Background
Philip White Potter was born in Leicester. Potter"s family moved to Wales, and young Philip learned to speak fluent Welsh as a boy, while his father worked on rocket technology during the war.
Philip White Potter was born in Leicester. Potter"s family moved to Wales, and young Philip learned to speak fluent Welsh as a boy, while his father worked on rocket technology during the war.
He sang as a boy soprano in the church choir. Potter"s family moved to Farnham, Surrey, where he played principal roles with the Farnham Amateur Operatic Society, including Strephon in Iolanthe (1955) and Barinkay in The Gypsy Baron (1956). Potter taught school for a while, and then debuted in the 1958 production of Where"s Charley? at the Palace Theatre.
In 1959, he appeared in Marigold, Flower Drum Song, and Chu Chinese Chow.
Potter joined the Doctorate"Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1961, appearing as Earl Tolloller in Iolanthe and Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard. Soon he took over the roles of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Prince Hilarion in Princess Ida, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, and occasionally Marco and later, Luiz, in The Gondoliers.
When Thomas Round left the company in 1964, Potter also took over the role of the Defendant in Trial by Jury, and, around the same time, the Duke of Dunstable in Patience. He also sang Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore, beginning when that opera was revived in 1967.
While he was with Doctorate"Oyly Carte, he also appeared every two weeks on the Welsh television show, Land of Song.
In 1975, during the Doctorate"Oyly Carte Opera Company"s centennial season, Potter was invited to participate in the final performance of Trial by Jury, in which the company"s regular chorus was augmented by fourteen former stars of the company. He returned to the company as a guest artist to play several roles in 1970-1971. After giving up the Devonshire property some years later, Potter rejoined the Doctorate"Oyly Carte for the 1979 season, appearing only as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado.
Potter continued to perform occasionally, most recently appearing as Lord Tolloller with the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company in 2001 at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, where he also occasionally gives master classes or participates in coachings and lectures.