Wow.

So I went to see Jerry Springer: The Opera last night, and, well, wow. I haven't seen anything that so successfully mingles the sacred and the profane (the incredibly profane!) since Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter.

People hear "Jerry Springer" and "opera" in the same sentence and laugh. But really, why? Look at the plot of any major comic opera, and you get Jerry Springer-esque situations. Cosi fan tutte, to name one, involves two badly disguised guys trying to make love to each other's fiancees on a bet from a misogynist friend. Opera buffa is meant to be crazy, bizarre, and a little profane. Jerry Springer just takes it to its logical extension, and adds a fat Liberace-esque God, a Jesus who's "a little gay," and a tap-dancing chorus of Ku Klux Klan members. Seriously.

One of my favourite things about the whole show was that there were people with real bodies up there on stage. Okay, I know this is because the stars and chorus members are supposed to be playing "white trash." But still, it's not every day you go to a major West End or Broadway musical and see one of the stars dancing in nothing but a diaper, man-tits jiggling and belly flapping.

The music, too, was interesting. Some of the numbers were your standard musical fare, albeit with filthy lyrics, but others sounded just like a Bach or Mozart religious chorale (again, with filthy lyrics). Imagine a choir of angels singing "My mum used to be my dad," "I was jilted by a lesbian dwarf," and, of course, "Dirty filthy crack whore." There's even a part near the end where the choir sings "Jerry eleison."

The one downside to the whole thing is that the only place in the world you can see it is London, which sucks because I think everyone who isn't easily offended should see it. Of course, it'll show up on Broadway at some point, and I'm personally holding out hope for a Cleveland appearance with Drew Carey as Jerry Springer and Wayne Brady as Satan, with the rest of the Whose Line Is It Anyway cast in starring roles. (Trust me, it'd be fabulous.) If you're in London, go see it. If it comes out on DVD, rent or buy it. When it comes to Broadway, go see it.

Really, just go see it, you filthy crack whores.