Jerry Springer: The Opera?

[South Florida]

Can one of you folks tell me why this never had a Broadway run?

[Mister Matt]

Too controversial. Broadway producers wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. It would get a lot of attention and probably good reviews with the right cast and production, but the backlash would be nuts.

[South Florida]

Thanks, pity, if the pole dancer song is any indication of the rest of the show we're missing a good one.

[Mister Matt]

The show (and especially its score) is amazing. The London production was broadcast on BBC and distributed on DVD (PAL only) and I think it can be viewed in its entirety on that site. If you haven't seen or heard the entire show (especially the second act), then I can understand why you'd ask this question. Book of Mormon is a Disney cartoon by comparison. And though it created quite a stir in London, from both the West End production and the BBC broadcast, it still managed to win Best Musical.

[South Florida]

Thanks, makes Mormon look like Disney, that's quite an endorsement.

[tazber]

I must say that I laughed constantly. Having the choir be the audience was genius.

It really is more of an opera musically, but there are some great showtuney bits like "I Want to Dance".

[Phantom of London]

It did play New York ad a 2 night concert, it played Carnegie Hall and starred Harvey Kietel and the concert got a flat out rave by Ben Brantley.

In 2004 it was announced that a Broadway production would happen, I guess that has been scrapped.

[mjohnson2]

Probably because it's awful. I don't have any problem with profanity in a show, but tap dancing KKK members and an intentionally horrendous treatment of religious themes plus its blatant misogyny made this a theatre night that the creators of the show should be ashamed of.

[ARTc3]

It was horrible. I saw this in London and was appalled at how juvenile and poorly written it was. I didn't think the score was even listenable. I remember only the lyric referring to lesbians and chocolate.

What a piece of $!&#.

[aliceripleyfan]

Its Brilliant

[Someone in a Tree2]

Sorry guys, I'm with Artc3 and MJohnson on this one. Deplorable piece of amateur trash.

Similarities with Book of Mormon are overwhelming in retrospect-- including an extended sequence in Hell they both share. The world of Jerry Springer guests is a world I wanted to spend as little time in as possible to start with. Then came the amateur lyrics in song after song. Most of all it felt (much like my response to "Mormon") like a show written for the benefit of people who hate musicals, who find the idea of folks singing and dancing innately laughable. I was so relieved when it was finally over. (P.S. My good friends who saw the show with me just loved it to pieces -- so there ya go.)