Muriel O'Malley
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Muriel O'Malley, also known by her married name Muriel Roet, (19 May 1907 – 21 August 1994) was an Australian-born American actress and contralto who had an active performance career in musicals, operas, and concerts from the 1920s through the 1960s. She is best remembered for her work on Broadway; including creating roles in the original productions of two musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein: Grandma Taylor in Allegro (1947) and Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music (1959). She was also a leading performer with the St. Louis Municipal Opera and the New York City Opera. With the latter company she portrayed the role of Celeste in the world premiere of William Grant Still's Troubled Island in 1949. She starred in television films of two operettas; portraying Aurelia Popoff in The Chocolate Soldier on the NBC anthology series Musical Comedy Time in 1950 and Dame Carruthers in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard on the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1957.
The daughter of Dominick O'Malley and May O'Malley, Muriel Florence Ethel O' Malley was born in Cobar, New South Wales on May 19, 1907.[1] Raised in Western Queensland,[2] O'Malley spent most of her early life in the town of Longreach. There she attended the Presentation Convent Schools, including Our Lady's College.[3] She completed her high school education at Holy Cross College in Woollahra, New South Wales just outside Sydney.[2]
As part of her education in the Presentation Convent Schools, O'Malley received instruction in music through an affiliate program of both the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London and the London College of Music (LCM) .[3] Her voice teacher during these years was Mr. A. R. Richards.[2] At the age of 13, she successfully passed the London College of Music Examinations, earning an Associate degree (this is a different and higher level degree than the associate degree used in the United States). At 16 she earned a second Associate degree in music from Trinity College London, and in 1924 she earned a 'Teacher's Diploma of Trinity College'.[2] In 1923 she began studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music; graduating in August 1925.[4][5]
In 1925 O'Malley won the Ethel Pedley scholarship for singing; a competitive scholarship that paid for the winner's tuition and living expenses at the RAM over a two-year period in London.[2] Following this competition win, O'Malley gave her first professional concerts as a classical contralto at Shire Hall in Longreach, and the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney in October and November 1925.[2] She left Australia for England in the summer of 1926 in order to continue her studies at the RAM.[6] There she studied singing with Frederic King and piano with Charles Lynch. After her first year of studies, she was awarded bronze medals in singing and aural training.[7]
