Jerry Springer: The Opera


Jerry Springer: The Opera is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the talk show Jerry Springer. It contains irreverent treatment of Christian themes, extensive profanity, and surreal images, such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members.
The musical ran for 609 performances in London from April 2003 to February 2005 before touring the UK in 2006. It won four Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. The first North American performance was at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The musical has been performed by a number of American regional theatre companies and made its New York City debut on 29–30 January 2008 at Carnegie Hall. Harvey Keitel starred as Jerry.
In January 2005, its British television broadcast on BBC Two elicited 55,000 complaints. The organisation Christian Voice led street protests against the screening at nine BBC offices and announced their intention to bring blasphemy charges, due to the depictions of the Christian characters in Act II. The Christian Institute attempted to bring a private prosecution against the BBC, but the magistrates' court refused to issue a summons, a decision which was later upheld by the High Court of Justice. Protests continued at tour venues in 2006 and on the Internet.

Principal roles

  • Jerry Springer – Host of Jerry Springer.
  • Jonathan Weiruss/Satan – Weiruss, the warm-up man whom Jerry Springer fires for incompetence.
  • Steve Wilkos – Head of Security at Jerry Springer.
  • Dwight/God – Dwight, a guest on the show who is cheating on his fiancée with two other people. God appears in Act III.
  • Peaches/Baby Jane – Peaches, a guest on the show, who is Dwight's fiancée. Baby Jane is an adult baby who appears in all three acts.
  • Tremont/Angel Gabriel – Tremont, a guest on the show, a cross-dressing man who is having an affair with Dwight. Angel Gabriel appears in Act III.
  • Zandra/Irene/Mary – Zandra, a guest on the show, is the best friend of Peaches, and is having an affair with Dwight. Irene is Shawntel's ashamed mother. Mary appears in Act III.
  • Montel/Jesus – Montel, a guest on the show, enjoys dressing as a baby and fouling his own underwear. Jesus appears in Act III.
  • Andrea/Archangel Michael – Andrea, a guest on the show, is Montel's lover. Archangel Michael appears in Act III.
  • Chucky/Adam – Chucky, a guest on the show, is Shawntel's redneck husband, who does not approve of her career desires. Adam appears in Act III.
  • Shawntel/Eve – Shawntel, a guest on the show, dreams of becoming an exotic dancer, but her husband, Chucky, disapproves. Eve appears in Act III.

    Synopsis

Act I

's frenzied audience greets him as he arrives at his notorious TV talk show. His first guest, Dwight, is cheating on Peaches with Zandra. The three fight, and Jerry's security men break up the battle. Jerry is briefly admonished by his inner Valkyrie. Dwight is also cheating with a cross dresser named Tremont. After a commercial break, Jerry's second guest, Montel, tells his partner, Andrea, that he likes to dress as a baby and that he is cheating on her with Baby Jane, a woman who dresses as a little girl. Jerry's Warm-Up Man contributes to Andrea's humiliation and is fired. Jerry again wrestles with his inner Valkyrie. Jerry's final guests are Shawntel and her husband, Chucky. She wants to be a stripper and demonstrates a dance before her mother, Irene, arrives. Irene attacks Shawntel. Chucky pleads innocence, but Jerry's secret JerryCam camera footage shows that Chucky is a patron of strip clubs and a Ku Klux Klan member. The Klan comes up on stage, and the Warm Up Man gives Montel a gun. The Warm-Up Man jostles Montel, who accidentally shoots Jerry.

Act II

Jerry is found injured in a wheelchair, accompanied by his security man, Steve. The scene is Purgatory, a fog-enshrouded wilderness. Jerry meets ghostly versions of his talk show guests, who have all suffered unpleasant fates. Jerry tries to justify his actions to the ghosts. The Warm-Up Man arrives and is revealed to be Satan. Baby Jane asks Satan to spare Jerry's soul. Satan forces Jerry to return to Hell with him to do a special show.

Act III

Jerry arrives in Hell at a charred version of his Earthly TV studio. The audience is locked into cracks in its walls. Jerry reads cue cards produced by Baby Jane that introduce Satan, who is in charge of the proceedings. Satan seeks an apology for his expulsion from Heaven and wants to reunite Heaven and Hell. Jerry must faithfully read the cue cards, which introduce Jesus, the next guest, who resembles Montel. Jesus and Satan trade accusations. Adam and Eve are next; they are reminiscent of Chucky and Shawntel. They argue with Jesus, and Eve eventually attacks him. Mary, mother of Jesus, who resembles Irene, condemns Jesus. Everyone turns against Jerry, who hopes for a miracle.
God and the angels arrive and ask Jerry to come to Heaven and help God judge Humanity. He accepts the offer, but the angels and devils fight over Jerry; and the talk-show host finds himself suspended over a pit of flame. Jerry launches into a series of glib homilies asking for his life, but finally gives up and makes an honest statement that resounds with his audience. Devils, angels, and everyone sing a hymn of praise to life.
Back on solid ground, Baby Jane tells Jerry that he must go back to Earth. Jerry wakes up in his television studio, having been shot, his life ebbing away as he is cradled in Steve's arms. Jerry gives a final speech, and everyone is joined in sorrow.

