Jerry Springer The Opera is the best piece of theater I’ve seen in San Francisco this year. Irreverent, blasphemous, profane, sure. That’s a given. What’s surprising is how effective this immensely challenging work is, how well suited this subject is to a full operatic treatment.
And there should be no doubt about it, this is a full opera. The score is sophisticated and varied, a kaleidoscopic blend of musical theater, baroque oratorio, pop, rock, and occasionally branching into it’s own dissonant vocabulary. And it is fiendishly difficult, not just for the soloists, but for the entire ensemble. Ray of Light has assembled an astonishing array of singers for this production, one that has renewed my faith in the depth of talent here in San Francisco.
The first act is simply a rendition of any episode of Jerry Springer, with the slight modification that everyone on stage (with some important exceptions), is singing. All the obligatory Springerisms are on display, … Continue Reading
Drove past the venue, sadly, and didn’t have time to see it last week. Now, I’m extra disappointed. Great review, Brian!
Glad to hear it was good, but I’ll never forgive JS: The Opera from stealing my thunder at Edinburgh in 2002. I was premiering my opera “Monks & Sluts (and Statesmen, oh my!) and on title alone most of my potential crowd was siphoned away. So I never saw the damn thing. Simultaneously, A Bombity of Errors had it’s UK premiere at that fringe. A friend of mine was in it (Joe Kolski) and it was the best hip hop theatrical venture I’ve ever seen. They even transferred to the West end for a 6 month run.