Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Highly amusing & entertaining |
| Disadvantages: |
Relies on profanity, quite weak plot |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Jerry Springer- The Opera, Cambridge Theatre, London
Run Time: 2hrs 20mins
Prepare to be shocked. Never in my many years of visiting the theatre have I been exposed to such profanity, blasphemy and such absurd crudity. Oh yeh, and guess what? It’s fantastic!! Jerry, played by David Soul in this latest West End showing is quite satisfied in letting giving delinquents, oddities and extroverts express their grievances on prime-time TV. After all, it does appear a rather easy job- making the occasional ‘You seem upset’ comment and generally nodding and empathising. For Jerry, life is easy…….
Until, one day, the over-zealous ‘warm-up man’ for the show demands from Jerry his turn in the spotlight, recognition for the hard work he’s put in throughout the years. Jerry snubs his plea with the result of a brewing rage that burns inside the frantic ‘warm up man’. So what happens? The ‘warm-up man’ shoots Jerry. And then things really get bizarre….
Jerry has encounters with the devil, with Jesus and begins to question the morality of his career, can making light entertainment out of people’s problems really be justified? This internal conflict is worsened by the fact that the Devil demands Jerry conduct a show specifically for the Satanic one himself. Jerry originally refuses but soon gives in after the Devil threatens the horrific punishment of being ‘f****d up the a**e with barbed wire’!
Indeed, although Jerry himself does not sing, some of the lyrical content of some of the songs is hysterically rude and funny. An example? One of Jerry’s guests is a transsexual who is having an affair with a married man. The audience’s response is to chant ‘Chick with a d**k’ over and over. Immensely blunt, immensely comical. There are many times during the duration of the show where I had to analyse whether I was actually laughing because it was genuinely funny, or just plain shocking. Indeed, my main criticism of the show is that it relies too heavily on shock-value to sustain the performance as the plot itself is undeniably weak.
The set is certainly effective if unspectacular- very much like the Springer set from the telly that we all know and love. Unlike most musicals/operas, there don’t appear many stand-out songs, many of the most memorable lines are those delivered by the ‘audience’ which punctuate the show and encourage the ‘real’ audience to join them and interact (such as the common ‘Jerry, Jerry!’ refrain).
You certainly leave this production shell-shocked. I vividly remember looking at my partner and saying ‘What the hell was all that about??’. It certainly is surreal, bizarre and often grotesque. But, if you want sensationalist, pure unadulterated entertainment; or if you need YOUR Jerry Springer moment, give it a try.
Awards:
Best Musical, Evening Standard, 2003
Best New Musical, Olivier Awards, 2004
Best Sound Design, Olivier Awards, 2004
Information:
www.jerryspringertheopera.com
Tickets:
0870 8901102 or 0870 0601733
www.ticketmaster.com
Dates/Times:
Runs till January 2005
Monday-Thursday: 7:30pm
Friday: 5:30pm & 8:30pm
Saturday 3pm & 8pm
Price:
Usual price around £50
Concessions: £25 on some nights for under 25’s, OAPs and Matinee performances.
Track-Listing:
Disc 1-
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
11. Intro To Diaper Man
12. Diaper Man
13. Montel Cums Dirty
14. This Is My Jerry Springer Moment
15. Mama Gimee Smack On The A**hole
16. I Wanna Sing Something Beautiful
17. Adverts
18. The First Time I Saw Jerry
19. Backstage Scene
20. Pole dancer
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
Disc 2-
1. Gloomy Nurses
2. Purgatory Dawning
3. Eat Excrete
4. The Haunting
5. Him Am The Devil
6. Every Last Mother F**ker Should Go Down
7. Grilled And Roasted
8. Transition Music
9. Once In Happy Realms Of Light
10. F**k You Talk
11. Satan & Jesus Spat
12. Adam And Eve And Mary
13. Where Were You?
14. Behold God
15. Marriage Of Heaven & Hell
16. This Is My Cheesy Jerry Springer Moment
17. Jerry It Is Finished
18. Jerry Eleison
19. Please Don't Die
20. Take Care
21. Martin's Richard-esque Finale de Grand Fromage
22. Play Out
WARNING: This show is not for kids!
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