Gutter TV meets opera

"Well, dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians!"

Last night, Richard, his friend John, Robert, and I were at Studio Theater to see their production of Jerry Springer The Opera. I can't remember when I last laughed so hard or so enjoyed a musical.

Jerry Springer The Opera is a send up of the notorious Springer television show. Years ago, Springer was a serious talk show host with credible and respectable guests discussing serious topics, but they had terrible ratings. His producers found that as they got more and more sensationalistic and outlandish, their ratings went way, way up. Now, the show is little more than pablum for trailer trash, a demographic amongst whom the show is still wildly popular. The formula show includes adulterers, fornicators, transvestites, bigots, drug addicts, freaks, and people with limited vocabularies (the F-word seems to be their only adjective or adverb) inclined to fisticuffs.

Composer Richard Thomas, who co-wrote the book and lyrics with Stewart Lee, has translated that television show to the stage in a highly controversial opera that opened in London in 2003. I remember a few years ago seeing a few minutes of the Springer television show, and the censor's beeps took up more that half of the audio track; the opera isn't censored, so the dialogue includes a constant stream of profanities from the "guests." In fact, one British journalist reported that there were over 3,000 uses of the F-word.

In the opera, act one is a taping of a typical Springer show. At the end of the act, one of the signature fights breaks out, and in the melee, Springer is actually shot by a guest. In act two (acts two and three are combined into one in this production), Springer first is seen in the hospital and then he is taken to Hell, compelled to be the host of a satanic show, "Jerry Springer In Hell." In Hell, Satan has a confrontation with a diapered Baby Jesus, and God himself makes an appearance. Needless to say, hard core Christian groups have objected to the show and most productions have had their share of picketers. While we didn't see any picketers at Studio Theater last night, I understand there were some on opening night.

What particularly amazed me about the "opera" is that the music was actually good. While Jerry speaks all of his lines, the rest of the show is fully sung by the cast. The opera opens with an audience chorus that was remarkably similar to Bach and Mozart Masses I've sung. At various other parts, there were very elaborate and complex musical numbers including a Dies Irae and a "Jerry Eleison" (Kyrie). When Satan and Jesus have their confrontation on the show in Hell, Satan and Jesus sing a long and extended duet in full Handelian style with a massive melissma on "fuh-" as the two sing "F- You." In other parts, cast members—especially female—have complex modern melodies to sing in full operatically trained voice style, and many of those bits of music reminded me of modern operas I've heard and sung.

And there was choreography. Lots of fight choreography was required, of course, but what really brought the house down was a stage full of tap-dancing Ku Klux Klansmen. The finale of the show was a full cast tap dance reminiscent of the finale of A Chorus Line. I found myself watching the end of the show with a big, silly grin on my face.

The real star of the show is well-known local actor Bobby Smith, who plays the dual role of Springer's warm-up man Jonathan in the first act and Satan in the second act. His portrayals were perfect and fit the roles with sleazy confidence. Dan Via as Jerry Springer, though, disappointed me a bit. He was okay, but he seemed a little too young for the role and lacked the sense of gravitas that the real life Springer has. Other standouts included Patricia Portillo as the Valkryie and Florrie Bagel as Baby Jane, both with some difficult operatic music to sing, and character actor Ron Currameng as a short, fat, diaper-clad Montel in act one and Baby Jesus in act two.

The local production is directed by Keith Alan Baker with choreography by Matthew Gardiner and music direction by Christopher Youstra. The work of both Justin Thomas as lighting designer and Kristopher Castle as costume designer was impressive.

I really would like to go see the show one more time before it closes next weekend, because there is so much to see and absorb. I'd also like to see a different audience. The paying audience actually becomes a part of the show, with much of the dialogue delivered from the house, and with the eighteen-member show "audience" actually seated out in the house amongst the paying customers. That audience sings and dances the whole evening, sometimes even interacting with the regular audience.

My one main criticism of the show is that the orchestra ensemble is too loud. It looked as though the singers were performing without microphones either on their bodies or on the stage floor, and many times the band covered their dialogue.

So, Jerry Springer The Opera turns out to be a surprisingly good and entertaining show. If you have a chance, go see it before it closes next Sunday night. Be aware, though, that there is a lot of raw language in the show and that very adult topics are discussed, much like the real life television show—but without the censoring bleeps!