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Posted on 03/01/2005 12:16:00 PM PST by NYer
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The Catholic League is the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends individual Catholics and the institutional Church from defamation and discrimination. |
if they want to run the show let em. It is a piece of garbage and the people who pay for it probably deserve to waste the money on the ticket
Does anyone have links to the Catholic League's denunciation of the Jerry Springer Show? Not the opera, the show.
Same content, but on broadcast TV shown at a time when kids home from school could watch.
LONDON - A planned Broadway run of trash television-inspired musical Jerry Springer – The Opera is in doubt after pressure from an evangelical Christian group.
The show's producer, Avalon Promotions, said Monday that one of the financial backers of a New York production slated to open later this year pulled out after the show was targeted by Christian Voice, a Wales-based religious organization.
Christian Voice opposes abortion, homosexuality, Sunday trading and British membership in the European Union. Producers said a British tour scheduled for later this year will go ahead, although one venue – the Derby Playhouse in central England – has pulled out.
Last April, the show's producers announced that the $13.9-million US production would open on Broadway this fall, although no date or New York venue was announced.
Creators of the musical, inspired by Springer's daytime television talk show, say it grapples with issues of good, evil and personal responsibility. But some Christians have been angered by its hundreds of expletives, parade of lowlifes and depiction of Jesus Christ in a diaper admitting he is a "bit gay."
Jerry Springer opened to rave reviews at the National Theatre in April 2003, and transferred last October for a commercial West End run that ended Feb. 19.
The show has won several awards, including best new musical at the 2004 Olivier Awards.
But it gained new notoriety, and attracted the ire of religious conservatives, when it was broadcast by the BBC in January. The BBC said it had received 40,000 complaints before the show was aired.
Last week, a Scottish cancer charity, Maggie's Centres, turned down $5,760 US raised by a charity performance of the show after Christian Voice threatened to protest outside the charity's premises.
David Soul, who played Springer in the West End production, accused the religious group of "strong-arm, mob-style tactics."
But Christian Voice director Stephen Green said Maggie's had avoided a "potential public relations disaster of profiting from filth and blasphemy."
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A planned Broadway run of the smash London hit "Jerry Springer -- The Opera" is in doubt after criticism from a Christian group scared off a potential investor, producers have said.
"It has been on and off in America and at the moment it is off in America because of money problems," producer Jon Thoday told CNN. "The Christian 'storm' has not been helpful."
Last April, "Springer" producers announced the production would open on Broadway this fall, although no date or New York venue was announced.
The show has since been targeted by Christian Voice, a UK religious organization that opposes abortion, homosexuality and the European Union.
Last week, Christian Voice convinced a Scottish cancer charity, Maggie's Centres, to turn down £3,000 ($5,760) raised by a charity performance of "Springer."
The production is still planning to tour regional British theaters, although at least one of them -- in Derby, central England -- is having second thoughts.
"This is a blasphemous and a filth-filled production," says Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice.
"This shows the Lord Jesus Christ as a sexual deviant in a nappy, saying that he is a little bit gay, being told to grow up and put some 'f-ing' clothes on by the Jerry Springer character."
The opera mocks guests who appear on the U.S. TV show hosted by Jerry Springer. In the second act, Jerry descends into hell and moderates a slinging match between Jesus, Mary and the devil.
"Springer" opened to rave reviews at the National Theatre in April 2003, and transferred last October for a commercial West End run that ended February 19. The show has won several awards, including best new musical at the 2004 Olivier Awards.
It faced little criticism until the BBC decided to air it in full last month. Nearly 2 million households watched --- and 8,000 complaints were lodged with broadcast regulators.
David Soul, who played Springer in the West End production, has accused Christian Voice of "strong-arm, mob-style tactics" in convincing the Scottish charity to turn down the "Springer" donation.
But Green said his group helped the charity avoid a "potential public relations disaster of profiting from filth and blasphemy."
Jonathan Bartley, a Christian religious commentator who supports the production, says Christian Voice's efforts went too far.
"There was intimidation there. There was a fear, rightly or wrongly on the part of the charity, that their offices would be picketed, that they would lose more funding," Bartley says. "And I think that's when things start to cross the line."
Producers say the show should be seen as an attack on American television, not religion, and vow they will one day take "Springer" to what they see as its rightful place -- Broadway.
CNN's Jim Boulden contributed to this report.
This will play on broadway. Everyone and their mother will line up to see this. It's gotten great reviews from the theatre snobs in London. Word of mouth and controversy will make this happen either on Broadway or one street over.
Sick.
Can't figure out who has the lowest no-nothing gutter show: Jerry Springer or Anna Nicole Smith. Both are terrible!
Hint: They voted for Kerry.
It's very clear what the liberal secular humanist cabals are all about. The origin in Britain is a hint - they get to make fun of low-life trashy Americans and bash the Catholic Church and Christian beliefs all at the same time. Sad. That this actually would make some people feel better about themselves is pretty pathetic. Maybe they could add a scene where they feed Christians to lions. [SARCASM, IRONY ALERT]
People who need to see examples of popular culture reinforcing their own hatred of Christianity, i.e., "If the show depicts it, it's OK for me to feel this way, too."
The people who created the original trashy "Jerry Springer" shock-jock show were anti-Christian wacko types promoting a particular kind of social engineering agenda. And there was nothing "new" about this form of "theater of the absurd" either. It appeared in Germany during the 1920s as that country was whooped up with a wave of nihilism before the Nazis took over. The relation between the two was no coincidence.
This kind of sadistic, degrading, crossdresser social pornography is one of the final stages of decadence. They release convicts from prisons and patients from insane asylums, put them on a stage, and equally deranged members of the audience laugh at them before the scene ends in punches and fits of violence. People laughing as others are hauled off stage with broken noses and contusions. Real classy stuff. It takes anti-Christian perverts from Harvard and Yale to dream this kind of sickness up for contemporary audiences.
Get the names of those funding it. Maybe someone could egg their houses and wrap toilet paper around the trees and shrubbery just to even the score. [irony]
Can't we just ignore this? We are only giving it publicity. Otherwise it would just hemmorage cash on B'way.
Jerry Springer is nothing but trash. I never watch his show and will not see this trashy play!
You can ignore it, but it won't go away. Unless people take a stand against this degeneracy, it will get worse.
Exactly.Protest Jerry Springer!
Ops4 God BLess America!
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