‘Springer’ fever

Trash TV opera reaches hilarious heights

REVIEW. Just when you thought you’d seen it all, along comes “Jerry Springer: The Opera.” The marriage of the trashy, low rent talk show and the highbrow art form is everything you’d expect, plus a surprisingly warm, touching message.

Act I of the SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production plays out like any episode of “The Jerry Springer Show” except that the show’s guests speak primarily in arias and an occasional musical theater number. Only Jerry (Michael Fennimore) and his security guard Steve (an eerily authentic and superb John Porell) get to speak in tongue.

The remainder of the impressively talented ensemble belt out their trashy dilemmas in beautiful voices, greatly enhancing the seediness of it all. Trannie hookers, infidels, fetishists and a man in a diaper share the spotlight with an aspiring pole dancer and a troupe of tap-dancing Klansmen (one of whom is black).

Springer’s guests sing glorious refrains of “inbred, 3-nipple cousin-f**kers”, a desire to “sh-t my pants” and every possible variation on gender and sexuality. Their backup singers chime in with melodic incantations of the c-word and the f-bomb. If you’re easily offended, this should pretty much do it for you.

But if you stick around, you’ll see that even uncensored trash TV has its roots in humanity. As Shawntel (a stellar Joelle Lurie) sings “I Just Wanna Dance” the tone of the entire piece changes.
Lurie embodies the housewife who aspires to be a pole dancer with such truth and misguided authenticity that she offers a new explanation for the entire phenomenon of talk TV. From God to the ungodly, it seems everyone just wants to be heard.

In Act 2, Jesus (Brian Richard Robinson) and Satan (Timothy John Smith) get in on the act when a compromised Springer is forced to moderate their debate. Meanwhile God (Luke Grooms) is busy kvetching about his plight.

Like its inspiration, there’s a lot going on in this “Springer.” Unfortunately, intermittent sound problems and a bit too much background activity can be a distraction, but it shouldn’t keep you away.

If you’re even slightly voyeuristic and not the least bit prudish, this is one opera you won’t want to miss. For the really courageous, there are seats on the stage where you can gleefully chant “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” just like they do on TV.

‘Jerry Springer: The Opera’
Through May 30
Boston Center for the Arts Roberts Studio Theatre
MBTA: Orange line to Back Bay
$25 - $54, 617-933-8600
www.SpeakEasyStage.com