John Bolton-Wood

Ralph Rackstraw, a poor seaman, is in love with the captain's daughter, Josephine. But how can he ask her to marry him when she is of a higher social class?

TRIAL BY JURY is Gilbert and Sullivan's one-act operetta about a pompous judge who practices casual prejudice in the courtroom. This Opera Australia performance was recorded in 2005.

Marjorie grew up in Winchelsea in country Victoria, Australia, dreaming of becoming an opera star like Dame Nellie Melba. In 1928 she went to Paris to study opera without knowing a word of French and having never heard of Richard Wagner. In 1941, at the height her success, she was tragically cut down by polio and became completely paralysed. With the help of Australian nurse, Sister Kenny, Marjorie regained movement in her upper body and resumed her career in a wheelchair. In 1955, MGM made a movie of her life, "Interrupted Melody", starring Eleanor Parker and Glenn Ford, which won an Academy Award.