at the end of 1896, blackmore left the d'oyly carte opera company. he toured for more than a year in a new musical comedy, "the ballet girl", by james t. tanner and adrian ross, playing the role of reuben van . he then appeared in london in 1898 and 1899 as piccolo in edward jakobowski and ross's musical comedy "milord sir smith" at the comedy theatre. after this, he played vincent in a tour of "ma mie rosette", a "romantic comedy-opera" with music by paul lacome and ivan caryll. during this period, blackmore sang at the steinway hall in london on 2 november 1898 during the first season of the elderhorst chamber concerts.