Search - Richard Thomas :: Jerry Springer: the Opera

The most offensive show ever written.

Musical Lover | Ohio | 12/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're the type whose conscience bruises easily, click the back button on your browser immediately and don't turn back, lest ye be turned into a pillar of salt.



Jerry Springer: the Opera is not for the faint of heart. The playful, un-PC cheekiness only hinted at in shows like Avenue Q and The Producers is on full, raunchy display here.



The first act plays like a musicalized and uncensored version of a typical episode of the television show, where adulterers and fetishists are given an international forum to come unhinged, while the guests with the least fault to bear are stripped of their humanity and mocked.



But it's the second and third acts that are raising eyebrows the world over. In them, Jerry Springer goes to Hell after getting shot (in one of the most deliriously outrageous act one finales ever staged). There, he is forced to host a version of his show in the afterlife, featuring Satan, Adam, Eve, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and God Himself as his guests.



Anyone with half an imagination to devote to that scenario can only imagine that Biblical characters + Jerry Springer Show = a delicious recipe for controversy (or, as one church in England put it, "high blasphemy").



It should be said that this show has also been condemned as anti-American. This is preposterous; with the exception of some brief but highly satirical "commercial breaks" (that poke fun at Americans' love of Viagra, Jesus, guns and more), this musical is about as anti-American as the Jerry Springer show itself.



Musically, the score is incredibly rich. It is written in a traditionally presentational operatic style (the only character who doesn't sing all of his dialogue throughout the show is our host, Jerry Springer), but is thoroughly infused with rock, jazz and theatrical tonalities. Indeed, some of the ballads here could, if stripped of their ridiculous contexts, easily be inserted into any serious book musical. The singers are all incredible. They range from classically trained voices, to musical theatre veterans, to rock/pop-type singers -- a mixture as eclectic as the guest list of a typical Jerry Springer show.



But, above and beyond any hype, what is so incredibly groundbreaking about this opera is the way the music and especially the lyrics effortlessly transition from mildly offensive pastiche, into wildly offensive light opera, and then into incredibly moving high opera. The third act finale of this show packs a genuine emotional wallop the likes of which I haven't experienced in a theatre since the first time I saw Les Miserables.



It feels weird to type that about something called "Jerry Springer: the Opera" -- but there you have it.



It would be nice to see this opera get a highly polished studio recording someday, but in the meantime, you don't need to feel as if you're "settling" by purchasing this CD, because even though this recording is live, the quality is very high."

Tragic lives, large and small.

Headbang8 | Bogenhausen, Munich | 12/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

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Passion. Betrayal. Lust. Anger. Vengeance. Grand emotions, often enlisted to give classic opera its grandeur.



But what if these emotions lie in the heart not of a jilted Rhinemaiden nor a jealous valkyrie, but a trailer-dwelling beautician from Dubuque? Can we sing about them in the same way? That's the conceit behind this extraordinary piece of theatre...that even the lowliest amongst us live lives of high drama in our own heads.



That's act one. Act two turns the tables. What if the players in the grandest, most noble story of them all--the passion of the Christ--were to be reunited in a Jerry Springer-style face-off? With all the attendant petty bickering, squabbling and mean spiritedness?



I saw the show in London, and it truly blew me away. The line between the sacred and the profane, the noble and the venal, the tragic and the silly: these lines aren't just crossed, they're twisted, mangled and torched.



You'll find yourself laughing at the sheer absurdity of swear words sung to high opera. But there's something deeper going on here...the grand music and base sentiments made me question how vain we human beings can be if we think our grubby little lives are important enough to be considered the stuff of tragedy.



Some of my fellow reviewers decry the prolific swearing. But it's the most artful obscenity I've heard in a long time. OK, it would be juvenile for an actor on stage to call another character a c**t. But it's another thing entirely if the character is Satan himself, and a twenty-strong choir of angels, sings in perfect harmony and arpeggio, "he's a c**t, a c**t, a c**ty, c**ty, c**ty, c**ty, c**ty, c**ty, c**ty, c**ty, c**********************t!" Blurs the line between the sacred and profane, indeed.



(Sorry, Amazon, there's no way to discuss this record without some allusion to the lyrics!)



Some reviewers have noted that this recording features a live performance, with an audience likely chosen for its enthusiastic response. The fidelity is not so bad, considering. After all, operatic voices at full volume are pretty easy for a mike to pick up.



Buy this CD, and when the show hits Broadway, brave the inevitable mobs of fundie protesters to buy a ticket. It's worth it."

Lucky me. I saw it on TV

Barbara W. Goulter | Werribee, Victoria Australia | 05/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since I'm currently living in Australia, I have been blessed to see the BBC live broadcast of Jerry Springer, the Opera, on television. I was stunned and enthralled, taped the repeat performance the next day, and have watched it many times since. The staging is no less brilliant than the singing and acting. The casting is more than perfect, it's inspired. I can't see how any other production could ever match it. I raved to everyone I know and invited them over for a viewing. Most said they were sure they would hate it, but once they saw it, they entirely changed their minds. How could they not? This is one of the greatest theatrical experiences of all time - a work of original genius on the grand scale. Question: since this marvelous video production exists,why isn't available in the US? I want so much to give it as a gift to my hosts on my upcoming trip to America, but the US and OZ use different video systems. I looked into Amazon and found only the CD. Why doesn't Amazon acquire distribution rights for the video?

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