Barnabee, Henry Clay

(1833-1917)

   Sometimes called "the dean of the comic opera stage," Barnabee began his career in 1866 as Toby Winkle in All That Glitters Is Not Gold at the Boston Museum and won his greatest renown in Robin Hood as the Sheriff of Nottingham, a role he played nearly 1,900 times. He estimated that he had sung "The Cork Leg" 5,000 times. Barnabee was also a proprietor of the celebrated Bostonians, the leading touring company for light opera. It was Barnabee who gave Alice Nielsen her big break, when he hired her for the Bostonians.