LONDON – Defamation suits. Bad press. Feuding producers.
“Jerry Springer: The Opera” has spawned a behind-the-scenes soap opera to match its onstage melodramatics.
The scabrous musical inspired by the king of trash TV is facing an early closing because of an expensive lawsuit against a British newspaper that claimed – untruthfully, at the time – that the show was losing money.
A huge critical hit, “Jerry Springer” is due to run in London’s West End until October 2005, with a Broadway production scheduled to open next fall. But producers acknowledge that the mounting cost of a lawsuit against the Daily Mail newspaper could force it to close within days.
“It’s a fragile situation that may go either way,” producer Jon Thoday said Tuesday.
Thoday’s company, Avalon Promotions, says the show’s problems began in January, when the Daily Mail ran a story claiming the musical was losing $73,000 a week. After examining the show’s books, the newspaper apologized, acknowledging that “Jerry Springer” was “hugely popular” and making a healthy profit.
The producers nonetheless sued for a reported $730,000 in lost earnings, saying the Mail’s story had hurt ticket sales.
The case is due to come to court in December, and backing out now would leave Avalon with a bill for both sides’ legal costs. Thoday said that during a tough fall for West End shows, the producers of “Jerry Springer” have had to slash their marketing budget because of the potential cost of the lawsuit.
Created by composer Richard Thomas and comedian Stewart Lee, “Jerry Springer” opened to rave reviews at the National Theatre in April 2003, and transferred last October for a commercial West End run. The $13.9 million production is scheduled to play San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre next summer before arriving on Broadway in the fall.
The musical’s fusion of high art and lowbrow TV has delighted critics and audiences alike. The show features a chorus line of dancing Ku Klux Klansmen and an all-singing cast of adulterous spouses, strippers, crack addicts and transsexuals. In the musical, Springer is shot at the end of the first act and gets dragged down to hell.
The real-life Springer saw the show last November in London and praised the production while distancing himself from the Jerry portrayed in it. “It’s a persona, and they did it remarkably well,” Springer said. “As an opera, it’s perfect.”
The show won an Olivier Award – the British equivalent of the Tony – for best musical. But it has played only to about 60 percent capacity since transferring to the 1,200-seat Cambridge Theatre, and its four-letter content has kept its catchy songs off radio and television.
Associated Press
Former “Starsky &Hutch” actor David Soul takes a curtain call for “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” at the Cambridge Theatre in London in July.
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