Jerry Springer: The Opera (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Peter Orton

Writers:

Richard Thomas (book) &
Stewart Lee (book)

Release Date:

8 January 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Adventure | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Jerry Springer is about to have the worst day of his career.

Plot:

A TV presentation of the successful London stage show. A fully operatic production very loosely based on the 'Jerry Springer' TV show.

Plot Keywords:

Satan | Devil | God | Adam And Eve | Transexual

Cast

David Soul	...	Jerry Springer
David Bedella	...	Warm-up Man / Satan
Leon Craig	...	Montel / Jesus
Carrie Ellis	...	Peaches / Baby Jane
Alison Jiear	...	Shawntel / Eve
Christopher Key	...	Chucky / Adam
Benjamin Lake	...	Dwight / God
Ryan Molloy	...	Tremont / Angel Gabriel
Claire Platt	...	Zandra / Irene / Mary
Guy Porritt	...	Steve
Annabelle Williams	...	Andrea / Archangel Michael
Adriano Agostino	...	Ensemble
Richard Alliston	...	Ensemble
Edward Baruwa	...	Ensemble
Dale Branston	...	Ensemble

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Ireland:18 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Cambridge Theatre, Earlham Street, Covent Garden, London, England, UK

Company:

Avalon Productions

Trivia:

Jerry's final speech uniting Satan and God quotes from Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

Quotes:

[spotlight]
[smiles at the audience]
Steve: [after a long pause] Hi.
[pause]
Steve: My name's Steve Wilcose. I'm head of security here at The Jerry Springer Show. You know, a lot of people ask me, "What are the hardest fights to break up?" I gotta tell you, it's, uh...
[gestures to Peaches and Zandra]
Steve: ...it's always the women.
[winks at the audience]

Movie Connections:

Featured in X Rated: Top 20 Most Controversial TV Moments (2005) (TV)

Taboo-breaking shock-fest doesn't really work on-screen

A show which sells itself on its association with The Jerry Springer show (a forum in which ill-educated, working-class attention-seekers can feel at home and Springer's production team can make a great deal of money). But the 'opera' needs more than the magazine of morally vapid couples and their revelations to build a narrative trajectory than will last the full 2 hours.

Consequently we're faced with Jerry getting more caught up in the content of his work than he bargained for: where once he just asked the questions (a devil's advocate, ironic here) now his life depends on his own moral association with what they provoke. There is drama here, even opera. And it's contemporaneously controversial too.

Unfortunately it's also a bit rubbish. The song-n-dance numbers are surprisingly basic (and, yes, unsurprisingly base). Plus, the show doesn't work on the small screen - surely part of the thrill of going to see the show is being part of an audience which is corporately dared to take offence all the time. The singing is mixed but that's the least interesting part of the package. 2/10