Daily Express
25th January 2002
THEATRE PREVIEW

ROBERT GORE-LANGTON

The word opera for most people means overweight, overpaid singers displaying their tonsils to an audience of overdressed people who probably haven't the faintest what they're listening to. Well, now there's an antidote - a democratic opera-musical that is tiny, easily affordable, sung in English and still pretty incomprehensible. That's because everybody's on stage shouting at once.

JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA, based on the legendary daytime TV show, opens next month after being revamped since its much-admired premiere last summer at the minute South London theatre in Battersea. I, for one, can't wait.

It is, apparently, enormously foul-mouthed and features TV's typical parade of human freaks with the legendary frontman, Jerry (played by Lore Lixenberg) acting as referee between his guests and his audience. Musically, the evening features hints of everything from Broadway to Bach.

The programme's brand of yelling accusations and sobbing confessions suits its live theatre treatment, so will it be any less bizarre or outrageous than the TV spectacle? Almost certainly not. Among its cast of wierdos is a character called Diaper Man - a fat bloke in nappies with a dummy in his mouth who pleads with his girlfriend to change him.

The composer is Richard Thomas, who has written music for stand-up comedians such as Harry Hill, Simon Munnery and Frank Skinner. The librettist is Stewart Lee who also directs.

TV shows are becoming all the rage on stage. The Play What I Wrote about Morecambe and Wise is a huge hit in the West End and now comes this daytime opera-trasherama. Already, producers and theatre directors are swarming around it and a future transfer is probable. You may be allergic to the TV Jerry Springer, but the opera version sounds like something else. Whatever next: Oprah: the Opera?