This show, just like the TV programme it so wonderfully lampoons, is the perfect example of the maxim that everyone wants their five minutes of fame, or in this case, their 'Jerry Springer Moment'. I am old enough to have been aware of the TV show, the 'original' and 'best' talk show from America which invited all the low-lifes and what we would now call Chavs to air their dirty laundry on live TV, presided over by the ever calm, but supercilious, Jerry Springer. I have to admit though that I have never watched any of it, nor have I ever watched any of the many other spin-offs from either side of the Atlantic. I did however, know the format and as we sat down in a very cleverly designed traverse theatre formation (audience on two opposing sides of the acting area), we were bombarded with an opening song with the largest cast I think I have ever seen at Hope Mill Theatre.
What unfolded was utterly irrerevent, absolutely foul and filthy, gratuitous, offensive, crossing every single boundary of moral decency you could possibly imagine, but presented with such earnestness by a cast of superb performers, it was impossible not to be carried along with this tawdry, but also very tongue-in-cheek opera. Yes it was indeed an opera. Through-sung by all the cast, except for a few spoken lines from Springer, and ameliorated by a Greek Chorus-like choir who were Springer's front row audience, bear-baiting and scoffing the poor creatures who have gone on his show to try and make their lives' better - only we all know that things don't turn out that way, and it is only the TV company, the producers and of course Springer who actually benefit from such a show.
However, I am rambling! The opera is in two halves, and in the first it is a recreaction of a TV show, in which three sets of guests get to spill their guilty secrets to a hungry and waiting world. We laugh along and are all taken in by the moment and even start being quite judgemental ourselves. A man who started dating his girlfriends's best friend, and then, two-timing her with a guy in drag; a young man who just wants to be a baby - quite literally - as he wears a nappy and calls his girlfriend 'mommie'; and a pregnant young lady with a KKK-member boyfriend who just wants to be a pole-dancer!
It is the second act which gets much darker in one sense, but oh so much more flamboyant, outrageous and homo-erotic too. We are in Hell! If you were offended by the first act, then hold on to your jockstraps and say several 'Hail Marys' because the second act gets kinky and irreligious. But there is a definite heart to the piece and a moral. It wouldn't be opera without a moral (and at least one death.. of which there are several!).
All the cast - including the choir - are impeccable and flawless. In fact the only negative criiticism I have of the show is that Cici Howells need to find a better place for her microphone pack. Placed where it was on her bra-strap made her appear like a hunchback! However if that's all I can say negatively, then this show is an absolute sure-fire hit. I am not sure where they found Michael Howe, but he even looked and spoke like Jerry Springer, and vocally, this cast had some of the most beautiful and powerful voices I have heard in a very long time. Just having the edge vocally though was the very watchable Matt Bond, who played both Dwight and God. Wow, I could have listened to his powerhouse lyrical honey-coated warblings all night and still have wanted more.
Directed by James Baker (last seen, at least by me, at Hope Mill as director of 'Parade') has created here something of a masterpiece in musical 'Provokationstheater'. Simply put this opera is absolutely not for the easily offended - make no mistake the lyrics are made up of more offensive words and the choreography of offensive gestures than I have seen in every other show I have ever seen put together and more besides! - and that's just in the opening number! - but it is excellently crafted, superbly realised, with extremely high production values, and simply needs to be seen to be believed!
Go get your very own 'Jerry Springer Moment' while you can!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 13/8/19
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