with Annamary Dickey in the title role. In 1951 he performed in several productions at the Paper Mill Playhouse, including the roles of Prince Franz in Victor Herbert's Sweethearts, Edvard Grieg in Robert Wright and George Forrest's Song of Norway, and Pierre Birabeau in Sigmund Romberg's The Desert Song. In June 1952 he portrayed Sam in the world premiere of Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti at Berstein's Festival of the Creative Arts on the campus of Brandeis University to an audience of nearly 3,000 people. The following November he reprised the role of Sam in a nationally televised broadcast of Trouble in Tahiti presented by the NBC Opera Theatre (NBCOT). He would later sing the role of Sam again at the New York City Opera (NYCO) in 1958. In 1953 he performed the role of Don Jose in Georges Bizet's Carmen with Vera Bryner in the title role for NBCOT. In 1954 Atkinson returned to Broadway to star as Clyde Hallam in the original cast of Sigmund Romberg's The Girl in Pink Tights. In 1955 he starred opposite Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of John La Touche's The Vamp. In 1956 he portrayed two roles in musical revivals mounted by the NYCO at Lincoln Center: Frederick C. Graham to Kitty Carlisle's Lilli Vanessi in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate and Gaylord Ravenal in Jerome Kern's Show Boat. He returned to Lincoln Center in 1957 to perform the role of Tommy Albright in the NYCO's revival of Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon which then moved to the Adelphi Theatre on Broadway. That same year he portrayed Jack Worthing in Who's Earnest?, a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest which was broadcast on the television program The United States Steel Hour. In 1958 he created the role of Doctor Gregg in the world premiere of Douglas Moore's opera Gallantry at the now-destroyed Brander Matthews Theater on 117th Street. He was also seen at Lincoln Center in 1958 as Frank Butler in the NYCO's revival of Annie Get Your Gun and as Lieutenant Henry Lukash in the world premiere of Robert Kurka's opera The Good Soldier Schweik. He also portrayed the role of Billy to Jan Clayton's Julie and Ruth Kobart's Nettie in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel in a production at the Brussels World’s Fair. In 1959 he starred at the NYCO in a revival of Say, Darling and