Musical numbers

The musical is mostly sung-through. Steve Wilkos has a brief speech, and Jerry Springer speaks his lines.
In 2018, Thomas revised the score. He added 2 songs to "better highlight the parallels between Jonathan and the Devil", rewrote some of the grooves to be "hipper", and added a song for Springer. Thomas also removed some "unnecessarily aggressive" gay slurs.
;Act I
  1. "Overtly-Ture"
  2. "Audience Very Plainsong"
  3. "Ladies and Gentlemen"
  4. "Have Yourselves a Good Time"
  5. "Bigger than Oprah Winfrey"
  6. "Foursome Guests"
  7. "I've Been Seeing Someone Else"
  8. "Chick With a Dick"
  9. "Talk to the Hand"
  10. "Adverts 1"
  11. "Intro to Diaper Man"
  12. "Diaper Man"
  13. "Montel Cums Dirty"
  14. "This is my Jerry Springer Moment"
  15. "Mama Gimmee Smack on the Asshole"
  16. "I Wanna Sing Something Beautiful"
  17. "Adverts 2"
  18. "The First Time I Saw Jerry"
  19. "Backstage Scene"
  20. "Poledancer"
  21. "I Just Wanna Dance"
  22. "It Has No Name"
  23. "Some are Descended from Angels"
  24. "Jerrycam"
  25. "Klan Entrance" / "End of Act One"
; Act II
  1. "Gloomy Nurses"
  2. "Purgatory Dawning"
  3. "Eat Excrete"
  4. "The Haunting"
  5. "Him Am the Devil"
  6. "Every Last Mother Fucker Should Go Down"
  7. "Grilled and Roasted"
; Act III
  1. "Transition Music"
  2. "Once in Happy Realms of Light"
  3. "Fuck You Talk"
  4. "Satan & Jesus Spat"
  5. "Adam & Eve & Mary"
  6. "Where Were You?"
  7. "Behold God"
  8. "It Ain't Easy Being Me"
  9. "Marriage of Heaven & Hell"
  10. "This is my Cheesey Jerry Springer Moment"
  11. "Jerry it is Finished"
  12. "Jerry Eleison"
  13. "Please Don't Die"
  14. "Take Care"
  15. "Martin's Richard-Esque Finale de Grand Fromage"
  16. "Play Out"

    Background

Richard Thomas's one-act opera, Tourette's Diva, was performed at London's Battersea Arts Centre in May 2000 and featured two members of a dysfunctional family singing obscenities to each other. This led Thomas to create his one-man show How to Write an Opera About Jerry Springer, which was performed at BAC in February 2001.
In May 2001, Thomas returned to BAC with his show How to Write an Opera About Jerry Springer, accompanied by four singers in a tiny studio theatre. It attracted positive press and investment. Stewart Lee teamed up with Thomas, and the two began to write Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Productions

Battersea Arts Centre and the Edinburgh Festival

The show received its first performance, while still under development, at BAC in August 2001, with a cast of 12. It ran for one week, selling out. When the show returned to BAC in February 2002, the three-week run sold out in advance.
The show was then performed in concert at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2002, selling out. Jerry Springer came to see the show and endorsed it, stating, "I wish I'd thought of it myself." The Edinburgh run included the introduction of character of Tremont – an amalgamation of two previous characters. Australian-born actor, Andrew Bevis, created the new role.
Following the Festival run, Nicholas Hytner offered to include the show in his opening season as director of the National Theatre in London.

National Theatre and Cambridge Theatre

The first fully staged production of the musical was performed at the National Theatre on 29 April 2003, with a cast of 33, including Bevis as Tremont and Michael Brandon as Jerry. It played to packed audiences and received favourable reviews. The show had its final performance at the National Theatre on 30 September 2003, before moving to the West End.
On 10 November 2003, the show opened at the Cambridge Theatre, with the same cast as the National Theatre production, and ran there until 19 February 2005, before starting a tour of the United Kingdom. The West End run was sponsored by British Sky Broadcasting. On 12 July 2004, David Soul took over the role of Jerry from Michael Brandon.
In 2004, a Broadway production was announced, and then cancelled.

2006 UK tour

In September 2005, seven months after the show closed in London's West End, it was announced that the show would tour 21 regional theatres around the United Kingdom. Nine theatres that were originally scheduled to host the show pulled out after Christian Voice threatened to picket them. In addition, Arts Council England turned down a bid for funding, stating that the decision was based on the show's commercial pedigree rather than "pressure from extremist groups".
The tour ran for 22 weeks, starting at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth on 27 January 2006. Immediately prior to the show's opening in Plymouth, it was reported that members of the far-right British National Party were taking part in a local campaign against the performances, although Christian Voice claimed to disapprove of their involvement.
The cast for the tour included several cast members from the London cast, and American actor Rolf Saxon replaced David Soul as Jerry Springer. The tour had a scaled-down set and scaled-down effects as well as a smaller on-stage "audience".