[ANDRÉ, spoken]
Your public needs you

[FIRMIN, spoken]
We need you too

[CARLOTTA]
Wouldn't you rather have your precious little ingénue?

[ANDRE & FIRMIN]
Signora, no, the world wants you

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

[ANDRÉ]
Can you bow out when they're shouting your name?

[FIRMIN]
Think of how they all adore you

[ANDRÉ & FIRMIN]
Prima Donna, enchant us once again

[ANDRÉ]
Think of your muse
[FIRMIN]
And of the queues 'round the theatre

[ANDRÉ, FIRMIN & 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

[ANDRÉ & FIRMIN]
Think of your public

[CARLOTTA]
You took a snub, but there's a public who needs you

[MADAME GIRY]
She has heard the voice of the Angel of Music

[ANDRÉ & FIRMIN]
Those who hear you liken you to an angel

[CARLOTTA]
Think of their cry of undying support
[ANDRÉ]
We get our opera

[FIRMIN]
She gets her limelight

[CARLOTTA]
Follow where the limelight leads you

[ANDRÉ & FIRMIN]
Leading ladies are a trial

[CARLOTTA, PIANGI]
Prima donna, your song shall never die (When she sings we see heaven)
You'll sing again, and to unending ovation

[RAOUL]
Orders, warnings, lunatic

[ANDRÉ & FIRMIN]
Lunatic demands are regular occurrences

[CARLOTTA]
Think how you'll shine in that final encore

[ANDRÉ & FIRMIN, CARLOTTA]
Surely there'll be further scenes worse than this (Sing, prima donna, once more)
[RAOUL]
I must see these demands are rejected

[ANDRÉ & FIRMIN, CARLOTTA, MEG & MADAME GIRY]
Who'd believe, a diva happy to relieve a chorus girl
Whose gone and slept with the patron? (O, fortunata)
Raoul and the soubrette entwined in love's duet
Although he may demur, he must have been with her (Non ancor abbandonata)
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 (For if his curse is on this Opera)

[ALL]
Prima donna, the world is at your feet
A nation waits, and how it hates to be cheated
Light up the stage with that age-old rapport
Sing, prima Donna, once more