Jerry Springer : The Opera
Thanks to thousands of people for repeating the mistake shown in that episode of Father Ted where the Pope bans a film, the three priests chain themselves to the front of the cinema and thus more people go to see the film to see what the fuss was about.
Last night bellanna and I watched Jerry Springer : The Opera on BBC2. They made a whole night of it and included interviews and a behind the scenes view of Jerry Springer's TV show. In the interview with the creators of the opera they retold the story of how the opera started as a few operatic comedy sketches, expanded into a operatic comedy workshop, was taken to the Edinburgh Festival, and then invited to The National Theatre.
I really enjoyed the opera! If you have ever seen Jerry Springer's TV show you will recognise all the elements in the 1st Act, even down to the green chairs the guests sit on. The theme was "Secrets" and the guests told their lovers things like "I've been cheating on you". Unlike the TV show, none of the swearing was bleeped out, which was a good thing or otherwise the music would have been ruined.
The 2nd Act was also much like an episode of Jerry Springer's TV show, except this time Jerry has been killed, dragged down into hell, and persuaded to do Jerry Springer In Hell (or otherwise be fucked up the arse with barbed wire - Satan is quite the motivator). This is where the morally outraged start foaming at the mouth and complain about the blasphemous portrayal of Jesus, God and The Virgin Mary. They're wrong, of course. For example Jesus does not wear a nappy - it is more of a Greek/Roman/Egyption style skirt. Only those still hurting 25 years after Monty Python's The Life of Brian will find anything wrong with the 2nd Act.
Tickets to see Jerry Springer : The Opera live on stage currently cost between £25 and £50. For me and Sandi to see the show would cost another £20 each for travel to London, and we would probably want to eat in a nice restaurant while in the capital city. In the UK the BBC is partly funded by the TV Licence which is £121.00 per year. By broadcasting The Opera (with a better view of the stage than most seats in the theatre) the BBC has, after 8 days, made this year's licence very good value for money.
To be honest I would have expected Channel 4 to be more the sort of TV station to broadcast Jerry Springer : The Opera, but just recently the former boss of Channel 4 became the boss of the BBC. Of course just because they have shown this does not mean that any trash-talking a-moral religion-hating play can be screened. The recent Sikh trouble in Birmingham proves there are limits, but the more fuss is made the more everyone else will want to see what the fuss is all about.
Last night bellanna and I watched Jerry Springer : The Opera on BBC2. They made a whole night of it and included interviews and a behind the scenes view of Jerry Springer's TV show. In the interview with the creators of the opera they retold the story of how the opera started as a few operatic comedy sketches, expanded into a operatic comedy workshop, was taken to the Edinburgh Festival, and then invited to The National Theatre.
I really enjoyed the opera! If you have ever seen Jerry Springer's TV show you will recognise all the elements in the 1st Act, even down to the green chairs the guests sit on. The theme was "Secrets" and the guests told their lovers things like "I've been cheating on you". Unlike the TV show, none of the swearing was bleeped out, which was a good thing or otherwise the music would have been ruined.
The 2nd Act was also much like an episode of Jerry Springer's TV show, except this time Jerry has been killed, dragged down into hell, and persuaded to do Jerry Springer In Hell (or otherwise be fucked up the arse with barbed wire - Satan is quite the motivator). This is where the morally outraged start foaming at the mouth and complain about the blasphemous portrayal of Jesus, God and The Virgin Mary. They're wrong, of course. For example Jesus does not wear a nappy - it is more of a Greek/Roman/Egyption style skirt. Only those still hurting 25 years after Monty Python's The Life of Brian will find anything wrong with the 2nd Act.
Tickets to see Jerry Springer : The Opera live on stage currently cost between £25 and £50. For me and Sandi to see the show would cost another £20 each for travel to London, and we would probably want to eat in a nice restaurant while in the capital city. In the UK the BBC is partly funded by the TV Licence which is £121.00 per year. By broadcasting The Opera (with a better view of the stage than most seats in the theatre) the BBC has, after 8 days, made this year's licence very good value for money.
To be honest I would have expected Channel 4 to be more the sort of TV station to broadcast Jerry Springer : The Opera, but just recently the former boss of Channel 4 became the boss of the BBC. Of course just because they have shown this does not mean that any trash-talking a-moral religion-hating play can be screened. The recent Sikh trouble in Birmingham proves there are limits, but the more fuss is made the more everyone else will want to see what the fuss is all about.