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London Jerry Springer to Close Feb. 19, Prior to UK Tour
By James Inverne
12 Jan 2005
Jerry Springer – The Opera has announced it will shut up shop at the Cambridge Theatre on Feb. 19 2005, after 609 performances.
However, much to the dismay of the fundamentalist Christians who campaigned against the recent BBC television broadcast of the show for its perceived blasphemy and bad language (and have now announced their plans to sue the BBC), the show will be evangelizing around the UK for some time to come. A nationwide tour will start in Manchester in October.
The show has garnered major awards, including an Olivier and an Evening Standard Award during its time in London, where it premiered at the National (after try-outs at the Battersea Arts Centre) before moving to the Cambridge. According to a press release, it has been seen in the theatre by 398,000 people, and was watched by 2.4 million viewers on BBC 2.
It is not yet known whether the current cast, which includes David Soul as Springer and David Bedella as Satan, will play the tour. Nor has there yet been any announcement about a possible Broadway transfer, though discussions have been ongoing for some time. After he pulled out of the London cast of The Producers, Richard Dreyfuss was approached with a view to playing the speaking role of Springer – it is not known whether he might now take the part for any New York staging.
In the meantime, the show’s creators Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas are in Germany working on their new project. It’s an opera about a London comedy club, called The Ha-Ha Hole. And for the future, they’ve been offered a series of operas to be created especially for BBC television. A prospect which won’t have soothed the protesters.
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