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Jerry Springer - The Opera is a musical written by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, based on the television show The Jerry Springer Show. The show is also notable for the high quantity of profanity, its unusual depiction of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and surreal images such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members.
Plot
- Place: Chicago, Illinois, Purgatory, Hell.
- Time: Present Day.
The first act of the opera takes place in the studio of The Jerry Springer Show. The show proceeds as normal with Jerry introducing each group of guests, who describe their problems to him. The warm-up man feels that he is undervalued by Jerry, and assists one of the guests in shooting him.
The second act begins with Jerry in purgatory, encountering several of the individuals who he had featured on his show. The third and final act sees Jerry proceed down to Hell, where he encounters the Devil. The Devil forces Jerry to present a special episode of his television show where he confronts Jesus about his expulsion from Heaven. Despite Jerry's protestations, he presents the show and summarises the main protagonists problems, ultimately uniting Heaven and Hell, before being returned to Earth to die.
ACT I. Studio of The Jerry Springer Show. (Arrival of audience, Overtly-ture. Audience: "My mum used to be my dad. Snip. Snip"; First guest explains the reason for his appearance on the show. First guest: "I've Been Seeing Someone Else"; Chorus: "Chick With a Dick"; Second guest, Diaper Man. Second guest: "I want to be your baby"; Chorus: "This is my Jerry Springer Moment"; Third guest, I Just Wanna Dance. Third guest: "I don't give a fuck no more, if he will think I am a whore. I just want to dance.")
ACT II. Purgatory. (Guests confront Jerry, Eat Excrete. Guests: "We eat, excrete and watch TV, and you are there for us, Jerry.")
ACT III. Hell. (The Devil explains his plan to Jerry, Every Last Mother Fucker Should Go Down. Devil: "I bring you to hell to solve a problem that's been chafing my ass since the dawn of time"; Devil confronts Jesus, Devil: "Fuck You", Jesus: "Talk to the stigmata"; God arrives, God: "It Ain't Easy Being Me"; Chorus, Jerry Eleison.)
History
Battersea Arts Centre
Richard Thomas's first opera, Tourette's Diva, was performed at the Battersea Arts Centre in May 2000, and featured two members of a dysfunctional family singing obscenities to each other. This was an inspiration for his one-man show How To Write An Opera About Jerry Springer, which was performed at the Battersea Arts Centre in February 2001.
In May 2001, Thomas returned to the Battersea Arts Centre with his show How To Write An Opera About Jerry Springer, accompanied by four singers. It was not a success. Stewart Lee teamed up with Thomas, adding additional dialogue and the two began to write Jerry Springer - The Opera.
The show received its first performance, while still under development, at the Battersea Arts Centre in August 2001, with a cast of twelve. It ran for a week, and sold out. When the show returned to the centre in February 2002, it was nearer completion, and the three-week run sold out in advance.
Edinburgh Festival
The show was performed in concert at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2002. It was a critical success, selling to packed houses in the 750-seat Assembly Rooms. Jerry Springer himself came to see the show and endorsed it, stating "I wish I'd thought of it myself."
Following the show's success, Nicholas Hytner requested to include the show in his opening season as director of the National Theatre in London.
National Theatre
The first fully-staged production of the opera was performed at the National Theatre on April 29, 2003, with a cast of 33, including Michael Brandon as Jerry. It was a major success, playing to packed audiences, and receiving extremely favourable reviews. All the tickets for the first run of performances were sold a week before the first performance.
The show had its final perfomance at the National Theatre on September 30, moving to the West End.
Cambridge Theatre
On November 10, 2003, the show opened at the Cambridge Theatre with the same cast as the National Theatre production, and is currently still running there. On July 12, 2004, David Soul took over the role of Jerry from Michael Brandon.
Broadway
In May 2004, the show's producers announced that it would be moving to Broadway in October 2005, following a short run in San Francisco in the Spring. The cast has not yet been finalised, but Harvey Keitel and Kevin Kline have both been approached to play the lead role.
Awards
The show has won the Best Musical award at The Olivier Awards, The Critics' Circle Awards, The Evening Standard Awards and The What's On Stage Awards.
Television
The opera was the subject of further controversy in January 2005 when the BBC announced that it would be showing it as part of an evening of Jerry Springer-themed programming on BBC Two. News of the planned screening prompted TV standards campaigners Mediawatch-UK to write a letter to the BBC Chairman of the BBC Governors, Michael Grade, asking him to reconsider the decision to show the opera.
On January 7, 2005, the day before the broadcast, the BBC had received over 40,000 complaints about its plans to screen the opera - the most complaints ever received about a television broadcast. Channel 4's screening of Martin Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ in 1995 received 1,554 complaints.