Jerry Springer: The Opera

(Sometimes the roles are shared by the person playing the first role; sometimes the roles are played by additional actors)

• Jerry Springer – Host of Jerry Springer.
• Jonathan Weiruss/Satan – Weiruss, the warm-up man whom Jerry Springer fires for incompetence.
• Steve Wilkos – Head of Security at Jerry Springer.
• Dwight/God – Dwight, a guest on the show who is cheating on his fiancée with two other people. God appears in Act III.
• Peaches/Baby Jane – Peaches, a guest on the show, who is Dwight's fiancée. Baby Jane is an adult baby in Act III.
• Tremont/Angel Gabriel – Tremont, a guest on the show, a cross-dressing man who is having an affair with Dwight. Angel Gabriel appears in Act III.
• Zandra/Irene/Mary – Zandra, a guest on the show, is the best friend of Peaches, and is having an affair with Dwight. Irene is Shawntel's ashamed mother. Mary appears in Act III.
• Montel/Jesus – Montel, a guest on the show, enjoys dressing as a baby and fouling his own underwear. Jesus appears in Act III.
• Andrea/Archangel Michael – Andrea, a guest on the show, is Montel's lover. Archangel Michael appears in Act III.
• Chucky/Adam – Chucky, a guest on the show, is Shawntel's redneck husband, who does not approve of her career desires. Adam appears in Act III.
• Shawntel/Eve – Shawntel, a guest on the show, dreams of becoming an exotic dancer, but her husband, Chucky, disapproves. Eve appears in Act III.

The musical is mostly sung-through. Steve Wilkos has a brief speech, and Jerry Springer speaks his lines.

In 2018, Thomas revised the score.[5] He added 2 songs to "better highlight the parallels between Jonathan and the Devil", rewrote some of the grooves to be "hipper", and added a song for Springer. Thomas also removed some "unnecessarily aggressive" gay slurs.

Richard Thomas's one-act opera, Tourette's Diva, was performed at London's Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in May 2000 and featured two members of a dysfunctional family singing obscenities to each other. This led Thomas to create his one-man show How to Write an Opera About Jerry Springer, which was performed at BAC in February 2001.

In May 2001, Thomas returned to BAC with his show How to Write an Opera About Jerry Springer, accompanied by four singers in a tiny studio theatre. It attracted positive press and investment. Stewart Lee teamed up with Thomas, and the two began to write Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Jerry Springer saw the production in Edinburgh and "pronounced it 'wonderful'", adding that he didn't "object to anything in it", and that he "only wish[ed he'd] thought of it first".[24]

In later years, he expanded on his reactions to the show and his portrayal;

I thought they did a really good job. I mean, I'd prefer it were about someone else. It was awkward for me to watch it. For one, it's about yourself, so there's no common experience. There's no one I can ask, "Gee, how did you feel?" I can't call Figaro or Carmen and say, "Hey, how did you feel about your opera?" It's just a very personal moment that I can't express to anybody. And then I felt a little bit awkward because, as I was watching it, everyone was looking at me to see what my reaction was. It was uncomfortable.[25]

In addition to the Christian protests at the BBC studios, there were several incidents at venues throughout the 2006 tour. The Manchester Evening News reviewer saw the protests as misplaced, writing "an audacious and scandalous, yet ultimately moral and challenging show that's recommended to anyone who can accept the odd dose of outrage in their lives."[26] Another reviewer recommended, "don't get your knickers in such a twist, drop 'em and enjoy yourself."[27]

• In Birmingham, performances attracted a few protesters, and more commotion was made by audience members arguing when being presented with leaflets.[28]
• In York, leaflets were handed out by small numbers of Salvation Army and Christian Voice protesters.[29]
• In Edinburgh, one man from Christian Voice handed out leaflets on a few of the nights.[30]
• In Cardiff and throughout South Wales, 100 church leaders signed a letter expressing their wishes for the show to be cancelled. The Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, expressed his concern, stating that the show was 'gratuitously offensive'. In further comments he stated, 'The producer of this opera says that if he manages to incite religious hatred then the opera has done its job: I think that is a terrible intention for an opera to have'. Hundreds of Christians protested outside the Wales Millennium Centre, brandishing placards and singing hymns to theatregoers.[31]
• In Aberdeen, the Christian Institute pushed for supporters to lobby local council members, directors on the board of Aberdeen Performing Arts and the Press and Journal. Stewart Lee called this one of the most vitriolic reactions to the show. Ultimately, only a few protesters picketed the theatre, handing out leaflets.[32]

The musical contains extensive profanity. It has been accused of including "8,000 obscenities"[38]—it is not known where this count originated, but the 8,000 figure is popularly quoted.[39] 8,000 obscenities over the show's 120-minute runtime would imply that there were 66 obscenities a minute, and thus more than 1 per second. Several publications, including the Daily Mail and The Sun, claimed a figure of "3,168 mentions of the word fuck and 297 of the word cunt". According to the BBC investigation, however, there were 96 uses of "fuck" and nine uses of "cunt". The BBC report said: "While a substantial number, this was not necessarily unacceptable in terms of late night terrestrial television."[40] The numbers reported by the Mail and the Sun were found by multiplying the number of cast members singing a profanity at the same time, i.e. the reported 297 uses of the word cunt is the result of multiplying the 33 cast members by the nine occurrences of the word.

According to writer Stewart Lee, there are 174 swear words in all.[41]

The BBC's role in broadcasting the musical was raised in the UK Parliament. Generally, they voiced more concern over the reactions of Christian groups than over the show itself.

