New Line Theatre's Jerry Springer: The Opera Is Obscenely Fun But Not For Everyone

After a break during which the studio audience sings a few funny commercials, the show resumes with Andrea (Christina Rios) discovering that her man Montel (Marshall Jennings) has a secret fetish—he wants to be an adult baby, diapers and all. Taylor Pietz once again hits the stage as Baby Jane, who wants Andrea to administer some corporal punishment. This is followed by a somewhat more typical “I want to be a pole dancer” segment featuring Shawntel (Anna Skidis) channeling her inner “Flashdance” with Chucky (Ryan Scott Foizey) as her dirty-looking yet disapproving dude. The segment goes off the rails when Chucky admits to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and several more hooded racists come on stage to tap dance. During the breaks between segments, tensions rise between Jerry and his hype man, resulting in the poor guy’s dismissal. He comes back and murders Jerry as the show goes to Intermission.

Act II is a bit surreal and I admit I had a hard time following it, and really don’t know that I can do it justice. Part of this could have been due to the temperature of the theatre itself—it was warm and a bit stifling that evening on the South Campus of Washington University. Many patrons were fanning themselves, and I was admittedly feeling a bit groggy and had a little trouble focusing down the stretch. It was beyond the production’s control—Washington University is apparently a bit slow in fulfilling maintenance requests. I wouldn’t worry about it if you’re planning on seeing the show in upcoming weeks, I’m sure they’ll have it cooled down by then.

The gist of it is “Jerry in Hell.” The Warm-Up Man is revealed to be Satan, with Dwight returning as God, Montel as Jesus, Chucky and Shawntel as Adam and Eve, and Baby Jane as herself, entreating the Christian powers to spare Jerry’s soul. Jerry wrestles with his own personal turmoil about whether or not he’s responsible for the weirdness his show churned out regularly, or if he’s just an outlet for the inevitable depravity of humanity. In the end, he finds a bit of truth and the Biblical entities release him, or at least that’s what I think happened. Admittedly, back-to-back operatic musicals—I saw Phantom of the Opera­­ for the first time the night before—may be a bit too much for me. I can only handle sung-through musicals for so long. For the record, Keith “Jerry” Thomson is the only member of the cast who doesn’t sing his lines.

Between the two, I most definitely preferred Jerry Springer: The Opera over Phantom of the Opera. I seem to not enjoy 

anything from Andrew Lloyd Webber as much as the general public would seem to. While the New Liners aren’t precisely operatic, several of them really stood out, most notably Anna Skidis and Taylor Pietz. Anna seems to play a stripper every time I see her perform (the exception being Hands on a Hardbody, a show I had fully suspected to be about strippers somehow, judging by that title), but she never fails to wow the audience with her magnificent voice. I need to see her do a cabaret one of these days (hint-hint Mike Dowdy). Taylor Pietz is always a joy to watch, and her higher range still sounds melodic, unlike, say, mine—I sometimes wince to hear myself doing Barry Gibb’s falsetto when the Bee Gees come on the radio. With three roles to play, Taylor was a very busy woman and she handled it admirably. Marshall Jennings, possessor of a terrific, soulful voice, was hysterical, ripping off his clothes to break into a song about crapping his pants. Kimi Short has an odd little extra part as she occasionally breaks ranks with the rest of the very talented studio audience ensemble to be “Jerry’s Inner Viking,” a kind of Jiminy Cricket conscience character that Jerry constantly shoos away. Director Scott Miller and The New Line actors have always had a knack for breaking the fourth wall or stepping out of the narrative to get inside a character’s head, and it always works beautifully. Kimi’s comical internal chiding of Jerry’s subconscious for letting the show get crazy…again…is no exception. As always, the New Line Band conducted by pianist Jeffrey Richard Carter and featuring musicians D. Mike Bauer, Sue Goldford, Clancy Newell, Patrick Swan and Robert Vinson were spectacular. If I ever get a late night talk show, I’d make them my house band. Don’t tell Scott Miller.  Rob Lippert and his team of scenic artists recreated the Springer set beautifully.

The biggest accolades though must go to Keith Thompson. I’ve seen him perform on the New Line stage before, usually in a small supporting role. This is first time I have seen him in a leading role, and he was terrific. He looks like Jerry! From my recollection he even seemed to move like Jerry. When he hits the stage you won’t be able to help but smile and think, “Yeah, okay, that’s him! Now bring on the freaks!” Perhaps it was the spot-on costuming of Sarah Porter, or perhaps Mr. Thompson is just that good, probably a bit of both. I think most actors would agree that it’s somewhat easier to play a real person because there’s usually video or recordings to draw from, but it’s also tough because if you don’t nail it the audience won’t buy into the character and by extension the show itself. Keith Thomson nailed it.

Other than the odd temperature issue in the venue and a lack of off-stage audience interaction—I really expected the theatre patrons would break into “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” chants of their own—New Line Theatre’s production of Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee’s Jerry Springer: The Opera was filthy fun. It’s also completely uncensored. You have been warned.

Jerry Springer: The Opera runs from March 5 through the 28^th. Visit www.NewLineTheatre.com for tickets, show times, production blogs and more.