Derbyshire Record Office in 1975 and 2019. |