Jerry Springer: The Opera to open in New York | Off-Broadway debut for Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas's musical

Jerry Springer: The Opera to open in New York

Off-Broadway debut for Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas's musical

Jerry Springer: The Opera is to play in New York – more than a decade after it was supposed to.

The first off-Broadway production of Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas’s controversial musical has been announced for early next year.

The show had its roots at the Battersea Arts Centre and the Edinburgh Fringe, before running for  609 performances in the West End from 2003 to 2005. 

However, a BBC Two screening prompted a surge of protests organised by fundamentalist Christian pressure groups angry at the bad language and the depiction of Jesus.

A Broadway production was announced in 2004, and then cancelled, although there have been several regional productions around the States. And Harvey Keitel played the title character for a two-night run at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2008.

However, theatre troupe New Group have now announced the first full run of the show in Manhattan as part of its 2017-18 season. It will be directed by John Rando, who won a Tony Award for Urinetown The Musical in 2002.

The company describes  the ‘profane musical’ as being ‘deeply in tune with the chaos and unrestrained id of our times.’

Here's our review of the show from the National Theatre in London from 2003.

Published: 22 Jun 2017

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