Awesome Music / The Pirates of Penzance

• "Oh Better Far To Live and Die (I Am a Pirate King)", a a song all about how it is a glorious thing to be a pirate.
• "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" is easily the most famous song in the play, and has been referenced so many times it had to be given its own page on this site. The song itself is a silly, catchy tune about the Major General noting his many academic capabilities, none of which actually have anything to do with being a Major General, while a choir stands nearby impressed. A handful of versions of the play, the film version included, even have a short bit where the General sings the entire song again really, really fast.
• "With Cat-Like Tread", which involves the pirates sneaking around. By sneaking we mean screaming their lungs off, stomping around, and generally being extremely loud. It's hilarious to watch and a treat to listen to, as this is the most bombastic the actors get to be within the play. Even funnier is that they're not actually noticed until the end of the song.
• "When a Foeman Bares His Steel" (AKA the Policemen's Song). The song is separated into three parts: the first segment involves the Sergeant motivating himself and his crew as they are about to enter combat with the pirates despite their fear. The second segment involves Mabel and her sisters unwittingly crushing this optimism entirely, giving us the immortal line "Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die". The last bit involves the captain trying to get his terrified men back in order and to march on, only for all of them to keep trying to run away. The entire thing is just plain funny, and it's pretty catchy too.
• From a purely-musical standpoint, this opera contains two brilliant examples of counterpoint writing—creating separate and quite different melodic lines that nonetheless fit together when played simultaneously—in "How Beautifully Blue the Sky" and "When the Foeman Bares His Steel". The first example is even more impressive in that the lines are in two different time signatures. While he's mostly remembered for accompanying comic operas, Sir Arthur was a talented composer in his own right.
• George Rose stopping every show with the all-time greatest version of "I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General, tongue-twisting like there's no tomorrow. And then he does it faster!

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