The Story

Scene 1: Morning at Portsmouth

OPENING DANCE [The Mikado, Trial By Jury, Patience, The Sorcerer, TheGondoliers, The Mikado]. Sailors from the H.M.S. Hot Cross Bun are meeting
with their sweethearts in front of the tavern "The Steam Packet", while Jasper, the Pot-boy serves drinks.

POLL'S DANCE AND PAS DE DEUX [The Gondoliers, Patience]. Pineapple Poll bounds in to sell her wares. Jasper, who is in love with her, makes shy advances, which she rejects, since she (and every other girl in town) is in love with the dashing Captain Belaye.

BELAYE'S SOLO [Patience and Cox and Box]. Captain Belaye appears, and dances a hornpipe that sends all the girls into a swoon. The sailors all take their girlfriends away, leaving Belaye alone to meet with his fiancée Blanche.

PAS DE TROIS [The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, Ruddigore]. Blanche arrives with her chaperon aunt Mrs. Dimple, who chatters through their tête á tête. Since their love-making
isn't getting anywhere anyway, Belaye escorts them off.

FINALE [Patience, Ruddigore, Iolanthe, Patience]. The girls are all still mooning about Belaye, which infuriates their boyfriends. An altercation ensues, and Belaye's entrance only makes matters worse. The scene ends in general confusion.

Scene 2: The Quayside, that Evening

POLL'S SOLO AND JASPER'S SOLO [Iolanthe, Princess Ida]. Belaye returns to his ship, followed by Poll, who disguises herself in some sailor's clothes she finds on the wharf. She runs onto the ship, and presently other sailors go on board, too. Jasper comes on the scene, finds Poll's clothes, and thinks that she has drowned herself. He dances alone with her clothes.

Scene 3: On board H.M.S. Hot Cross Bun, next morning

BELAYE'S SOLO AND SAILOR'S DRILL [Princess Ida, Gondoliers, Ruddigore]. Belaye drills his crew, which has suddenly become quite clumsy. Poll can't take her eyes off of the captain, so she is continually out of step. Finally, the captain orders the firing of his cannon (which, according to the Bab Ballad, he is very proud of), and the blast causes Poll to faint.

POLL'S SOLO [Trial by Jury, Patience, Princess Ida]. Belaye tries to revive her, but upon hearing a clock chime in the distance, he takes a ring from his pocket and runs off the ship. Poll recovers, and is bewildered by the unmasculine behavior of the crew.

ENTRY OF BELAYE WITH BLANCHE AS BRIDE AND RECONCILIATION [The Yeomen of the Guard, Trial by Jury, Iolanthe, Ruddigore] Belaye returns to the ship, and presents his new wife, Blanche, to the crew, who all faint in horror. The crew all tear off their sailor suits, and the whole crew turns out to be Portsmouth girls. The real sailors rush onto the ship in
a rage, but they and their girlfriends are soon reconciled.

FINALE [The Mikado, Trial by Jury, H.M.S. Pinafore, Patience, Princess Ida, Pirates of Penzance/Thespis, Overture Di Ballo, and Yeomen of the Guard] Belaye is promoted to Admiral, while Jasper, somehow or other, becomes captain of the Hot Cross Bun. Poll promptly falls in love with him, and everybody lives happily ever after, with Mrs. Dimple raised on high as a rather school-marmish Britannia.

Page modified 24 September 2011