JERRY SPRINGER–THE OPERA BAILIWICK REPERTORY
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That’s the concept behind Jerry Springer–The Opera, the controversial London hit that’s finally receiving its U.S. premiere in Chicago, Springer’s home base, in a solid, beautifully sung production at Bailiwick Repertory. British composer Richard Thomas and librettist Stewart Lee were intrigued by why anyone would watch Springer’s sleazy show, much less appear on it. Their musical suggests that the on-air encounters between a long procession of losers resonate spiritually with Judeo-Christian culture. The verbal and sometimes physical battles involving jilted lovers and estranged families reflect the eternal struggle between good and evil, salvation and damnation, temptation and faith.
Jerry Springer–The Opera begins in this world, at a Springer show attended by a coarse, crude chorus of fans eager for blood. “I hope there’s some fighting,” sings one. “Of course there’ll be some fighting, you stupid asshole,” sings another. A smarmy warm-up man (the superb Jeremy Rill) leads the crowd in chants of “Jer-ry, Jer-ry!” Then Jerry (Brian Simmons in the show’s only nonsinging role) takes the stage protected by two beefy bodyguards and welcomes a string of guests desperately seeking their “Jerry Springer moment.” These walking wounded are driven by a compulsion to confess–and receive redemption for–their secret sins. One by one they unburden their souls and vent their pain while the chorus mocks them like ancient Romans jeering at Christian martyrs in a coliseum.
Though swear words are bleeped out on Springer’s show, in the opera every fuck, shit, and cocksucker comes through loud and clear, set to beautiful, unabashedly operatic music. Thomas’s skillful, often challenging score reveals the influence of composers from Handel to Britten and Blitzstein. (Echoes of Gounod’s Faust, Bernstein’s Mass, and Weill’s Street Scene are particularly prominent.) The contrast between the raunchy words and rapturous melodies is often comical, but it also reinforces the thesis that people are drawn equally to elevation and debasement.
