Obituary: June Bronhill

WHILST ELIZABETH Forbes's interesting obituary of June Bronhill [28 January] mentioned her many operetta roles, write Geoffrey and Margaret Batten, it did not refer specifically to her involvement in three memorable Offenbach productions at Sadler's Wells: Orpheus in the Underworld in 1960, followed by La Belle Helene and La Vie parisienne. These had sparkling new English translations by Geoffrey Dunn and were brilliantly directed by Wendy Toye.

In Orpheus, Bronhill as Eurydice was joined by Kevin Miller as Orpheus, Eric Shilling as Jupiter, Jon Weaving as Pluto and Alan Crofoot as the King of the Boeotians. Those of us who saw the production well remember the singing, including a rock'n'roll section in the can-can dance, as well as the set with TV aerials on the roof of Eurydice's house and the descent to Hades in a lift.

Robert and Elizabeth, in which June Bronhill sang Elizabeth Barrett, was directed not by Bronhill's husband, Richard Finney, but by Wendy Toye.