Michael Brandon stars in the title role of Jerry Springer: The Opera

An amazing production has emerged from the obscure grassroots of British fringe theater, a show that encompasses it all: trailer trash and men in diapers, God and Satan, overweight pole dancers and tap dancing Ku Klux Klansmen, high opera and low comedy. It is a project full of contradictions that on paper looks like it shouldn’t work—a British writer writing about a quintessentially American topic, a director with a comedy background who had never seen a musical, obscene and sacrilegious subjects sung about in the gloriously elegant tones of the operatic tradition, an opera where the leading character doesn’t sing a note—and yet it does, as proved by the award-winning smash hit Jerry Springer: The Opera has become.

Richard Thomas, the writer, had long been a fan of “The Jerry Springer Show,” broadcast on late-night television in Britain. “I was impressed and embarrassed by it,” he says, “but also found it funny and moving, and saw Jerry himself as a sort of ‘Saint Mephistopheles.’” With a background in writing comedic opera, Thomas felt that the TV show, with its high drama and extreme emotions, made the ideal topic for one, so he set about to make it happen.

Jerry Springer: The Opera began life in 2001 during the “Scratch Nights” held at a local fringe theater, where rough ideas are tried out in front of a willing audience. The premise of the piece is straightforward: the first act is a typical episode of “The Jerry Springer Show,” at the end of which Jerry is accidentally shot by one of his guests; the second act takes place in hell, where Jerry is called to account for the lives upon which he has made an impact. The initial performance of the unfinished first act featured Thomas alone at a piano, in front of an audience of seven, who gave the show its first standing ovation. When director Stewart Lee came on board, the second act was added, and the show was performed again, in the same fringe theater, as a workshop, with a cast of 16. The budget for the production was miniscule; costumes were found in local thrift stores, the set consisted of two flats and the actors worked for nothing. The only special effects were provided by a slide projector using slides from Lee’s own collection. With such limited resources, the power and message of the piece had to come from the material itself and the performances, both of which would be key to the show’s extraordinary success. After each performance, the audience was asked for feedback, which along with the actors’ honing of their roles, meant that the production was constantly being developed and polished.

David Bedella as Satan, with Jerry in chains

The following year, in 2002, despite multiple offers from Broadway and West End producers, the decision was made instead to take a concert version of Jerry Springer to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the annual international theater festival that is a traditional tryout ground for many small, innovative projects. It was at this point that the production team behind the show grew to include designer Julian Crouch, choreographer Jenny Arnold and producer Allan McKeown, among others. Now the concepts that so far had been transmitted by the acting, music and a strong suspension of disbelief began to be fleshed out as the budget grew larger. The Edinburgh production was a success, with Jerry Springer himself coming to see it and giving the performance a standing ovation.

A few months later, the show was taken on by the Royal National Theatre, and the final transformations were put in place. With the larger budget provided by the National, a variety of high-tech effects were soon added that included: nine TV screens flown in with messages and ads flashing on them; an enormous flaming cross; pipes and furnaces belching fire and smoke for the scenes in the second act that take place in hell; and a gallows flown down for Jerry’s final punishment. Both Lee and Thomas are quick to emphasize, though, that the show is not about these special effects, but rather uses them to enhance what is already there in the lyrics and the music.

“The biggest luxury the National provided,” says Lee, “was not money, but time. After having only a few days to rehearse each of the earlier versions of the show, we now had six weeks to two months to really develop the performances and polish the production as a whole.” He admits that the bigger budget allowed them to solve certain problems, such as heightening the sense of threat in the second act; however, he stresses that the piece was written to be performed without the complex effects provided in a large commercial production, and believes that this is still apparent in the show.

Brandon, as Springer, shares a fiery moment with the Ku Klux Klan in Jerry Springer: The Opera

“Jerry Springer is a production that was assembled, not planned,” Lee explains. “And we wanted to hold onto this, so that you can still see the artist at work, still see the craftsmanship.” To this end, the usual slickness of a West End show has been eschewed in favor of authenticity. For example, none of the actors are dancers yet they perform all the choreography (including the infamous tap dancing Klan number). Even the graphics projected onto the back of the stage remain unsophisticated.

Jerry Springer: The Opera, has been showered with a number of impressive laurels, among them the Olivier Award (the West End’s version of the Tonys) for Best New Musical and the 2003 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical; the show is booking in London through 2005. There are plans in the works to take it to Broadway and Australia in 2005. Some opera houses have expressed an interest in staging it, and the production team is currently in the process of recording an album, while reworking some of the music and writing new pieces. What started as a daringly avant-garde fringe workshop now looks to be taking the normally staid world of both opera and commercial musical theater by storm. As Jerry Springer himself said, “I’m an opera. Who would have thought?” For more info, visit www.jerryspringertheopera.com.

Laurence Bouvard is a professional actress and writer based in London, and is chief executive of the North American Actors Association.

All photography by Catherine Ashmore