We expect violins. We expect classics. At least when we're typically hitting up the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. But Tuesday and Wednesday night of this week featured JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA and Thursday night featured FAMILY GUY comedy with Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein. So what did we get? Lots of cursing. Lots of smut. Lots of young folk who had probably never been in the place before.
And our verdict?
First, let's talk about the former. JERRY SPRINGER THE OPERA was a big, big hit in London five years ago. It was supposed to make a quick Broadway transfer, but that somehow never materialized. The piece's future was further jeopardized after the BBC broadcast the show and the extreme Christian Right sued for blasphemy.
So is JERRY SPRINGER THE OPERA ready for Broadway? Well, let's keep in mind that this was only a concert version, as staged lightly by Jason Moore of AVENUE Q. If they want this for Broadway, they will need production values - you know, stuff that goes beyond chairs and slide show gimmicks.
But what about the show itself. How good is it? Are the ravings of Ben Brantley really justified? FRANKLY, I DON'T THINK SO.
Some people are calling this the Great American Musical of the Early 21st Century. Others are calling it a piece of filth. I don't think it's either. It's a mediocrity, at least in my opinion.
Act One and Act Two are very, very different in both subject matter and in quality. Act One is a typical JERRY SPRINGER show. It begins with a chorus singing "My mom used to be my dad..." Very cute. And then, in what is the show's best section musically, a warm-up guy prepares the audience and cues them on how to be a Jerry Springer audience.
At the end of Act One, Jerry is shot. Okay... So we then spend Act Two in Hell, where Jerry is expected to arbiter a grudge match between Jesus and Satin. ACT TWO IS A TOTAL WASTE OF SPACE. Why not just expand Act One?
So is JERRY SPRINGER worth transferring to Broadway? I at least don't think so. Will it transfer? Probably not. But if it does, it will need significant work both visually and conceptually.
Let's also remember that the JERRY SPRINGER SHOW on TV doesn't have the same cultural popularity or relevance as it once did. This show should have been on Broadway, if it were meant to go there, four or three years ago. It lost its chance. It's over.
And what of the FAMILY GUY thing, which served as a fundraising effort for the Writers Guild East Strike Fund? Well, this was obviously far smaller in scale and ambition than JERRY SPRINGER THE OPERA. It consisted of MacFarlane and Borstein singing some 26 songs (an A to Z theme). Some were straight from FAMILY GUY (MacFarlane singing "Shipoopee" as Peter Griffin), others were new (a jazz version of "The Never Ending Story"), and so on. It was a good deal of fun, easily the funniest cabaret act I've seen in some time.
Also, a special congrats to the winners and performers of Monday night's Nightlife Awards at Town Hall. At the last moment Bruce Valanch had to cancel hosting the gig, so in his place were the fabulous duo of Charles Busch and Julie Halston. But I think the change that made the biggest difference in the world was trimming the show down by a good 40 minutes in comparison to recent years. This made the show, in total, a bit over 3 hours, but far easier to digest.