Cult Fringe hero Stewart Lee was almost bankrupted by the immense volumes of vitriol thrown by the religious right at his multi-award winning musical. Thankfully tempers have cooled enough for this beautiful satire on the most cynical aspects of American trash TV to return to the festival where it made some of its maiden performances. Charting an episode of the hit show in which Jerry gets inadvertently shot, the plot descends to purgatory where the infamous host must reconcile the devil with God or face a fiery eternity in hell.
Under Andrew Panton’s direction, Jerry Springer: The Opera represents the first production from One Academy, a company established to launch fresh faced graduates from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama onto the Edinburgh scene. And launch them it does with a dazzling display of performing talent and singing prowess.
Pedantry here focuses on smudged vocals in the chorus numbers that somewhat lessen the comic impact of the grand opening scene and choreography that, though clearly inventive, is rather sloppily enacted. The musical does tend to reserve its biggest punches for the second half, which can cause attention to wonder in the initial set up. That said, the production heads full throttle into the racier material after the break and makes the very most of what is an exquisitely crafted book.
Though no match for the original West End production, One Academy’s rendering of Jerry Springer is an eloquent portrayal of Lee’s provocative message. Low budget musical theatre at its best, promising careers must be awaiting this young cast of burgeoning talent.
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