Early Day Motion no 488, THE BBC AND JERRY SPRINGER – THE OPERA, was tabled on 12 January 2005, by Jeffrey Donaldson MP:

That this House regards with dismay the decision by the BBC to broadcast Jerry Springer – The Opera on BBC2, causing widespread offence to Christians and those of other faiths by its mocking portrayal of Jesus Christ, Holy Communion and some of the central tenets of the Christian faith; condemns the show's juvenile and offensive use of repeated profanity in an attempt at humour; further notes that it is particularly serious that the show should have been transmitted by the publicly-funded national broadcaster and questions whether it places the Corporation in breach of its Charter; laments the arrogant dismissal of Christian concerns by the content of programmes aired by the BBC; and calls on the government publicly to rebuke the corporation for its attack on the religion adhered to by over 70 per cent. of the UK population and for its lowest common denominator approach to ethics in its attempts to chase ratings.[42]

EDM no 531, BBC AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, was later tabled on 17 January 2005 by Evan Harris MP:

That this House applauds the decision by the BBC to stick by its decision to broadcast, 'Jerry Springer – The Opera' on BBC2 on 8 January, despite the orchestrated campaign from religious pressure groups, the irresponsible actions of one of which caused alarm and distress to the families of BBC executives by making public their contact details and exposing them to hate attacks; believes that individuals have a choice whether or not to watch programmes which they are warned might be offensive to them, and that broadcasters have the right and duty to broadcast a variety of work, some of which may receive differing critical opinions; recognises that in any case this particular programme was of undoubted artistic merit as demonstrated by the opera having attracted a record number of awards, and substantial theatre audiences; reminds the BBC that its own study What the World Thinks of God suggested Britain was the most religiously sceptical country in the world and that as a publicly-funded national broadcaster the Corporation has a duty to reflect society in its output which will entail broadcasting programmes which some religious people find offensive; and calls on the BBC to stand firm against the increasingly assertive religious pressure being applied to restrict freedom of expression.[43]

EDM no 1270, JERRY SPRINGER DVD WITHDRAWAL, was tabled on 14 December 2005 by Don Foster MP:

That this House agrees with Noam Chomsky that 'if you're really in favour of free speech, then you're in favour of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise. Otherwise, you're not in favour of free speech'; regrets the apparent decision of Sainsbury's and Woolworths to respond to minimal pressure by withdrawing DVDs of Jerry Springer: the Opera from sale in their stores; recognises that Jerry Springer: the Opera is a widely acclaimed work of art having won eight major awards including best musical at the Olivier Awards, the Critics' Circle Awards and the Evening Standard Awards; notes that vociferous minority pressure groups now increasingly target works of art with the outcome that the majority are sometimes denied the choice to judge works for themselves; and calls on the Government to ensure that freedom of expression remains a central principle of society and to protect the ability of individuals to explore comprehensively and lawfully all aspects of culture.[44]

EDM no 488 received 5 supporting signatories. EDM no 531 received 16 signatories. EDM no 1270 received 40 signatories.

The show won four awards at the 2004 Laurence Olivier Awards; Best New Musical, Best Sound Design, Best Actor in a Musical (David Bedella) and Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical (the Chorus).[45][46] It also won Best Musical at the 2004 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards,[47] Best Musical at the 2003 Evening Standard Awards[48] and the 2004 WhatsOnStage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards Best New Musical and London Newcomer of the Year (Benjamin Lake).[49] The show won four awards at the 2003 Nowt2Do.Com Awards, Best Actor in a Musical (David Bedella) Best Actress in a Musical (Alison Jiear) Best London Show and Most Entertaining Show.[50] In 2006, the show won Best Touring Production at the TMA Awards.[51]

It is the only show ever to win all four "Best Musical" awards.

Jerry Springer: The Opera was the subject of controversy when the BBC televised the musical on 8 January 2005 as part of an evening of Jerry Springer-themed programming on BBC Two. News of the screening had prompted TV standards campaigners Mediawatch to write a letter to the Chairman of the BBC Governors, Michael Grade, asking him to reconsider the decision to show the musical.[52]

On 7 January, the day before the broadcast, the BBC announced that it had received over 47,000 complaints about its plans to screen the musical – at the time the most complaints ever received about a British television broadcast.[38][6] Many commentators, including the BBC, attributed such a high volume of complaints to an orchestrated campaign by various Christian groups. Supporters of the BBC's broadcasting of the show pointed out that the supposedly blasphemous content was clearly presented as a fantasy in the mind of the dying central character and was not intended to be a serious comment on Christ or Christian theology. John Beyer, chairman of Mediawatch-UK, argued that the BBC should shoulder much of the blame for the campaign against the musical since they had promoted the musical as "pushing back the boundaries of taste" and "controversial" when it had never been intended to offend the groups who campaigned against it.

In November 2005, a DVD of the show was made available in the UK by Pathé through 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.[53] However, because of complaints by customers, Sainsbury's and Woolworths decided to stop selling the DVD. Many blogs and Liberal Democrat MP, Lynne Featherstone[54] condemned the action from the stores as being corporate censorship, something which both retailers deny. Most other retailers continued to stock the DVD.[55]

On the DVD's commentary, it was stated that it would not be possible to tour the show in the UK due to pressure from religious groups, but since the release of the DVD, the UK Tour 2006 went forward. The DVD commentary also stated that Stewart Lee was unhappy with an unscripted action by Alison Jiear. In the "Adam and Eve and Mary" scene in Act II, Jiear runs her hand under Jesus's loincloth, prompting a surprised look from Leon Craig, the actor playing Jesus. Lee said, on the commentary, "I wish she hadn't done that".

• Balliwick Repertory Theatre
• Christian Voice website about the show
• Jerry Springer – The Opera website
• Links to reviews of the show
• IMDb FAQ regarding the filmed version
• 'Jerry was freaked out' – the writer of Jerry Springer: The Opera on their showdown