"Now that it’s here, it soars like never before, in a New Group production that fully finds the compassion within this singular show’s surface satire...Immaculately directed by John Rando and sung with incandescence by its 17-member cast...'Jerry Springer' now reveals itself to be a work of stirring prophecy, a hilarious and unexpectedly touching origin portrait of how we became who we are today...The pure, pulsing beauty of Mr. Thomas’s score hooks us subliminally."
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"Exuberant high-low extravaganza...Under John Rando’s direction, the energy never flags, and the intimate thrust-stage set-up sucks you into the talk-show–audience mob even as it helps you appreciate their glorious voices. Its theology may not be deep, but beneath its sublime-to-ridiculous jokes, 'Jerry Springer—The Opera' is onto something about reality-show culture and the poignancy behind its debased participants—which more or less includes all of us now."
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"The one-joke show is past its sell date. Long past...So while it’s hard to recommend 'Jerry Springer,' it’s easy to acknowledge director John Rando’s terrific cast that’s led by Terrence Mann and Will Swenson...More standouts include Tiffany Mann as a pole-dancing hopeful, Luke Grooms as both a cheating husband and God, and Justin Keyes, as a gleeful self-soiler. It’s no fun shooting fish in a barrel — or a diaper."
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"Surprisingly free of the sometimes savage cruelty that distinguished the show from its wimpy competitors...Deliciously dirty lyrics...The lyrics are even funnier set to Thomas's surprisingly delicate musical compositions...As one loser after another claims their 'Springer Moment'...None of this nonsense loses its charm...Until Act Two...At this point, everyone from Satan and Jesus to Adam and Eve get into the game, but sad to say, the humor falls flat and the show just isn’t the same."
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"Succeeds in its aspirations — up to a point. But the one-joke nature of the proceedings starts to wear thin even before intermission. And it's pretty much all downhill from there...Not surprisingly, the musical feels more than a little dated...While the audacity of the proceedings proves amusing for a while, the satirical humor never goes anywhere interesting or emotionally resonant...John Rando's small-scale staging proves inventive at times...The performers, however, are terrific."
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"The cast approaches the material with sincerity...While this is all hilarious, it is equally disturbing and sobering...The second act takes on an absurdist, puzzling tone..Although original and interesting in concept, it is far less enjoyable and mostly falls flat. That being said, fans of edgy musical theater, contemporary opera and experimental drama will not want to miss the rare opportunity to take in this daring, difficult, culturally conscious, one-of-a-kind work."
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"A lot of fun...Slam-bang staging...The first act is essentially an uncensored sung-through presentation of a typical broadcast...The amount of legit singing demanded by the score brings out the reality that the stories of passion, lust and revenge depicted in the most popular works of that lofty art form aren't very different from what's to be viewed on this supposedly low example of pop culture...A slyly delivered message of empathy for fellow humans just searching for their moment."
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"A decidedly lopsided enterprise, with a first half that veers recklessly between exploiting and exalting Springer's fans and a second half that collapses from inaction...Nevertheless, 'Jerry Springer' is not to be dismissed, if only because the score is so accomplished...What may be the most vocally gifted cast in town...The music provides a certain amount of balm, but you have to have a real taste for nonstop vulgarity, and you have to tolerate a second act that has nowhere to go."
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