The Pirates of Penzance

Operetta

Writers: W.S. Gilbert Arthur Sullivan

Songs

  • Overture (includes "With cat-like tread", "Ah, leave me not to pine", "Pray observe the magnanimity", "When you had left our pirate fold", "Climbing over rocky mountain", and "How beautifully blue the sky")

Act One

  • “Pour, oh pour, the pirate sherry" (Samuel and Pirates)
  • "When Fred'ric was a little lad" (Ruth)
  • "Oh, better far to live and die ...I am a pirate king!" (Pirate King and Pirates)
  • "Oh! false one, you have deceiv'd me" (Frederic and Ruth)
  • "Climbing over rocky mountain" (Edith, Kate, and Daughters)
  • "Stop, ladies, pray" (Edith, Kate, Frederic, and Daughters)
  • "Oh, is there not one maiden breast?" (Frederic and Daughters)
  • "Poor wand'ring one" (Mabel and Daughters)
  • "What ought we to do?" (Edith, Kate, and Daughters)
  • "How beautifully blue the sky" (Mabel, Frederic, and Daughters)
  • "Stay, we must not lose our senses" ... "Here's a first-rate opportunity to get married with impunity" (Frederic, Pirates, and Daughters)
  • "Hold, monsters" (Mabel, Major-General, Samuel, Pirates and Daughters)
  • "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" (Major-General, Pirates, and Daughters)
  • Finale Act I (Mabel, Kate, Edith, Ruth, Frederic, Samuel, King, Major-General, Pirates, and Daughters)
    "Oh, men of dark and dismal fate", "I’m telling a terrible story", "Hail, Poetry", "Oh, happy day, with joyous glee", "Pray observe the magnanimity"

Act Two

  • "Oh, dry the glist'ning tear" (Mabel and Daughters)
  • "Then, Frederic, let your escort lion-hearted" (Frederic and Major-General)
  • "When the foeman bares his steel" (Mabel, Edith, Sergeant, Policemen, and Daughters)
  • "Now for the pirates' lair!" (Frederic, Ruth, and King)
  • "When you had left our pirate fold" ("A paradox") (Ruth, Frederic, and King)
  • "Away, away! My heart's on fire!" (Ruth, Frederic, and King)
  • "All is prepar'd; your gallant crew await you" (Mabel and Frederic)
  • "Stay, Fred'ric, stay" ... "Oh, here is love, and here is truth" (Mabel and Frederic)
  • "No, I'll be brave" ... "Though in body and in mind" (Reprise of "When the foeman bares his steel") (Mabel, Sergeant, and Policemen)
  • "When a felon's not engaged in his employment" (Sergeant and Policemen)
  • "A rollicking band of pirates we" (Sergeant, Pirates, and Policemen)
  • "With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal" (Samuel, Pirates, and Policemen)
  • "Hush, hush, not a word!" (Frederic, King, Major-General, Pirates, and Policemen)
  • Finale, Act II (Ensemble)
    "Sighing softly to the river","Now what is this, and what is that?", "Frederic here! Oh, joy! Oh, rapture!", "With base deceit you worked upon our feelings!", "You/We triumph now", "Away with them, and place them at the bar!", "Poor wandering ones!"

A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.


The Pirates of Penzance guide sections