Prima Donna

PRIMA DONNA 

ANDRE: 
Your public needs you! 

FIRMIN: 
We need you, too! 

CARLOTTA: 
Would you not rather have your precious little ingenue? 

ANDRE/FIRMIN: 
Signora, no! The world wants you! 

Prima donna, first lady of the stage! 
Your devotees are on their knees to implore you! 

ANDRE: 
Can you bow out when they're shouting your name? 

FIRMIN: 
Think of how they all adore you! 

BOTH: 
Prima donna, enchant us once again! 

ANDRE: 
Think of your muse 

FIRMIN: 
And of the queues round the theatre! 

BOTH WITH PIANGI: 
Can you deny us the triumph in store? 
Sing, prima donna, once more! 

RAOUL: 
Christine spoke of an angel... 

CARLOTTA: 
Prima donna, your song shall live again 
You took a snub but there's a public who need you! 

ANDRE/FIRMIN: 
Think of your public! 

GIRY: 
She has heard the voice of the angel of music... 

ANDRE/FIRMIN: 
Those who hear your voice liken you to an angel! 

CARLOTTA: 
Think of their cry of undying support! 

ANDRE: 
We get our opera 

FIRMIN: 
She gets her limelight! 

CARLOTTA: 
Follow where the limelight leads you! 

ANDRE/FIRMIN: 
Leading ladies are a trial! 

CARLOTTA: 
Prima donna, your song shall never die! 

PIANGI: 
When she sings we see heaven 

CARLOTTA: 
You'll sing again, and to an unending ovation! 

RAOUL: 
Order! Warnings! Lunatic demands! 

ANDRE/FIRMIN: 
... Oaths... Lunatic demands are regular occurrences! 

PIANGI: 
Unending ovation now and always... 

CARLOTTA: 
Think how you'll shine in that final encore! 
Sing, prima donna, once more! 

RAOUL: 
Surely, for her sake... 

ANDRE/FIRMIN: 
Surely there'll be further scenes - worse than this! 

RAOUL: 
...I must see these demands are rejected! 

ANDRE/FIRMIN: 
Who'd believe a diva happy to relieve a chorus girl, 
Who's gone and slept with her patron? 
Raoul and his soubrette, entwined in love's duet! 
Although he may demur, he must have been with her! 

You'd never get away with all this in a play, 
But if it's loudly sung and in a foreign tongue, 
It's just the sort of story audiences adore, in fact, a perfect opera! 

GIRY/MEG: 
For (But) if his curse is on this opera... 

COMPANY: 
Prima donna, the world is at your feet! 
nation waits, and how it hates to be cheated! 
Light up that stage with that age-old rapport! 
Sing, prima donna, once more!