Major-General's Song from The Pirates of Penzance - live and with lyrics!

The tongue-twisting I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General, performed live during Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, directed by Mike Leigh at English National Opera.

Andrew Shore plays Major General-Stanley, with Joshua Bloom as Pirate King and Claudia Boyle as Mabel in this ENO production by film director Mike Leigh.

About The Pirates of Penzance:

With sentimental pirates, blundering policeman, absurd adventures and improbable paradoxes, The Pirates of Penzance is Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular comic opera.

A swashbuckling farce of brilliant humour and razor-sharp wit, it's chock-full of memorable melodies, including the famous tongue-twisting patter song from the Major-General.

This production was directed by directed by BAFTA-award winner Mike Leigh, who makes his operatic debut.

About English National Opera:

ENO is creating the future of opera: presenting award-winning work that is new, exciting and surprising.

Collaborating with creative talent from across the arts, ENO is based at the London Coliseum and has a world-class reputation for distinctive and highly theatrical productions. This reputation has resulted in many high profile artistic partnerships with opera houses and festivals around the world.

Keep up to date with the latest from ENO:

[calabria]

“I’m very good at integral and differential calculus”

God, I wish I was a modern major-general

[bastionboi]

That actor when he has to sing this song:

*Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.*

[fredo]

Major General is the Godfather of Rap.

[divinity]

I’m in my school musical, and we’re doing this play! I’m the modern major-general.




*...god help me.*

[HubrisInc]

Why does the set look like the inside of an airport terminal

[defox]

So basically he knows everything except what he needs to know to be the very model of a modern Major General...
I reccomend a promotion.

[Musicfan]

I have seen a bunch of versions of this on YouTube, and while this guy is good, I think the best version is from a Canadian Festival in 1985 where the general enters coming down a slide (hidden behind rocks).

[amadeusamwater]

Heck, I can tell a Mauser from a javelin, but that calculus stuff is way outside my league.

[Devonimp]

The patter is fantastically intricate and well delivered, and I love the jovial buffonishness of the Major-General.

But what sells this scene to me is the pirate captains look of absolute 'WTF is going on right now.' through the entire song XD

[ilovemuslimfood]

Operas used to diss each other back then??? That verse about that “nonsense from the Pinafore” made me do a double take.

[Pacoparla]

I have seen some renditions of the part of mayor general by now in youtube, and I like very much how each one makes a different interpretation of the character. Some actors play it with seriousness and solemnity, other do it in a cocky way, and this one simply makes the character to play along the scene. It is so funny each new time.

[howardsmith]

"That infernal nonsense Pinafore, " great stuff!

[DoomFinger]

That was the weirdest version of The Pirates of the Caribbean I ever watched.

[Danirider]

I am the very model of a scientist salarian, I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian.
I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology) because i am an expert (which i know is a tautology).
My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian, I am the very model of a scientist salarian.

[Dwamak]

Best song to sing as your cirriculum vitae when you make a job application.

[OmegaBlack]

Basically a Modern Major General is a living encyclopedia?

[cdrocrossdiscovery]

I've lost count how many times I've attempted this song and ended up a babbling mess. Any performer that can get through this song without getting mush-mouthed is my hero!

[samrizzardi]

The second daughter from the left is so hilariously enthusiastic

[HighCrystal]

He is the very model of a man who drives a Cavalier
He’d like to have a Griffin but he found that it was much too dear
He would have had a Jaguar, it really is a lovely car
But in the end he settled for a light blue Vauxhall Cavalier

Wrote that for a friend of mine who sadly is now dead. RIP Peter

[allanrichardson]

Tom Lehrer did a hilarious takeoff on the tune of this song around 1960, naming the chemical elements in no particular order, through nobelium (atomic number 102), closing with “There may be many others but they haven’t been discahvered, ” pronounced to rhyme with “Hahvahd.”