yesthattom | Jerry Springer: The Opera

quietchris and I saw JSTO on Tuesday at Carnegie Hall*. It was only playing 2 nights to gauge whether or not NYC would protest it, or if people would even attend. We had seen it in London a few years ago and weren’t planning on going, but then

qnetter had tickets that were going to go unused so we did a rare mid-week night out.

We had awesome seats... orchestra right, about 6 rows from the stage. The audience had a lot of famous people. I recognized John Leguizamo, a number of hollywood producer/director types, a comedian that I’ve seen on HBO, and others.

The show was good. Not as good as the first time we saw it, possibly because things get better over time in my memory. The singing was excellent. The main performer is “Warmup Man” who was the same guy we saw in London, who happened to create the character when the show was just a workshop at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The part of Jerry Springer was played by Harvey Keitel. With his hair done like Jerry’s he was pretty much a clone, though a little thicker and a lot more Brooklyn.

Outside the theater was a big protest by what looked like Catholics who were upset by the blasphemy in the show. They were reading the rosary, and were carrying a statue of something-or-other like in a patron saint parade. The people carrying the statue were dressed in robes that looked more like costumes from a parody of this kind of protest. I really wanted to go up to them and ask, “Why do you consider it blasphemy? Don’t you know the difference between fiction and religion? I know it looks like a cathedral, but it’s really just a theater. Do you know the difference?” Alas, I didn’t.

Despite the protests, I hope it was successful enough that they bring it to Broadway. I think a lot of people need to see this show. While it may be a little bit “over”, since Jerry Springer is sooo 90’s and sooo pre-9/11 (who shows poor white trash with relationship problems on TV now that you can show rich white trash like Britney?). However, the social commentary still stands: millions of people making bad choices, why does everyone blame me?

notes:
* -- I was looking forward to asking people “How do you get to Carnegie Hall” but, alas, Google told me without making the obvious joke.