John Reed (actor) - Recordings

Recordings

John Reed recorded all of his major roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for Decca Records between 1960 and 1979, some of them twice, and several of them complete with dialogue. In 1976, he participated in the only D'Oyly Carte recordings of Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke, playing, respectively, Scaphio and Grand Duke Rudolph. These recordings are still available either on the Decca label or under licence from Decca on Sounds on CD, a private label specialising in Gilbert and Sullivan recordings. Reed also appeared in the 1966 film version of The Mikado and the 1973 video of H.M.S. Pinafore as Ko-Ko and Sir Joseph Porter, respectively. A 1965 BBC television broadcast of Patience with Reed as Bunthorne is apparently lost. He was also the voice of Robin Oakapple in the 1967 Halas and Batchelor Ruddigore cartoon.

A collection of Reed's patter songs, entitled "Gilbert & Sullivan: Great Patter Songs", compiled to celebrate his 25-year anniversary with D'Oyly Carte, was re-released on CD in 2007. Sounds on CD also released Tète à Tète, a two-hour long recording, from sessions from the 1970s, of Reed reminiscing with his friend and fellow D'Oyly Carte performer Peggy Ann Jones. In addition, the official live recording of the final performance of the original D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from February 1982, in which John Reed was a guest artist, is available from Sounds on CD.